Ireland will propose cuts to the new EU budget. How will Poland react?

Ireland wants to reconcile the expectations of Germany and other countries demanding savings - called "misers" - with the demands of Poland and other Friends of Cohesion who want to protect money for agriculture and regional development.

Cuts where Poland indicated

Poland has already indicated where to look for possible savings. In a recent conversation with RMF FM, Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs Ignacy Niemczycki drew attention primarily to funds for competitiveness and aid for countries outside the European Union, saying that if there are cuts, they will be cut there.

Competitiveness funds (scientific research, innovation, industrial development and new technologies) benefit primarily the most developed countries, while limiting expenditure on external actions could help find savings without further reducing funds for agriculture and cohesion policy.

It is in these areas that we should expect the cuts that Ireland will propose today. Such cuts seem to be acceptable for Poland. Because without cuts there will be no compromise.

If necessary, savings can be sought primarily in those areas that are expected to grow the most in the European Commission's project, said the deputy head of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in an interview with RMF FM, pointing to competitiveness and support for non-EU countries.

Dispute over new EU taxes. Poland opposes the ECJ

The dispute over new sources of income for the European Union, i.e. the so-called own resources. Ireland is to stick to the proposal presented by the European Commission in 2025. Brussels then proposed five solutions:

revenues from the ETS emissions trading system,

fees related to the CBAM carbon border tax,

contribution from the largest enterprises known as CORE,

tobacco tax revenues,

fee related to unrecycled electronic waste.

As established by an RMF FM journalist, Poland is most opposed to transferring part of the ETS revenues, which currently support national budgets, to the EU budget. Warsaw also raises serious reservations about e-waste fees. As Katarzyna Szymańska-Borginon reported a few days ago, the Polish and European household appliances industry is strongly protesting against them, warning about the increase in production costs and prices of devices. Warsaw is also unenthusiastic about the tobacco tax, but supports CBAM and CORE.

The "miserly" want bigger cuts than Ireland will propose

Irish minister Thomas Byrne said a few days ago in the European Parliament how difficult it will be to reach a compromise: "We cannot please everyone."

For now, however, it does not appear that the scale of cuts proposed in unofficial reports will satisfy the so-called misers. One of the diplomats of a country belonging to this group told RMF FM that the recent joint position of the six countries referred to cuts of several hundred billion euros, not one hundred or two hundred billion. He also emphasized that savings should cover all budget sections, including traditional policies, i.e. agriculture and cohesion.

Ireland's proposal today is only an intermediate stage of the negotiations. As the Polish diplomat points out, it is not yet necessary to determine what the final compromise will look like. The next step will be a budget proposal prepared at the level of the office of the President of the European Council. It will contain proposals that will help EU leaders agree on the most difficult budget issues.