Senior EU officials are doubling down on the need for substantial new EU-level taxes to finance the bloc's long-term budget, pushing back against scepticism from the so-called "frugal" member states.
The question of new own resources, part of the Multiannual Financial Framework, the bloc's €2 trillion long-term budget for 2028–2034, dominated the informal meeting of European Affairs Ministers in Dublin on Thursday and Friday.
"The issue of own resources is an absolute prerequisite for us to adopt this budget," Benjamin Haddad, the French Minister for European Affairs, told reporters on the margins of the meeting on Thursday.
"Our priority, once again, is to adopt a package of own resources which is in line with what the European Commission initially proposed. We are discussing own resources that essentially rely on actors outside the European Union to generate the funds needed to finance this Multiannual Financial Framework," Haddad said.
Pressure for an ambitious budget backed by substantial new taxes has intensified since negotiations resumed after the summer recess, following a gathering of the "frugal" countries in Berlin last week.
