Debating new revenue sources for the EU budget

Añadido: 2026-05-20

[00:00:00]repeating uh what I said at the plinary debate uh a few weeks ago uh when your interim report was adopted.

[00:00:10]The only route towards an ambitious EU budget, an EU budget that will have enough resources to finance European policies goes through the own resources.

[00:00:23]That is why after testing, that's the reality. That's how it is.

[00:00:29]That is why after testing many different options, the commission proposed last year a package of five new own resources. a package designed to be balanced, simple, and ready to be implemented quickly.

[00:00:44]Your interim report expressed strong support for new own resources, which uh I very much welcome and I really appreciate the support of the European Parliament and the encouragement from the European Parliament on the own resources issue.

[00:01:02]But your interim report also asked to explore a few other options.

[00:01:08]Uh a digital levy, a crypto levy, and an online gambling levy that we are going to debate today. In line with its role, the commission is preparing an objective and thorough assessment of the options put forward by this house.

[00:01:26]Today I'm not in a position to share with you details as we are still finalizing our assessment but I would like to assure you that that assessment will be shared also with the European Parliament as soon as it is ready. Uh and we are not talking about a very distant future.

[00:01:45]But to on the occasion of our today's debate let me emphasize four points that we should keep in mind. First, it is crucial that any own resources basket generates adequate resources. Secondly, as you mentioned in your report, the own resources package should avoid undue burdens on economic actors, minimize economic distortions and ensure tax fairness. fertit should be possible to quickly and uh to implement it quickly and any new resource should be operational uh by 1st of January 2028 or shortly thereafter.

[00:02:28]That means that we need clear definitions, harmonized rules and adequate data to limit tax avoidance. It is important to assess how fast a new own resource can be implemented and whether sectoral tax legislation would need to be introduced beforehand.

[00:02:46]Fourth, the basket dimension remains crucial rather than looking at each own resources in isolation. It is important to look at the basket as a whole and keep an in mind the bigger picture including what we proposed on the expenditure side.

[00:03:04]I'm happy to see that in your interim report we can see also the support for the basket approach.

[00:03:12]While the commission is convinced that uh our current package meets this principle, as I said, we will soon share with you our analysis on the additional option suggested by the European Parliament. The commission stands ready to act as an honest broker and to work with this house and with the council to find a common ground on the next EU budget, including on the issue of own resources.

[00:03:40]I I look forward to to your interventions. Thank you very much.

[00:03:45]>> Thank you very much, Commissioner. And now I pass the floor for the first round of representatives of the political group to Danushia Nerudova on behalf of EP. Please, the floor is yours.

[00:03:57]>> Thank you dear chair, dear commissioner, dear colleagues. From the very beginning of this mandate, we stand with you commissioner uh in support of your willingness to come forward with the solutions on own resources and help us move beyond the current stalemate. But based on our past experience, we know that some proposals will face negative uh reactions in the council. We already know that some member states have concerns about core while the others oppose uh ETSs. At the end of the day, we all know that everything will never be perfect for everyone. But the alternative is massive cuts to the budget. The very same member states complaining about new own resources will also complain when they will face severe cuts to agriculture cohesion, competitiveness and research funding. So as parliament we have also come forward with uh possible solutions in case some proposals uh in the package are dropped.

[00:05:04]First digital levy already agreed by leaders in 2020. It's a matter of fairness and would primarily affect the large digital giants. Second, attacks on crypto assets. We all know that a significant amount of money circulating in crypto also comes from illicit activities. So this would also contribute to greater transparency. And finally, as parliament, we believe we can also explore a gambling tax. Let us find a way forward together because otherwise we will be cutting investments in our future simply because we acted irresponsibly as politicians by indeping the European Union and the future generations. Thanks.

[00:05:52]>> Thank you very much. The next speaker on behalf of S&T is Victor Negresco.

[00:06:01]Commissioner, dear colleagues, Europe is entering a decisive debate about its future budget and its capacity to act.

[00:06:09]Every day in this house, we call for more investments, but also citizens expect us to answer another key question. How do we finance everything fairly and responsibly? This is why I initiated this proposal for a new European owned resource designed to finance in particular education use, mental health, addiction prevention, and the protection of minors by taxing online gambling, online betting, and betting like digital activities.

