Parliament delays key EU budget decisions over infighting

Group leaders were supposed to settle internal disputes on Wednesday

Leaders of the political groups will delay resolving two key disputes over the EU’s long-term €2 trillion budget due to internal disagreements, several European Parliament sources told Euractiv.

MEPs have recently clashed over whether to reject a Commission plan to merge agricultural and regional funds into €865 billion national programmes, and over which Parliament committees should lead work on each of the sprawling cross-policy budget files.

Group leaders were supposed to settle the committee allocation – and possibly the rejection move – on Wednesday, but both decisions have been postponed amid infighting. It is the second time that the committee allocation has been delayed.