Ireland’s turn at the steering wheel of EU budget talks has produced a plan that takes an axe to the bloc’s next seven-year spending framework. The proposal unveiled on Saturday, October 10 by the Irish presidency of the EU Council trims roughly 8% from the 2028-2034 budget, leaving it €159 billion below the European Commission’s original pitch and €122 billion below the previous negotiating box tabled by the Cyprus presidency in June. It lands days before a leaders’ summit shaped to argue over it.
The divide it tries to bridge is stark. A German-led frugal camp wants several hundred billion euros shaved off the near €2 trillion package, while the Friends of Cohesion, a rival group of southern and eastern member states, refuse reductions. The frugals had already dismissed the Cyprus box for cutting a mere €32 billion.
Ireland’s arithmetic protects the politically explosive half of the budget: farm subsidies and regional transfers, which make up half the total, are untouched. The cuts fall elsewhere. Foreign aid loses €38 billion, competitiveness spending €75 billion and EU administrative costs €10 billion. Dublin also scrapped the rainy day fund, the “EU Facility cushion” that let the Commission respond to emergencies mid-cycle.
Thomas Byrne, the Minister of State for European Affairs steering the negotiations, defended the package as a balanced compromise among 27 countries, telling reporters it preserved “the traditional policies of the Union, which are very important for the European Union and the single market.” “But we also very much look to the future,” he added.
The reception has been brutal on both flanks. “The Irish proposal is a disappointment and not even close to a landing zone,” one EU diplomat said, arguing that favoring the policy priorities of the 20th century fails to prepare the EU for the 21st, and adding: “We urgently need more financial realism and less financial La La Land.” The European Parliament’s budget negotiator, Siegfried Mureșan of the European People’s Party, was no kinder: “The Irish Presidency has delivered little progress, no meaningful new solutions and a weaker budget.” “Parliament is not bluffing: the budget proposed by the Irish Presidency will not receive our consent,” he warned. Ambassadors were set to react on Sunday, with leaders due to debate on Thursday, and governments racing for a deal by year-end before elections in France, Poland and Italy complicate the math.
On new EU-wide taxes, the so-called own resources worth €66 billion, Ireland changed little: all five Commission proposals stay on the table with technical tweaks, including a phase-in of emissions trading contributions for poorer countries and bigger contributions from the carbon import levy. France had pushed to add the levies Parliament had proposed on crypto firms, online gambling and the digital giants; Ireland declined. European Council President António Costa said he intends to settle which taxes can fly during the summit.
Sources
- MFF Negotiations Enter A Critical Phase For Ireland’s Presidency Of The Council Of The EU | Legal 500
- EU budget slashed by €159B in new Irish proposal – POLITICO