[00:06:35]Together with the SND group, we requested that this issue be placed on the penary agenda after formally introducing a question for all answer in order to ensure that the European Parliament start a serious political debate on this topic. The idea is simple. A fast growing, highly digitalized and increasingly crossber industry using the added value of the single market should make a fair contribution to support. Technically the proposal is similar to national taxing formats. We can discuss a limited European levy for example around 1% applied on the revenues or the turnover generated by major online gambling and betting operators active across the European market. This would not replace the national taxation systems. It would not interfere with the national licensing mechanisms and it would fully respect member states competencies in regulating gambling activities. But the potential revenues are significant. If betting like digital platforms are also included and if the market continues to grow as expected, the revenues could realistically reach between two and four billion euros per year during the next long-term budget. This means potentially between 14 and 28 billion euros between 2028 and 2034. This is equal to the Arasmus plus budget in the current MF.

[00:07:53]And let us also be honest when we refer to this topic. According to recent estimates published by the industry, illegal online gambling alone already represents around 71% of the market in Europe. This means billions lost in public revenues, weaker protection for consumers and miners, growing addition risk and major vulnerabilities linked to money laundering and criminal networks operating across borders. This means that even the countries with the big online industry like Malta, Cypress and Estonia are losing money for the national budget. So Europe cannot pretend this problem does not exist. We have to interfere. We have to fight illegal operators. But in the same time, we are going to protect citizens. So Europe must show that it is capable not only of deciding together about how we spend the money but also how we can build common resources that will be available as soon as possible. Thank you again to everyone supporting this initiative. Thank you. The next speaker, Julian Sanchez.

[00:08:54]>> Will, do you understand the basic principles of accounting? The EU does not and has taken on scandalously high levels of debt in recent years, now looking for new own resources to balance its budget. There are plenty of ideas floating around when it comes to taxing companies or citizens. We're talking today about um an online gambling and betting tax to finance the European Union. We're familiar with this type of levy in France. We were supposed to receive a 100 million in France uh in one year alone. Now taxing online gambling is a member state competence.

[00:09:43]It is an attack on national sovereignty.

[00:09:46]Do not feed addictions.

[00:09:50]Try to cut down on duplication. Be more efficient in the way that you spend uh taxpayers money. You need to show sound financial principles and budgetary management. That's the approach you'd expect of households or companies.

[00:10:09]Graci.

[00:10:10]>> Thank you, Madame President. Welcome, Commissioner Sarapin. Today's debate is taking place at an important moment because the evaluation of the multi-annual financial framework proposed by the commission following on from the parliament's vote meant that the parliament requested more support for agricultural policies, more uh support for cohesion policies and more uh support for competitiveness.

[00:10:41]That's very clear. Commissioner Sarapin, if we are asking uh to intervene when it comes to spending, we also have to intervene when it comes to income.

[00:10:53]And today this uh tax or levy would be a big benefit to us.

[00:11:02]And I don't know why you uh did did away with some uh ideas such as taxes on uh big companies. You said that was uh incompatible with competitiveness.

[00:11:16]Well, I'm interested to see how the commission will evaluate these two new ideas for own resources put forward by the parliament while keeping high levels of investment. Thank you.

[00:11:27]>> Here is Tina Bosa.

[00:11:33]>> Thank you very much chairman commissioner.

[00:11:41]Now I'll switch to Danish.

[00:11:45]Yes, we are very good here in the parliament and else aware of drawing up a wish list along an expensive wish list and there are very good reasons to do this because of course we have to ensure that the EU gets ever stronger.

[00:12:03]We are under considerable external pressure and we need to further develop the EU's uh resources for health uh energy structure transport structure uh defense these are of founding values if we want a new dialogue with new uh uh innovative proposals we can come up with more and more this is absolutely crucial we need stability for the EU the EU. In order to do this, we need our own uh uh resources. But we mustn't forget as members of parliament and the commission is more than aware of this is that it's up to the financial ministers back in our own countries that uh we're not talking about increasing uh uh uh taxes on the one hand and and cutting them for others. Thank you, >> Hunang. Thank you.

