European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said on Friday that the European Union's budget cannot be reduced any further, speaking at the close of a two-day European Council summit in Brussels that ended without agreement on the bloc's long-term spending plan. The talks focused on the Multiannual Financial Framework (MFF) for 2028-2034, according to RTVE.es.
Von der Leyen's remarks placed her implicitly on the side of member states pushing for larger, more adaptable EU finances, RTVE.es reports. She did not name the countries involved, but her argument for flexible accounts aligned her with the so-called Friends of Cohesion group, which includes Spain and Italy.
Why it matters
The budget dispute has split member states into two camps. A group of frugal countries — Germany, the Netherlands and the Nordic states — wants tighter spending, while the cohesion group argues the EU needs expansive accounts to meet its challenges, according to RTVE.es.
The deadlock matters beyond Brussels because negotiators had hoped to seal a deal before the end of the year and ahead of a crowded European election calendar. France's presidential vote is marked in red on that calendar, RTVE.es reports. Failure to agree would push the process into 2027, El Economista reports, with the frugal states hardening their position.
The numbers on the table
Ireland, which holds the EU's rotating presidency this semester, floated a proposal to cut 8% — equal to 141 billion euros — from the Commission's initial offer of 1.76 trillion euros, according to RTVE.es. Von der Leyen revealed at her closing press conference that discussions had gone further, with a 15% reduction raised at one point.
She argued against such cuts by listing the emergencies her mandate has covered: the COVID pandemic, earthquakes, droughts, floods, fires, energy crises and the war in Ukraine. RTVE.es reports that she said the list is endless and that the EU was only able to act because its budget is flexible enough to adapt to crises. In each emergency, she said, everyone called on Europe to intervene, Europe did intervene, and it was not enough.
Von der Leyen added that under the current setup, 99.5% of the EU budget is already committed, which she described as a straitjacket for the Commission, according to RTVE.es. She framed the question not as which priorities to abandon but as how to pay for them, and said work must continue on a new package of own resources, since the budget equation only works with such resources in place.
A first meeting ends in failure
The summit's outcome was widely anticipated in the Spanish press. El Mundo described the first negotiating session on the European budget as ending in failure, calling its report a chronicle of an announced disappointment. La Vanguardia framed the talks as a clash over the EU budget, while EL PAÍS reported that the tough negotiation threatens an agreement before Europe's super election year.
The impasse leaves the Commission's original proposal of 1.76 trillion euros as the benchmark against which the frugal states are pressing for reductions. With Ireland's 8% cut rejected by the cohesion camp and a 15% figure surfacing in discussions, the gap between the two sides remains wide, according to RTVE.es.
What happens next depends on whether member states can narrow that gap before the year ends, or whether the talks slip into 2027 as El Economista reports the frugal states now expect.
