Irish EU Presidency Proposes €141 Billion Budget Reduction The Irish government has proposed cutting the European Union’s draft seven-year budget by 8%, slashing €141 billion from the European Commission’s original €1.72 trillion proposal running from 2028-2034.
Announced on Saturday, the draft has triggered an immediate backlash from member states, the European Parliament, and the European Commission. The proposal, known in Brussels as the Negotiation Box, serves as a compromise document prepared by Ireland in its role holding the EU presidency to nudge the other 26 member states toward a final deal before a deadline of the end of this year.
Backlash From Frugal States and the European Parliament
Reaction has been negative from all directions, with critics ranging from those seeking deeper cuts to those wanting to preserve spending. Frugal member states, or self-styled “Modernisers,” wanted cuts of “several hundred billion” euro. They criticized the draft because traditional spending areas like farming and cohesion bore the brunt less than competitiveness, innovation, and defence headings. German Chancellor Friedrich Merz stated: The size of the new proposal is not a basis for agreement.
Finnish prime minister Petteri Orpo added: Defence, research and new technologies are being hit disproportionately hard.
Europe needs to strengthen itself in these areas.
Savings need to be found in a balanced way across the entire budget.
Dutch Finance Minister Eelco Heinen said: The Netherlands cannot accept this proposal.
At this rate, there will be no deal by the end of the year,
while Sweden’s Minister for EU Affairs Jessica Rosencrantz called the draft “unreasonable.”
Conversely, the main pro-European groups in the European Parliament sharply criticized the Irish draft for cutting too deeply. Leaders of the European Peoples Party (EPP), S&D, Renew Europe, and the Greens issued a joint statement conveying our utmost dismay
and stating: We would like to be clear from the outset: we reject the proposal put forward by the Irish Presidency, which cannot constitute a basis for Parliament’s consent on the next Multiannual Financial Framework.
Siegfried Mureșan, a budget co-negotiator, noted that the proposal cuts defence, reduces investment in competitiveness, and leaves farmers underfunded. In April, the Parliament had called for a 10% increase compared to the current cycle.
Impact on Farming, Rural Communities, and Government Defence
The Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) budget over the seven-year period would not improve over the European Commission’s plan, resulting in funding of a little over €290 billion, down over 20% on the current CAP allocation. Independent Ireland MEP Ciaran Mullooly slammed the proposals as a serious disappointment,
stating that the government has chosen austerity over ambition
and turned its back on young farmers by failing to fund an accession scheme properly. Mullooly warned that the plan risks slashing the CAP budget by 25% compared to the current budget.
While CAP subsidies and cohesion money for poorer regions were protected from further cuts, Ireland suggested reducing international development aid, EU institutional running costs, and trimming a “competitiveness fund” earmarked for European industry, green efforts, tech races, defence, and research.
Minister of State for European Affairs Thomas Byrne defended the draft as a basis for negotiation
rather than a basis for agreement, telling RTÉ News that the reaction was entirely predictable.