[00:13:03]On a rainy Sunday, you can while away your time gambling online or placing a bet during the Football World Cup. We are seeing an explosive uh rise in online gambling bin businesses, billions being made across the European Union.

[00:13:26]So, it makes perfect sense to consider whether this uh wealthy industry that is turning a tidy profit could chip in during these difficult times and help to finance common European priorities. We support this initiative. We believe that online gambling and betting is a crossborder business and needs to be taxed at European level. Tax uh rates in member states vary from five to 40%.

[00:13:58]And so we need to introduce an online gambling and betting levy as an own resource so that we can finance EU priorities and help small uh businesses and prevent them having to pick up the tab. Thank you.

[00:14:21]up.

[00:14:22]>> Every way of funding the EU is the wrong way in the opinion of some member states and the rightwing populists think that all ways to fund the European Union is wrong. Um the member states right to tax should of course not be compromised by transferring uh taxation rights to the EU but uh in front of the US digital giants for instance individual states are helpless. It is only natural that the taxation of digital services and imported goods um be carried out at the EU level. also taxation of stock stock exchange transactions and private flights could be uh done at the EU level. Um when it comes to gambling and betting the situation is not so clear because many member states already collect collect uh revenues through license fees and taxes. However, taxing um gambling at the EU level would make sense because companies are concentrated in low regulation countries and that would also encourage member states to tackle harmful gambling more than now.

[00:15:34]>> Speaker is Alexander Yungl.

[00:15:43]Madame President, the principle of uh subsidiarity is being abused here and let me explain to you why this principle is important on an EU level which says that the EU can only raise resources in some areas which have to fall within their exclusive competences. So when the political goals of member states cannot be uh uh reached alone, I am convinced that the commission's proposal uh does not help or support member states.

[00:16:12]rather it uses their own resources and uh erodess the autonomy of individual countries the ability to uh uh raise funds here has to uh fall to in national governments because they're aware of their own internal problems and can manage them better. Think about our hospitals, our schools, our local neighborhoods. They are aware of what is at stake and how to resolve their problems. Who knows the situation better than the regions themselves?

[00:16:42]But the commission thinks otherwise.

[00:16:44]They have decided to target uh uh betting and gambling. Now this is bad in itself but it gets worse. They want to uh uh remove important resources from national budgets uh in order to uh uh tackle uh legal gambling with enormous risks for consumer protection. Thank you.

[00:17:09]The next is Carlo.

[00:17:14]>> Thank you, chair, commissioner, colleagues.

[00:17:19]If we want to finance security, competitiveness and and and the energy transition and today this is no longer an issue of wanting. It is an issue of preserving the Europe that we know. Then the union has to have adequate and stable financing resources. It is important to seriously talk about good financial resources including the own resources from online gambling and betting. This is a sector that is extremely digital crossborder and that makes big revenues thanks to the uh single market. It is therefore legitimate to see whether a part of those revenues can be directed to help finance our common priorities. This will help reduce the pressure on national contributions on the European economy and on our citizens. This is extremely important today when we are facing big challenges when the European budget has to find a solution uh to pay off its common debt debt. This proposal therefore needs careful and serious consideration. I want to thank the European Commission but we have to be careful uh of and think of the whole package. We have to think of justice of the fact that this has to be implemented. New own resources needs to be viewed as part of the solution as part of the response by the European Union who needs to be financially responsible.

[00:18:57]>> Speaker Sandra Gomez Lopez Gracia.

[00:19:05]>> Thank you, Commissioner.

[00:19:09]Today we're not talking about balancing the MFF with more own resources. Today we are saying that own resources have to meet the criteria of social justice and European sovereignty. And the European Parliament's proposal of including online betting as own resource is going in the right direction.

[00:19:33]It's an activity that creates no real value. It doesn't make us better or more competitiveness rather the opposite.

[00:19:42]People are making money off uh the vulnerability of young precarious people. And if we use the same business model, well, we could also look at uh social media or speculation in the form of cryptocurrency.

[00:19:56]And there is an invisible thread through all of this and that is addiction.

