Ireland, which currently holds the EU’s rotating presidency, has proposed trimming the bloc’s next long-term budget by €141bn in an attempt to win over the Germany-led “frugal” countries, according to Euronews. The document, known as the negotiating box, is meant to anchor budget talks when EU leaders meet on 15 and 16 October, the outlet reported.
What the Draft Contains
Euronews said the proposal covers the Multiannual Financial Framework (MFF) for 2028 to 2034. It would set the overall volume at €1,622bn in 2025 prices, which is 8 per cent below the European Commission’s proposal and still 30 per cent above the current MFF. In current prices, the outlet put the figure at around €1,825bn.
The cuts are uneven, according to the report. Cohesion, agriculture and fisheries, the largest item, would be cut by 3 per cent to €914bn. The programme for economic competitiveness, research and defence would fall by 13 per cent to €456bn, EU administration by 8.8 per cent to €95bn, and the Global Europe programme for cooperation projects in third countries by 17 per cent to €157bn.
The text also includes a package of new own resources, EU-wide levies feeding the EU budget, estimated to raise €55bn a year. Euronews said it would raise the call rate for the Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism from 75 to 90 per cent, keep Commission proposals for a tobacco excise duty, a corporate resource and an electronic waste levy, and leave out three own resources suggested by the European Parliament, covering digital services, online gambling and crypto assets.
The Political Picture
The report said the aim is a political agreement by the end of the year. Germany leads a coalition of six frugal countries that want the Commission’s proposal cut by several hundred billion euros, while Italy’s Giorgia Meloni leads a 17-strong group of southern and eastern member states, the “Friends of Cohesion”, that put protecting funding for farmers and the poorest regions first. Euronews noted that an earlier compromise from the Cypriot presidency in June proposed a €32.8bn reduction.
Thomas Byrne, Ireland’s Minister of State for European Affairs, said the box strikes a balance between new priorities such as competitiveness and defence, core policies and member states’ fiscal realities. Some frugal governments disagreed: Sweden’s EU affairs minister, Jessica Rosencrantz, said on X that “we are therefore nowhere near an agreement”. EU ambassadors were due to discuss the plan on Sunday, ministers on 13 October and leaders on 15 and 16 October.
Why It Matters
The EU budget sets out how much the bloc can spend on farming, regional development, defence and external action for seven years, and it requires agreement among member states. The reaction to Ireland’s draft shows how far apart the camps still are on both total size and priorities. Whether the next stage of talks narrows the gap will be tested at the leaders’ meeting.
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