Thursday, the EU’s “frugal” member states, led by Germany, pledged to spend hundreds of billions of euros less than what the European Commission is proposing for the Union’s budget for the 2028-2034 period.
“The European Union must make clear choices and redefine its budget priorities, just as we do at home,” warned Germany, Austria, Denmark, Finland, the Netherlands, and Sweden in a joint statement, ahead of discussions planned for the autumn that are expected to be difficult among the 27.
“The Commission’s proposal, which amounts to nearly 2,000 billion euros, must be reduced by several hundred billion euros, in a balanced manner,” they stated.
Of the six of us, “we finance around 40% of the European budget,” said at the start of a press conference in Berlin the German Chancellor Friedrich Merz, in the presence of his Finnish, Austrian and Danish counterparts. The Dutch and Swedish leaders participated in the meeting online.
“We are not stingy, but this kind of distribution proposed by the Commission simply does not fit our era,” warned the conservative leader Friedrich Merz, who is particularly unpopular in Germany, as his party faces the risk of losing a regional election in ten days to the far right.
The “frugal” countries reject any increase in public spending, such as proposed by the European Commission last year, for the EU budget for 2028-2034.
Brussels has suggested a total envelope of 2 trillion euros, up about 60% compared with the current budget.
The “six frugals,” net contributors to the EU budget, demand stricter budgetary discipline, which traditionally pits them against countries such as Italy, Spain, and Poland.
European leaders want to reach a common position by the end of the year, with summits in October in Brussels and two more in quick succession in November and December.
The idea is to act before the 2027 elections in several member states, including France where the far right could triumph.
The president of the European Council, Antonio Costa, began this week a tour of the EU capitals to push forward on this deadline.