[00:20:03]We're facing business models that are designed to monetize our time to capture the attention of young people and to use up their savings with they have created a system that not only uh manipulates vulnerability, it creates it, it feeds it and it turns it into a profitable business model. And when this model creates such huge social costs in the form of the mental health of young people, then Europe's response cannot be in action or looking the other way.

[00:20:38]commissioner.

[00:20:41]Often it seems that Europe is paralyzed by it's through its fear of Trump and we know very well that uh some significant uh resources such as the digital tax have been kept in a draw because of fear of American tech companies. But the solution can never be asking more effort of our companies or of our families.

[00:21:10]The solution has to be requiring those who make money from our single market to contribute more and who don't give us anything positive in exchange. So this proposals should be included uh in the proposal for own resources and there should be specific taxation on cryptocurrency as well.

[00:21:34]There's been an addiction industry which is a machine to turn the vulnerability of our young people into economic profits. Our goal should be to control this to get them to pay for the damage they uh create and to look out for the future of our youth. Ericson >> Tolman.

[00:21:59]>> Thank you, President.

[00:22:03]The imagination appears to know no bounds when it comes to inventing new taxes and levies in the European Union. We hear about um uh crypto currences, electro waste, uh new real estate taxes, a levy on oil companies, luxury goods such as sports cars or financial transaction taxes.

[00:22:42]digital advertising.

[00:22:45]And now we have a new proposal, a levy on online gambling and betting. We should um be allowing people and companies uh freedom of choice instead of inventing new taxes and placing greater burdens on uh citizens.

[00:23:09]As uh everyone knows this will harm our competitiveness.

[00:23:14]Now uh you would you accept a blue card from Victor Negresco.

[00:23:21]Colleague, you forgot something really important.

[00:23:25]The data presented by the industry. 71% of the market is composed of illegal platforms. That means your citizens are going online right now spending their money on illegal platforms. And those platforms are not taxed not taxed at national level not at all. So we need to approach this issue at European level.

[00:23:45]Do you agree in us fighting against those illegal platforms? Do you agree that together we can fight better against this illegal platforms? The in the MFF report of the European Parliament together with the corporal.

[00:23:58]So what is your opinion about illegal platforms?

[00:24:04]So >> of course we need to tackle the scourge of illegal business.

[00:24:12]That is a different matter. We need to tackle that problem through law enforcement. That is entirely different to the idea of introducing a new tax. Of course, you're right. Illegal and criminal activities must be tackled, but we should not increase taxes. That will not solve this dilemma.

[00:24:36]More taxes will make life harder for honest businesses and ensure that they are competitive. It's the wrong approach.

[00:24:53]What if we broke taboos?

[00:24:57]What if we finally uh brought about the reforms we need to get its own resources? The proposal for online betting is an interesting path, but it's the tip of the iceberg.

[00:25:10]For decades, we've known that we have an issue with regarding uh tax competition within Europe. We know that we've got a problem to capture the added value created by multinationals specifically in the digital area today. The whole European edifice could crumble and uh it would be unacceptable to say that we can't act on tax with the rise of AI. If we do nothing within 10 years to solve this problem, then our entire social system will crumble.

[00:25:50]Honorable members, it's time to leave certain taboss aside to be creative and to reinvent our tax system and that needs to be done at the European level because only together can we take back control faced with the giants. See the next speaker is Rao Olivera.

[00:26:12]regard President >> Thank you, President Commissioner Sefkovich.

[00:26:16]The EU budget should be financed with national contributions in line with GDP.

[00:26:22]This is the fairest solution. Countries which benefit from the EU's policies will continue to contribute to the budget. Those who suffer will be compensated. The new proposal for EU's own own resources threatens this redistribution model and may end up with uh the opposite effect. A tax on tobacco uh or or uh electronic waste has meant that Portugal has ended up contributing more to the EU budget than Germany or France. It is uh uh turning the whole budgetary uh model on its head. Now, if you look at taxing, gambling and betting online, this is also uh uh an issue because Portugal already has a 25% tax on uh the uh uh uh net uh income on gross income from uh uh gaming and betting on a line. Now, this will completely vanish if this becomes an own resource for the EU. We would prefer that we do not bet on this. We don't want to run the risk of losing. We rather we should put a stop to these online betting. This is not a game that we want to play.

