The dispute over the next EU budget recently came to a head when Friedrich Merz rejected an Irish proposal. Now António Costa wants to bring new movement into the negotiations.
António Costa wants to present a new proposal in the EU budget dispute in a few weeks. He has to convince Chancellor Friedrich Merz, among others. (Archive image) Photo: Michael Kappeler/dpa
Brussels. In the dispute over the next long-term EU budget, Council President António Costa wants to present a new negotiation proposal in the coming weeks. As an EU official said on the sidelines of the autumn summit in Brussels, there will be a special meeting of heads of state and government on November 26th. Ideally, an agreement should be reached at the regular summit three weeks later.
In a statement from the heads of state and government in the evening, EU Council President Costa is called on to advance negotiations on the next budget for the seven years from 2028 to 2034 with a view to reaching a “timely agreement”. A conclusion before the end of 2026 would make it possible to adopt the necessary legal acts in 2027 so that EU funds can flow uninterrupted at the beginning of 2028, the text says.
Negotiations in three areas
According to the EU official, Costa now wants to push the negotiations forward in three areas in particular. On the one hand, the aim is to prevent national contributions for individual member states from rising to a level that is no longer politically acceptable. Secondly, work will be carried out together with the European Commission and the Member States on a new package of additional EU own resources.
New ideas will also be examined, including proposals from the European Parliament and a possible 6G source of own resources. Thirdly, the budget should retain enough flexibility to be able to react to unforeseeable crises. The 6G source of own resources is about the fact that proceeds from the awarding or auctioning of mobile frequencies for 6G could be used for the EU budget.
Germany wants the total volume
Contrary to what has been discussed at times, the negotiations on possible new own resources should not be brought forward separately. Instead, the level of spending, national contributions, new sources of income and flexibility should be negotiated as an overall package. The idea behind this is that additional EU revenue could create scope to finance a more ambitious budget without having to increase member states' contributions accordingly.
How high the next financial framework should ultimately be remains an open question. The EU official made it clear that all adjustments would have to be made in the next negotiation proposal. It is not yet possible to predict whether the total volume will increase or decrease compared to the most recent Irish proposal, it said. There is also currently no new approach for agricultural and structural funding, which is important for many countries.
Hardened fronts
The dispute over future EU finances came to a head last weekend. Federal Chancellor Friedrich Merz rejected a new concept of the current Irish Council Presidency as unacceptable just a few hours after its publication.
This envisaged cutting the next budget by around 159 billion euros compared to the EU Commission's original proposal, to a total of around 1.826 trillion euros for the seven-year period from 2028 to 2034. Germany and other important net contributor countries such as the Netherlands, Sweden and Austria had previously called for the draft budget to be cut by several hundred billion euros. They are among the states that ultimately pay more into the EU budget than they receive back.
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