The war with Iran and months of disputes between capitals have significantly delayed the negotiations over the multiannual financial framework (MFF) of one trillion euros.
The European Commission is requesting a slight increase but substantially more spending on Defence and modernization of the economy (read: a more autonomous EU). This can only be financed by major cuts to other expenditures, such as regional structural funds and agriculture.
Old-fashioned
Roberta Metsola, President of the European Parliament, called on the prime ministers and heads of state to allocate more money to the EU. “We cannot fund a new Europe with an old-fashioned budget” was her message. It is already known that next week the European Parliament will take the position that the EU budget should be increased by around 10 percent.
Promotion
Most EU governments are not very keen on that. Together with countries including Germany, the Netherlands advocates restraint. These countries want sharp choices to be made and spending in other areas to be reduced.
Less Agriculture
An important point of contention is agricultural policy. According to the Netherlands, a lot of money still goes to agriculture, while others believe this support should be maintained or even increased.
The negotiations are difficult because the EU countries have divergent interests. Some countries want to limit spending, while others want to protect existing support.
Own Defence
At the same time, pressure is growing to allocate more funds for new European priorities. Think of defence, security, energy, economy, and migration. This makes the discussion about budget distribution especially complex.
Additionally, earlier EU debts must be repaid. This could come at the expense of new plans or existing programmes.
The goal is to reach an agreement among the EU countries before the end of 2026. But it is clear that intensive negotiations are still needed for this. Most likely, the EU countries will only make final decisions at an extra summit in November.