[00:27:31]>> Mr. Kaisle, >> president, commissioner, honorable members.

[00:27:38]In 2025, the turnover was almost 130 billion euro in European online gambling and betting markets. Business is booming and has moved online. and service providers are often located in low tax countries such as Malta and gambling is not without risk. It is known to be addictive. Five to six million people in Europe are addicted to gambling and so it is a good idea to tax this business.

[00:28:08]Should it become a new own resource for the EU budget, that's a different matter entirely. There are not really any uh own resources per se uh because tax raising powers or member state competence alone and uh EUwide uh tax to benefit the EU budget would not be possible without unonymity in the council and if it were raised it could be put to better use rather than giving this money to Miss Fondelion's commission. would be far better to tackle the tax havens and ensure proper uh control of digital companies.

[00:28:49]>> Thank you, President Commissioner. The approval of next generation funds meant that 800 billion euros of joint debt was issues. In the final straight of these funds, we have to analyze what economic impact they've had and whether they've uh hit their objectives. However, we don't have information, not even the total final discharge. Furthermore, the publications of the European Court of Auditors and the most recent information about what's happening in Spain show that we are not exactly facing a success story today. We have to look at how to pay this joint debt and we should ask ourselves what the council and the commission have done to do that. In 2020 they decided to create new own resources with the which they could finance that debt and it's still uh held up today. So what progress has been made and the commission's proposal for the upcoming MFFF is to make cuts for example to the cap or to the cohesion fund and the creation of new taxes that the council has already said it won't approve and uh are not even present in today's debate. So the easy option would be talk to talk about emitting more debt which would punish companies and uh individuals through higher taxes to pay for the debt of a program that we can't even say has had any success. So when it comes to creating new tax figures, what we really need is to talk about refinancing that debt uh in more flexible terms and a more exhaustive evaluation of all the budget lines and pro programs in the European budget. I think that's the most responsible way to do things. Thank you.

[00:30:38]>> You the next speaker.

[00:30:44]Honorable members, today in this chamber we have taken in a historic decision on the next annual EU budget. Let's sum it up as follow. Let's build a future without decimating solidarity policies that are the beating heart of our European Union. This is an unprecedented step, the most sweeping change since the delore years. The parliament has never come forward such a wide-ranging proposal to better equip the European Union to grapple with future challenges.

[00:31:18]We now need to engage in debate with member states.

[00:31:22]I don't know what you would say about the new uh sectors open. What about defense space, crypto, housing?

[00:31:33]Those are uh key challenges and of course we need own resources to tackle those challenges. We seem to have a black blockade and so under the leadership of Sandra Gomez, we in the parliament have come forward with fresh proposals such as the online gambling tax and digital services levy. So a decision lies ahead. We need to decide on own resources. We need to decide whether we uh will take action here.

[00:32:04]Thank you.

[00:32:10]>> Thank you, President.

[00:32:14]>> There have always been strange ideas about the own resources, but this is amongst the worst that I've ever heard of. A new tax will be disrupting licensed companies in the European Union. It puts them at a competitive disadvantage.

[00:32:29]It encourages them to relocate to third countries and encourages clients to prefer non-EU illegal operators.

[00:32:37]This ensures impunity where they can't they don't have to pay taxes and the most basic consumer safeguards will not be applied.

[00:32:49]I must emphasize that this sector contributes to more than 10% of Malta's GDP. The same sector sector follows strict consumer protection standards and creates highquality jobs. No member state is as exposed as Malta.

[00:33:08]The Maltese people will be bearing the brunt of this flawed polity policy that kicks out companies from the European Union. Let's not waste time. The own resources require unanimity for us. This proposal is a non-starter.

[00:33:26]I can't speak on behalf of the current government.

[00:33:30]This is since the idea is being promoted by the socialists. But I must be clear.

[00:33:36]A future nationalist party government will use the veto without thinking twice.

[00:33:45]Let's do ourselves a favor. Let's let's treat this subject as a subject that has the member states competencies only. We don't have the competency to change this. If we don't understand this argument then we've understood nothing.

