Meeting in Berlin, leaders from Europe's "frugal" states were expected to coordinate a campaign to pressure the EU to cut down it's next budget.
German Chancellor Friedrich Merz on Thursday welcomed for Berlin talks the leaders of three fellow "frugal" EU members -- Austria, Denmark and Finland.
Their meeting comes as the 27-member European Union braces for tough negotiations to agree a joint budget for the seven-year stretch 2028-34.
Merz has demanded the European Commission slash its nearly two trillion euro budget proposal by hundreds of billions, calling the plan "unaffordable".
To hammer out a joint position, he will hold talks with Austria's Chancellor Christian Stocker and prime ministers Mette Frederiksen of Denmark and Petteri Orpo of Finland.
