A bottom-up approach and fiscal responsibility were the focus of the ECR Group's Vice-President Mr Oldřich Vlasák's remarks during the CoR Plenary debate on the Mid-Term Review of the Multiannual Financial Framework.

During his plenary debate intervention, Mr Vlasák stressed the importance of the EU budget review to "address more effectively new and evolving needs that affect the whole of Europe, to address funding gaps and allocation delays, and to increase flexibility and crisis responsiveness".

At the same time, he emphasised the need to maintain fiscal responsibility underlining that the EU should only be involved when the local, regional, and Member State levels are unable to address the issue at hand, and even then, only to the extent that it is necessary, and of course in line with the principle of subsidiarity.

Our Vice-President called for careful coordination with the Member States: "The proposed new own resources should be carefully coordinated with the Member States who should continue deciding the revenue levels of the so-called EU budget."

Regarding the proposed new EU own resources, Mr Vlasák drew attention to the fact that - despite the name - their costs will eventually be shared by European citizens, who are already burdened by a cost-of-living crisis.

Concluding with a clear statement the Vice-President urged the EU institutions to also focus on reducing their own administrative costs and increasing efficiency of expenditure, and importantly to "limit the decreasing trust in the EU's ability to handle crises".