[00:34:06]So dear colleague f first of all again Malta is losing money because of the illegal platforms.

[00:34:13]This is the first element and what's your opinion on this point? The second element which I think is is is relevant.

[00:34:20]Malta will remain competitive because we are not affecting the national regulations. Not at all. It's not about national regulations. And and third and least I think is crucial. This initiative was co-signed by EP members as well renew members green members from all political sides and it was voted because it is included in the MFF report approved by this hour. So it's a common initiative of the parliament.

[00:34:44]As I've already said, this socialist proposal is harmful to Malta. The socialist proposal makes the sector into an illegal one. The socialist proposal sends legal companies to operate outside of the EU. So, this socialist proposal is is a flawed one. This should be a national competence. We don't need any socialist proposals that are harmful to the European market. Um there is a additional question David.

[00:35:17]>> Yeah because because he has the right to make a second.

[00:35:26]To be clear, no one wants to have an impact on the companies in Malta. But companies present in Malta make their revenues on the Romanian market, on the German market, on the French market. So the single market is important. Do you support the single market for the betting industry? If you do that, then you support also European responsibility.

[00:35:43]>> Negresco, you know, Mr. Negresco, I've agreed on your proposals in the past, but I must be honest with you, the importance of this sector cannot be stressed upon.

[00:35:56]This multi- sector is stressing to me that this is crazy. You can you cannot understand this sector if your country does not respect the sector enough. For us, this is a very important sector. We will not let anyone dictate our terms on Malta. Malta will decide on this market especially from those from the Socialist Party.

[00:36:18]>> The next speaker is Kala Tavar.

[00:36:23]>> Thank you Madame President. Commissioner Sarapin. The position of the parliament is set out clearly in the mandate which we receive for the next MF. We cannot accept an EU budget that is unambitious in its objectives and lacking in funds.

[00:36:37]And we agree that the next uh MFF cannot be an exercise in restraint disguised as ambition. It needs to be an instrument which supports investment and cohesion able to support a Europe which protects and leads and which is committed to strengthen its autonomy in a world which is ever more instable and unpredictable.

[00:36:56]Commissioner, let me say that we welcome and support the approach taken by the European Commission in their attempts to identify new own resources in this house. We have also done this work.

[00:37:08]Let me say turn to the two co-patives on uh own resources who are working together with this. The proposal that we are discussing today is an example of one of our contributions to the ambition that we all share for our next MFF.

[00:37:22]We know that we are under no illusions.

[00:37:25]An ambitious and credible budget can only tackle to tackle the challenge we're faced with. It can only be done with new resources with a new basket of uh new res own resources. If we don't have own resources, we will not have new goals, new new ambitions, new objectives. And we believe that the debate here today is a contribution to a future ambition as well.

[00:37:53]>> Thank you, President and Madame Tavaris.

[00:37:57]You were saying that with the creation of this new source of own resources and are you saying that we will not in Portugal end up contributing more to the budget? Can you guarantee that Portugal will not lose out from its national budget by overcontributing to own resources to finance the EU? And then my second question, do you support this proposal that illegal uh uh gambling will then be taxable? If it's illegal, it can't be taxable. has it can't be subject to a national or European taxes and therefore we cannot have illegal resources going into the EU's own resources as we say back home you create the path as you walk along it and we believe we are here to find solutions and alternatives to uh meet the scope of the ambition that you and I want to see and this is one way forward and as we say as well we uh shouldn't disregard something we're completely completely unfamiliar with without looking into it and I think that would be the responsible approach to the pro European parties in this uh parliament and I'm sure you will rem remain one of them. Next speaker is Lydia Pereira.

[00:39:17]>> Colleagues, the possibility of having more money for the EU's budget from the gambling sector is worthy of consideration with pragmatism and with an awareness of our responsibility here.

[00:39:31]This sector is uh exists. Yes, it cannot be avoided. But it's also true that many operators are acting beyond national borders. They are subject to different regulatory systems and they manage to evade both control oversight and taxes.

