European leaders failed to agree on the EU's long-term budget on the first day of the summit. UNN reports this with reference to DW.
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Talks among European leaders on the EU budget for the next seven years failed to produce a breakthrough and will continue in December, according to information received from sources in the German government overnight into Friday, October 16, by AFP. According to the publication's sources, several positions clashed during the summit of heads of state and government of EU member states in Brussels, leading to "controversial debates." As the agency notes, these positions were known even before the talks began. Some countries, including Germany, Austria, Sweden, Denmark, the Netherlands and Finland, are calling for spending cuts, while others, including France, Spain and Poland, are advocating an increase in the EU budget.
Last summer, the European Commission presented a draft long-term budget worth almost two trillion euros. Ireland, which holds the presidency of the Council of the EU, proposed cutting the budget by €140 billion (approximately 8%).
Ireland's proposal envisages cuts to EU budget spending in the areas of competitiveness, scientific research, defense and foreign policy.
The EU wants to agree on the budget by the end of the year
At the summit, France focused on introducing new pan-European levies that would make it possible to increase the budget without raising member states' contributions. In particular, the proposal concerns levies on digital services, crypto-assets and online gambling.
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The next EU summit will take place in December. Many of the EU's 27 member states want to approve the long-term budget by the end of the year, since in 2027 euroskeptic and populist forces may come to power in several countries as a result of elections.
Thus, far-right politician Marine Le Pen may win the presidential election in France. As AFP reports, the country's current head, Emmanuel Macron, has already warned that in such a case reaching an agreement on the EU budget would be "difficult."
Before the talks began, German Chancellor Friedrich Merz called for the draft budget proposed by the European Commission to be "substantially" reduced and categorically rejected the idea of allocating additional funds to the traditional major spending areas—agriculture and cohesion policy.
Austrian Chancellor Christian Stocker did not rule out the possibility that the talks could drag on and continue next year.