EU lawmakers back blockbuster long-term budget

STRASBOURG, (France): The European Parliament on Tuesday threw its weight behind a more ambitious and bigger long-term EU budget, demanding new taxes to ramp up future spending.

The EU executive last year proposed a nearly two-trillion-euro ($2.3-trillion) long-term budget bazooka for 2028-2034 that includes paying off the bloc’s coronavirus-related debt.

EU lawmakers rejected that proposal, and called on the European Union to rollover the debt to finance a 10-percent increase in spending and raise new money, notably through taxes on digital giants and online gambling.

Their desire for a bigger budget has pit them against EU nations including Germany, which has the bloc’s largest economy. Berlin instead calls to cut spending in some areas.