[00:39:46]More than 25 billion euros uh lost every year as a result of this. Therefore, it does make sense to reassess this activity in order to uh uh fund EU's activities. But let's be clear, we're not it's not enough to look for new own resources. We need a demanding and rigorous regulatory framework with better oversight and better cooperation between the member states. And what is most important is that we have greater protection for those who are playing because it is an addiction. It gives rise to addictive behavior. It can destroy our citizens financial stability, families, and damage mental health. I don't want an EU which is uh feeding off the income from the gambling industry.

[00:40:34]We have to look at the digital arena and uh traditional media to raise awareness of this. We need transparency. We need accountability. If we have regulation that means we need prevention as well and the EU needs to protect its citizens first of all and only after that will we move on to protecting our budget. Thank you.

[00:40:53]>> Again from Mr. Olivera.

[00:41:01]Thank you, President.

[00:41:03]Madame Perea, seeen as you talked about illegal gambling as well, I'll put the same question to you as I put to Madame Tares.

[00:41:10]If there are taxes which are not raised because the um the games are and the butting is illegal, how will this change now? Are you going to legalize the betting and gambling so that you can tax them or and then those taxes should go to a national authorities and why would these taxes on legal activity go to the EU? And then you talked about addiction as well. How do you think we can reconcile taxing these activities when our priority should be tackling the addictive nature of these uh games and betting and online betting in particular especially amongst our younger citizens?

[00:41:49]>> Well, uh I may well make up part of an institution but I don't trust institutions. I would like this institution itself to do its work but I would like also to trust our police forces and national authorities to ensure that laws are adeared to. That's my answer to your first question.

[00:42:07]Secondly, uh addiction has to be uh fought against and I mentioned prevention. It is crucial that we have a uh a pact to tackle addiction and addictive behavior which um destroys lives in many cases and uh endangers the lives of many families.

[00:42:27]We're talking particularly about protecting uh the youngest generations because they are most uh vulnerable when faced with the dangers on in the digital world. Thank you. Uh blue card >> there is again a blue card note but but it's it was not no it's not allowed.

[00:42:45]Sorry I have to explain that Mr. Jama because the blue card was risen not during her speech but later. So I now again explain the rules.

[00:42:58]The blue card must be risen during the original speech not during the answer.

[00:43:04]No it was not risen before. Sorry. No it was not. We see that here on the on the device. Uh not during the answer, not as an add-on to the answer, just to the original speech. That is the rule. Sorry to say that. I'll just explain what's the rules are. So held Silva please.

[00:43:30]>> Madame President, Commissioner, colleagues, ensuring uh appropriate and predictable funding for the EU is one of the main factors that we have to guarantee the effectiveness and uh uh success of the European budget. Introducing new own resources is absolutely crucial. It will mean that the EU can tackle uh uh new challenges and needs and meet the expectations of its citizens and businesses. In order to implement both uh traditional and new political priorities, it is crucial to uh raise new resources but without asking for more contributions from national budgets nor increasing uh uh taxes for European citizens or businesses. At the moment, there are economic sectors which manage to enjoy the advantages of the EU single market but contribute little or nothing to its smooth workings. Therefore, we'd like to uh uh send out a clear message that we would uh support three four new uh sources of own resources. We are currently looking at those today.

[00:44:44]One of these own resources would be uh tax on online betting and gambling. Now this is uh uh untaxed uh sector at the moment. We believe it's comes down to a question of tax fairness because offline gambling and betting is already taxed and this could feed into a EU budget so that all of those who uh enjoy the benefits of the EU project contribute to its smooth working >> card from Mr. Jama. Do you accept it?

[00:45:20]Mr. President, today I don't accept blue cards because I'm trying to protect our our uh commissioner Potter Sarafhin and the level of disciplinary because it's too much. Thank you so much.

[00:45:34]>> Thank you. So I cannot give it to you.

[00:45:37]Sorry. Then we come to the catch the eye. Um the first on catch the eye is Juan Fernando Lopez Aguilar.

[00:45:45]>> Thank you foring Commission Commissioner How many have you heard in this semicycle that you can't do more with less own resources? What are we talking about? Well, we're talking about sources of revenue for the European Union that goes beyond VAT, beyond uh border taxes and new taxes such as on plastics or tobacco or electronic waste.

