The Irish presidency of the European Union Council presented a proposal for an 8% cut to the multi-annual community budget planned for the period 2028 to 2034. This budget totals 1.62 billion euros, with no changes to the cohesion and agriculture areas.
In a press conference held in Brussels, the Irish Minister for European Affairs, Thomas Byrne, announced that the updated negotiation framework allows for savings of 141 billion euros compared to the Commission's original proposal. Despite this, he emphasized that the amount represents a considerable increase compared to the volume of the current Multi-annual Financial Framework.
According to the official, this 8% reduction results in a proposal equivalent to 1.16% of the European Union's Gross National Income (GNI), totaling 1.62 billion euros, against the 1.76 billion euros proposed by the community executive at constant prices (and 1.98 billion euros at current prices).
Byrne explained that revisions were introduced through adjustments and savings that mirror the priorities clearly established by the Member States for each program. However, he stressed maintaining the objective of responding to new and emerging political priorities of the budget while sustaining crucial policies, such as the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) and the cohesion policy.
National allocations remained unchanged compared to the proposal released last June. This occurred due to requests from the majority of Member States to protect the CAP and the cohesion policy, as well as other essential EU policies provided for in the Treaties. Furthermore, a level of ambition was maintained in the new priorities related to competitiveness, research, innovation, and security and defense.
The cuts compared to the initial European Commission proposal are mainly concentrated in the Global Europe heading, which suffered a 17% reduction, followed by competitiveness, prosperity, and security, with a decrease of 13%. The administration registered an 8.8% cut, while the area of economic, social, and territorial cohesion, agriculture, fisheries, and rural communities had the smallest reduction, only 3%.
This revised proposal, which incorporates new own-resource sources to finance the community budget, will serve as the basis for negotiations between Member States. It comes before next week's European Council meeting, where the next Multi-annual Financial Framework (MFF) will be discussed, which will determine the EU's priorities and spending limits between 2028 and 2034.
Thomas Byrne highlighted that, compared to the current 2021-2027 community framework, the revision represents a significant increase, over 30% compared to the volume of the current MFF, which is equivalent to about 47% when considering inflation. He expressed confidence that this rebalancing of priorities will meet the preferences of the Member States and pave the way for the next phase of negotiations, aiming for a budget that is 'modern, simplified, and more flexible.'
European leaders aim to reach a consensus on the next budget by the end of 2026, allowing the new framework to enter into force in January 2028.