EASPD continues to stand at the forefront of advocacy on EU’s 2028-2034 budget (officially known as Multiannual Financial Framework, MFF). Our core aim is clear: to ensure that social inclusion and support for people with disabilities remain central priorities in Europe’s future funding architecture.

Building on a strong coalition over 50 European networks, EASPD has led efforts resulting in a series of joint statements that set the tone for the debate.

Over the past year, EASPD has worked within a strong coalition of more than 50 European networks, playing a leading role in shaping the debate through several joint statements:

• March 2025. We coordinated the “Time for Ambition: A Strengthened ESF+ in the Next EU Budget” statement endorsed by over 250 EU and national organisations, calling for the reinforcement of ESF+ as the backbone of social investment in Europe.
• July 2025. We followed up with “Keep What Works: 8 Success Factors for a Future ESF+”, co-signed by 46 EU networks, reinforcing the need to preserve ESF+’s proven strengths in any new financial architecture.
• October 2025. Building on these success factors, we assessed the European Commission’s proposals and published the results in the Statement “100 billion Euros for Social Spending? The Devil’s in the Details".

To amplify these messages, we engaged in a series of strategic meetings with EU institutions representatives. At the European Parliament, we met a member of the President Roberta Metsola’s cabinet. At the Commission we met with Ruth Paserman, Director for Funds Programming and Implementation at Directorate General on Employment, Social Affairs, and Inclusion. Finally, we exchanged views with Sari Rautio, Rapporteur on the post-2027 MFF opinion for the Committee of the Regions and provided proposals for amendments to their opinion.  

In parallel, EASPD contributed to several open consultations on the next MFF, providing detailed input on proposals for:

• The European Competitiveness Fund (ECF)
• The European Fund for economic, social and territorial cohesion (NRP)
• The budget expenditure tracking and performance framework 

Together with our allies, we raise serious concerns, among which:

• A shift from regional to national management risks weakening involvement of civil society, social economy, and local and regional actors, and privilege infrastructure investments above social innovation and inclusion.
• Reduced social ambition, moving from dedicated allocations and negotiations of the European Social Fund Plus, to a mere 14% threshold for ‘social funding’ under the national regional partnership plans.
• The removal of key guarantees: no dedicated allocation of money (earmarking) for social inclusion, child poverty, material deprivation and no enabling conditions, which previously ensured Member States had the right policies in place to access EU funds, threatens accountability and impact. This means a risk of national priorities and not EU and international commitments as drivers for investment.

The coming months will be decisive. EASPD is working closely with civil society partners to keep social priorities high on the agenda.

To follow-up on this topic:

We are collaborating with Civil Society Europe in organising the webinar “The Multiannual Financial Framework: from zero to hero”on 28th November 14:30-17:40 CET. The event is open to national members and will delve into all the different aspects and funding stream of the new budget, including social. You can register via this link .

We will also host a Policy Café open to our members, that will present and share concerns on the MFF, which will take place on 16 December 10:00-12:00 CET to discuss what these changes mean for service providers and how we can act together. We will publish more information soon, but if you are interested you can already register here.