[00:46:15]Now a new mod business model such as online gambling which not only exploits uh the vulnerabilities of uh precarious people we can actually dissuade this practice and generate resources that's not the end of things though for the European Union to fulfill its ambitions in defense and security or cohesion or the cap. It has to be able to uh get into joint debt such as for next generation European joint debt and own resources. The only way to do more with more. Thank you.

[00:46:55]>> The last speaker under catch the eye is Michael McNamara.

[00:47:06]>> Mike, please. Uh >> thank you very much uh Madame Vice President. I very much welcome this debate. Um Ireland uh which I uh or part of which I represent in this house uh already has a a gambling tax of 2% levy on all bets laid in Ireland and 2% levy equally on online bets in Ireland. Uh I have no problem with increasing that that uh tax. I mean clearly gambling is a major issue. It's an issue that's destroying particularly young lives as we see more and more young people becoming addicted to gambling. we know sports stars etc telling their stories and I mean I I think we should follow uh the policy of taxing things that are bad and seeking to reduce taxes and things that are good. So I have no problem with it whatsoever. My only question would be if this um EU tax comes in will that be as well as uh national taxes or will it somehow be instead of national taxes which I would have a problem with. So, I would welcome clarification from the commissioner on that, but in principle, I have no problem whatsoever with uh taxing the the gambling industry and taxing them heavily for the damage that they're causing in society.

[00:48:15]Thank you very much. And now pass the floor again for the reply of the commission. Mr. Zerafine, you have the floor.

[00:48:23]Thank you, Madame President. Uh thank you for this debate. Uh I have a few reflections.

[00:48:31]uh the first one is related to the many of the voices I have heard here.

[00:48:39]Formally speaking, the topic is a new own resource. But uh in practice, what we are debating today, we are debating today whether in the next multi-annual budget there will be enough of resources to finance our common priorities. This is the very nature of this debate and I think we have to be honest. If we want to have uh funds for cohesion policy, for agriculture policy, for research and development, for competitiveness, it's not enough to talk only how to spend money. We also need to talk about how to collect the resources so that we can finance common policies. And that I think everyone should uh remember.

[00:49:22]Sometimes I appreciate if there are voices, if there are people, and there are people including in this in this um in this room that don't want to see common agriculture policy that don't want to see cohesion policy then I really understand they have a right to be against own resources but if you support common European policies you need to also engage into a common process of looking for the way to finance the EU budget so that would be my first reflection the second one I said at the beginning we are still working on the assessment of the proposal of the European Parliament. But I would appeal to you. I have heard some voices even today and I'm aware that there is no perfect candidate for new own resources and I know that also the package that we have presented with five candidates. There is a criticism uh from that or the other corner and you have heard it also today we are discussing about the online gambling but even on that topic you will find critical voices. There will be critical voices on each and every proposal. But we should not when we will be reflecting about your proposals. It is not our intention to replace uh the package which is already on the table. It will be rather to complement it with some new ideas that come from the European uh parliament. The first reflection I was thanking you already for the interim report but what I want to also share with you and this is the source of my optimism.

[00:51:00]you put on table three new three new ideas. But I also know uh we all know because it was said by the president of the European Council after the first discussion among the heads of states and governments that there were many heads of states and governments that uh approach with an open minds uh your ideas and that's also the reason why I'm getting a bit more optimistic that maybe we will manage to build something on that uh on that basis.

[00:51:35]uh and uh and finally uh because there were also some concrete questions indeed I'm not in a position right now to give concrete answers as I said at the beginning we are working on the assessment of your proposals uh they will be published uh I believe relatively soon and you will get get them but I also have to be clear we were tasked by you and we were also asked by the president of the European Council to work on the assessment of the European Parliament's proposal and I really appreciate that the European Parliament took an active role in this exercise because uh as I have already said on many occasions this topic is politically sensitive and your support is and will remain crucial to find a good agreement.

[00:52:25]Thank you very much.

[00:52:27]>> Thank you very much Commissioner Dear colleagues, the debate is closed for this item on the agenda. The next item on the agenda are debates on cases of breaches of human rights, democracy and the rule of law according to rule 150.

[00:52:49]And we will begin with the authors. The first will be Dav Evo.