European Union leaders gathered in Brussels on Thursday for a two-day summit dominated by difficult negotiations over the bloc’s budget for 2028–2034, with member states sharply divided over spending priorities and Poland determined to protect its position as the largest recipient of EU funds.
According to RMF24 Ekonomia, the Irish presidency of the Council of the EU has put forward a proposal for a €1.62 trillion budget in constant 2025 prices, representing an 8 per cent reduction – or €141 billion – compared to the European Commission’s original plan of €1.76 trillion.
The proposed cuts fall heavily on competitiveness, prosperity and security, which would lose around €67 billion, and on the EU’s external action budget, which would be reduced by approximately €33 billion. However, the Irish plan maintains support for farmers’ incomes at the level proposed by the Commission and includes protection mechanisms for funds earmarked for less affluent regions.
Frugal states demand deeper cuts
The so-called ‘frugal’ countries – the Netherlands, Sweden and Germany – have made clear they will not accept the current proposal and are pushing for further reductions. Dutch Prime Minister Rob Jetten said his country cannot agree to the plan, arguing that the budget should be smaller and better adapted to new challenges.
“Everyone wants to speed up negotiations, but reaching a good agreement is more important than signing a bad deal. The current proposal from the Irish presidency is not good enough to reach agreement,” Jetten stated.
Swedish Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson was even more blunt, calling the plan “far too expensive” and rejecting outright a projected 60 per cent increase in Sweden’s contribution. “I will simply say ‘no’ to the current proposals. This is not a starting point for a final agreement,” he said, calling the increase “a red line that cannot be crossed”.
German Chancellor Friedrich Merz backed significant reductions compared to the Commission’s proposal, emphasising that competitiveness and defence should be priorities but adding that bureaucracy must be cut simultaneously. “If we do not succeed in significantly reducing excessive bureaucracy in Europe, the conversation about money will have relatively little meaning,” he said.
Poland and Greece defend regional and farm spending
On the opposite side of the debate, Poland has joined a coalition of 17 member states defending funding for agriculture and regional development. Poland’s ‘national envelope’ – the estimated allocation from the EU budget – remains at €123 billion, unchanged from the Commission’s original proposal.
Ignacy Niemczycki, Poland’s deputy minister for European affairs, told RMF FM that “this envelope has not been changed at all compared to the European Commission’s proposal, and in that sense this is very good news”.
Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis, speaking for the ‘friends of cohesion’ group, said Athens is not satisfied with the Irish proposal. “We see a fundamental inconsistency between the ambitious goals set by the European Commission and the financial resources it allocates to achieve them,” he said, insisting that Greece would not agree to cuts in cohesion policy or the Common Agricultural Policy, which he described as “key areas inseparably linked to the very idea of European integration”.
Lithuanian President Gitanas Nausėda gave a cautiously positive assessment of the Irish plan but warned that further cuts would make it impossible to finance the EU’s priorities. “If during further negotiations we make more cuts, we will lose our priorities. I cannot imagine implementing them without sufficient financial resources,” he said, adding that it is “simply impossible mathematically, economically and financially” to keep the budget at the previous level while adding new priorities.
What this means for Poles in Poland
The outcome of these budget negotiations will have a direct impact on Poland’s economy and public investment for the next seven years. Poland stands to remain the largest beneficiary of EU funds, with an allocation of €123 billion if the current proposal holds. These funds support infrastructure projects, business development, environmental programmes and agricultural support across the country.
However, the final agreement is far from certain. Some leaders within the 17-country coalition defending cohesion and farm spending have indicated they may accept a compromise involving even deeper cuts – potentially exceeding €200 billion across the entire budget. Such reductions could affect the size of Poland’s allocation or the programmes available to Polish regions, businesses and farmers.
Negotiations are expected to continue through December, with Lithuania hoping for an agreement by the end of the year before it assumes the EU presidency in January 2027. Polish officials have expressed “cautious optimism” but acknowledge that reaching consensus among 27 member states with conflicting priorities will be difficult. Anyone involved in projects funded by EU cohesion or agricultural programmes should monitor official announcements from the Polish government and the European Commission in the coming weeks.
