It’s time to talk about funding. A central question looms: how can we provide the European Union with new own resources to support our collective ambitions?

Although in November 2022 the Parliament gave the green light to the Commission’s proposal to introduce a first set of three new own resources (an expanded Emissions Trading Scheme, a Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism and a share of the reallocated profits of very large multinational companies*), we are looking further ahead.

We are convinced that, in order to revitalise the European economy, it is essential to strengthen direct funding while reducing its dependence on national contributions or taxes levied on citizens. Indeed, citizens must not be taxed by Europe. Instead, large polluting companies and digital giants take advantage of the single market while externalising their activities, which must be held accountable to achieve these objectives.

This approach will allow us to fund new infrastructure, research projects, and the green and digital transitions without excessively burdening any Member State.

The significance of this approach lies in the fact that no Member State can raise funds in isolation. In the face of the challenges that lie ahead, it is not a simple transfer of resources from one country to another that must be imagined, but rather a collective response from the Union. We want to act at the European level, where individual states cannot do so effectively. This is what we mean by subsidiarity.

These new resources will be specifically allocated to projects where the pooling of resources makes the most sense. Our priority will therefore be to support artificial intelligence, invest in tomorrow’s economy (especially in the digitisation of industry) and support research into renewable energy and future technologies.