EU governments are set to hold complex negotiations on the allocation of the €2 trillion total budget for the next seven years: the ‘frugal states’ are demanding spending cuts, whilst other countries are insisting on maintaining funding for agriculture.
The European Union is entering a difficult phase in negotiations over its long-term budget: member states are divided over spending levels and priorities ahead of key discussions at the summit in Brussels.
At stake is the EU’s two-trillion budget, and Member States face the challenge of striking a delicate balance: a group of donor countries led by Germany and the Netherlands is pushing for radical cuts to overall spending, much to the annoyance of southern and eastern European countries, which fear that funding for sectors such as agriculture will be slashed to make way for increased defence spending.
Whilst spending on agriculture and regional development remains the largest budget item, its share will fall significantly: from the current figure of around 60 per cent to 44 per cent under the European Commission’s proposed financial perspective for 2028–2034.
At the end of May, a group of 16 countries signed a document calling for increased funding for agriculture and regional policy, calling themselves the ‘Friends of Cohesion’.
The document was signed by Bulgaria, Croatia, Estonia, Greece, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, Malta, Poland, Portugal, the Czech Republic, Romania, Slovenia, Slovakia, Spain and Hungary.
The so-called ‘frugal countries’ — Germany, the Netherlands, Denmark, Sweden, Finland and Austria — maintain that any increase in spending is unacceptable to them.
EU leaders hope to reach an agreement on the budget by the end of 2026. The co-legislators are keen to avoid dragging out the negotiations until 2027, when important elections are due to take place in a number of key European countries, including France, Italy and Poland.