France proposes cutting EU countries’ contributions using Google fines — Cyprus Mail

France proposes directing revenue from European Union fines against Google to reduce member states’ contributions to the common budget. Cyprus Mail reports, citing Reuters.

France’s proposal

France’s Minister for Europe Benjamin Haddad said in an interview with Franceinfo that funds from fines should become a new source of EU revenue. According to him, this concerns €4.6 billion, which should automatically reduce the contributions of all member states to the bloc’s budget.

EU capitals have differences both over the size of the future budget and spending priorities. The governments of member states are negotiating the budget for 2028–2034. Discussions, including at summits in October, November and December, are expected to help reach an agreement by the end of the year.

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Fines for Google

In July, Google was fined a total of €890 million for violating European Union rules aimed at limiting the influence of major technology companies. After this, the total amount of fines imposed by the EU on Google for anti-competitive practices over nearly two decades reached €10.38 billion.

The European Commission proposed an EU budget of €2 trillion, or 1.26% of the bloc’s gross national income. About €168 billion, amounting to 0.11% of GNI, is allocated to service EU borrowing for the post-pandemic recovery fund.