President of the European Council António Costa advocated introducing new pan-European taxes that would reduce member states’ direct contributions to the EU budget. He made the statement after talks with German Chancellor Friedrich Merz in Berlin, Politico reports, according to UNN.
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We cannot demand more from the member states. We need to create new own resources to protect national budgets
The issue has become one of the key points in negotiations on the EU budget for 2028–2034. Germany, which accounts for about a quarter of the bloc’s budget financing, opposes a substantial increase in its expenditures.
Merz demands cuts of hundreds of billions of euros to the EU budget
The German chancellor called for the European Commission’s proposed budget of nearly €2 trillion to be reduced by "several hundred billion". According to him, such an increase in spending is "simply excessive", since European taxpayers will ultimately have to pay for it.
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Costa, by contrast, considers new pan-European taxes necessary to finance common priorities, including defense and enhancing the EU’s competitiveness.
The European Commission had previously expected to receive about €66 billion annually from new sources of revenue. So far, countries have agreed only to levies under the carbon border adjustment mechanism and on uncollected electronic waste, which together could generate about €20 billion per year.