EU Chief Warns Against German-Led Push To Slash Bloc's Next Budget

(MENAFN- Jordan Times) STRASBOURG, France - EU chief Ursula von der Leyen warned Tuesday against a push by Germany and other member states for "large cuts" to the EU's next long-term budget, saying "critical" European priorities were at stake.

Germany and five other so-called "frugal" countries, Austria, Denmark, Finland, the Netherlands and Sweden, want the EU budget for 2028-2034 reduced by "several hundred billion euros" compared with the European Commission's draft.

Commission president Von der Leyen told the European Parliament she was "aware of the difficult budgetary situation in member states."

"But I would like to caution against large cuts. It would risk cutting deep into critical priorities that we all together have agreed on," she told lawmakers.

The commission last year proposed a total envelope of two trillion euros for the 2028-2034 period, an increase of around 60 percent compared with the current budget.

The Multiannual Financial Framework [MFF], as the long-term budget is formally known, is intended in particular to fund the EU's new priorities in competitiveness, innovation and defence.

"I believe that the priorities we propose in the MFF are the right ones," von der Leyen said.

By contrast with the so-called "frugals", 17 countries from southern and eastern Europe have formed a bloc known as the "Friends of Cohesion", arguing for a more ambitious budget to support farmers and reduce social and regional disparities.

To help finance its new priorities, the Commission has proposed increasing the EU's own resources, with options including environmental taxation and levies on tobacco, a move von der Leyen urged parliament to support.

"If we want to preserve our priorities and the level of ambition we have for Europe, we have to do the hard work on the revenue side," she said.

Negotiations on the budget and proposals for new revenue sources will be high on the agenda at a summit of EU heads of state and government in Brussels on October 15 and 16.

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