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This week, a sneak peek at an important budget fight looming in the EU.

3 things to know

1. The battle over the EU’s next multiyear budget is about to begin. The wonkily named Multiannual Financial Framework (MFF) determines the EU’s budget for a period of five years or more. The current MFF runs from 2021 to 2027. The next EU budget will run from 2028 to 2035. The European Commission’s first budget proposal is expected in June 2025. Efforts to influence that first proposal are well underway.

Why it matters: The budget outlines the EU’s priorities, as well as the scope and scale of its ambitions. The multiyear nature of the EU budget makes the budget negotiations even more critical, since it sets the EU’s priorities over a long period.

2. Civil society is joining forces to have as much impact as possible. There’s an unprecedented network mobilising to boost external funding in the EU’s budget. For the first time, partners from around the world – including The ONE Campaign, Aidsfonds, Global Citizen, and Pandemic Action Network – are joining forces to urge the EU to commit the funding needed to achieve its goals — from meeting the Sustainable Development Goals to upholding the Paris Agreement.

Why it matters: This network will drive advocacy for an ambitious external cooperation budget, push for innovative financial solutions, and serve as the go-to hub for insights during MFF negotiations. In short, groups are joining forces to maximise their collective impact. The moment is too important to do otherwise. You can learn more and join by visiting the MFF Hub.

3. It’s in the EU’s own interest to deepen its engagement abroad. In an increasingly interdependent world, the EU has a choice: It can engage positively on global challenges or retreat from the international stage. With poverty, inequality, climate change, pandemics, and humanitarian crises intensifying and new crises looming, the EU’s interests are best served by expanding its international engagement.

Why it matters: The EU can play a leading role in shaping a future where individuals thrive, nations prosper, and the planet flourishes. That’s especially critical at a time when global leadership to fight inequality and climate change has largely gone missing.

From the ONE Team

• Check out the MFF Hub and sign the petition calling on the EU to deliver for people and planet.
• Joe Kraus on Africa’s missing talent.
• David McNair on the US$100 billion International Development Association replenishment.
• Kerezhi Sebany weighs in on which countries made IDA contributions.

IN THE QUEUE:

• How drought insurance can leave millions without food.
• The “gold mafia” in southern Africa gets sanctioned.
• Ghana makes history with its first female vice president-elect.
• New oil and gas data reveal just how little some companies are paying to extract oil and gas.

The ONE Campaign’s data.one.org provides cutting edge data and analysis on the economic, political, and social changes impacting Africa. Check it out HERE.

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