President Macron calls on EU to agree budget by year-end — Politico Europe

French President Emmanuel Macron, during an EU summit in Brussels, Belgium, called on European leaders to reach an agreement on the bloc’s seven-year budget by the end of the year. As Politico reports, the French president said there would be no political space left to conclude a deal after January.

Negotiations before the elections

According to four European diplomats familiar with the closed-door discussion, Macron stressed that he would not have a political mandate to sign an agreement on the eve of France’s presidential election, scheduled for April 2027.

The governments of the EU’s 27 member states differ in their positions on the overall size of the budget for 2028–2034. Leaders are also considering an Irish plan that envisages a €159 billion cut at current prices compared with the European Commission’s proposal of nearly €2 trillion.

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EU countries’ positions

European Council President António Costa insists on concluding the negotiations at the December summit, before elections in France, Italy and Poland in 2027. At the same time, some governments and EU officials consider this timetable unrealistic.

One diplomat viewed Macron’s remarks as pressure to support Costa’s December deadline, noting that the EU would be ungovernable if it took all local elections into account. Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni told parliament that her country would not sign a deal unfavorable to it merely to meet a deadline.

French far-right leader Marine Le Pen, who, according to Politico, leads polls for the next presidential election, promised to halve France’s contributions to the EU budget if she comes to power. She also accused the European Union of speeding up the negotiations so that the next French leader would be unable to influence the decision.