(Strasbourg) It’s already a tug of war between the European Parliament and the European Council about 2017’s EU budget. The two budgeting authorities of the European Union press for different figures: while the European Parliament wants a more substantial budget to be allocated to growth, employment, youth, innovation, environment, migrants’ rehoming, the European Council, on behalf of the member states, aims at cutting the figures. In Strasbourg, today, the MEPs cast a vote that defeats all the cuts proposed by the EU Council in the draft 2017 budget. The MEPs would like to set the overall 2017 budget at 160.7 billion euros (4.1 billion euros more than in the draft budget) of allocations and 136,7 billion euros (+2.5 billion euros) of payments. The rapporteur, the German Jens Geier, stated: “The EU is having to face an unprecedented number of different challenges. If we really want to seriously deal with such challenges, then we need a well-funded budget. When, back in 2013, we negotiated the long-term financial framework for 2014-2020, there were much fewer refugees coming to Europe every year. Now, the figure far exceeds one million. We must admit that the circumstances have changed. We need to completely revise the long-term financial framework and come up with a more ambitious EU budget”. Three difficult weeks of negotiations with the EU Council will be starting now.