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The wealthier EU countries that bankroll the bloc's spending are stepping up efforts to scale back Brussels' proposed €1.8 trillion long-term budget.
Just weeks before high-stakes negotiations on the numbers are set to get underway, ministers representing nine net contributors — the EU members that pay more into the bloc than they get out of it — are meeting up to organize an opposition campaign. According to diplomats from four capitals taking part, Europe ministers will hold a breakfast meeting on Tuesday to plan how to oppose the proposal.
"The volume needs to come down, substantially," Swedish European Affairs Minister Jessica Rosencrantz told POLITICO ahead of the meeting. "There’s simply not any room for a dramatic increase of Sweden’s contribution, or [that of] any other net payers for that matter. Sweden and others will make that very clear in the run-up to the next European Council."
In addition to Sweden, Denmark, Finland, Austria, the Netherlands, Germany, France, Ireland and Belgium are expected to be represented in the talks, which are being held ahead of a General Affairs Council in Brussels where the EU's Multiannual Financial Framework (long-term budget) is to be debated.
