The European Union's next seven-year budget for 2028–2034 could be reduced by €159 billion compared with the European Commission's original proposal, according to Politico, quoted by Report.
Ireland's presidency of the Council of the EU, which is coordinating budget negotiations, has proposed cutting the bloc's overall budget by approximately 8% to meet the demands of several countries led by Germany, which are calling for substantial spending reductions.
The Irish negotiating document, known as the negobox, proposes reducing the budget by €122 billion in current prices compared with the previous proposal presented by the Cypriot presidency in June. This could lead to heated discussions among the EU's 27 leaders at next week's summit.
EU countries are divided into two camps. Countries advocating austerity are calling for the proposed budget of nearly €2 trillion to be cut by several hundred billion euros. Meanwhile, southern and eastern European countries, united in the Friends of Cohesion group, oppose funding cuts.
As a concession to this group, Ireland has proposed maintaining agricultural subsidies and regional payments in full. These areas account for approximately half of the EU"s overall budget and are considered politically sensitive.
Most of the cuts would affect other areas. Specifically, the proposal calls for reducing funding for external assistance by €38 billion, competitiveness spending by €75 billion, and EU administrative expenditure by €10 billion.
In addition, Dublin has proposed abolishing the contingency reserve fund, known as the EU's flexibility mechanism. It allowed the European Commission to raise additional funds to respond to emergencies during the seven-year budget cycle.