The European Union is entering a delicate phase of negotiations over its long-term budget, with member states divided over how much to spend and which areas to prioritise, ahead of key talks at a summit in Brussels on Friday.
There is a delicate balancing act to make among EU member states over the €2 trillion budget, with a group of net payers led by Germany and the Netherlands pushing to slash total spending, irking southern and eastern European member states who fear funding for sectors such as agriculture will be sacrificed in favour of more defense spending.
While agriculture and regional funding remain the largest spending categories, their share would decline significantly, falling from around 60% of the current budget to 44% under the Commission’s proposed framework for 2028–2034.
In late May, a group of 16 countries signed a document calling for an increase in agricultural and regional funding, describing themselves as the "Friends of Cohesion".
The signatories were Bulgaria, Croatia, Estonia, Greece, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, Malta, Poland, Portugal, the Czech Republic, Romania, Slovenia, Slovakia, Spain and Hungary.
