EU budget talks stall: Costa takes over, special summit set for 26 November
At the Brussels summit, EU leaders refused to budge on the long-term budget. A deal by the end of the year looks increasingly uncertain.
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Negotiations on the EU's next seven-year budget (2028–2034) ended on Thursday evening in Brussels without a breakthrough. Leaders reaffirmed their red lines, and the Irish Council presidency's proposal to cut €141 billion was largely rejected. European Council President António Costa will now take charge of the talks himself. He plans to present a new compromise text in the coming weeks, and a special budget summit has been scheduled for 26 November. The press conference after the first day of the summit was cancelled because the budget talks ran long.
The fault line runs between the 'frugals' – Austria, Denmark, Finland, the Netherlands, Sweden and Germany – and the 17 'Friends of Cohesion' from southern and eastern Europe. The presidency's latest proposal stands at €1.622 trillion, while the European Parliament wants €1.938 trillion. "We are not reaching an agreement this month. Not next month," said Swedish Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson. Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni had told the Senate: "The date cannot become more important than the content."
Costa is insisting on a unanimous deal by December at the latest, so that legislation can be passed in time for the start on 1 January 2028. The final conclusions were softened, however: they now say only that an agreement in 2026 "would allow for the adoption of legislative acts in 2027." One diplomat put the chance of a deal by year-end at 50 percent. Spain's election on 29 November and elections in 2027 in France and Italy, among others, fuel fears that talks could drag on into autumn 2027.