German Chancellor Friedrich Merz said the European Commission's proposal for the EU's new seven-year budget is far from reality, and the plan to increase spending by 60% is too burdensome for member states. This was reported by Qazaqyia.kz citing Sputnik Kazakhstan.
On Thursday, at Merz's invitation, the leaders of Denmark, the Netherlands, Austria, Sweden, and Finland met in Berlin. Following the meeting, they supported cutting the EU's new multiannual budget for 2028-2034 by hundreds of billions of euros and issued a joint statement.
"The current proposal envisages increasing spending by up to 60%. At a time when all member states are trying to cut budget expenditures, such costs are impossible," Merz said at a press conference in Berlin. The broadcast was shown by the Phoenix TV channel.
Merz stressed that the EU budget should be such that it does not place a financial burden on countries. In this regard, he said, a number of European countries are demanding a reduction of the EU budget draft by several hundred billion euros.
"In this group, we are united: the proposal must be reduced by several hundred billion euros. These cuts must cover all areas," Merz said.
According to Merz, the five countries that participated in the Berlin meeting finance about 40% of the EU budget. In addition, these countries provide 70% of the EU's bilateral aid to Ukraine.
"We are not stingy, but the procedure for allocating funds proposed by the commission does not meet modern requirements at all. We want a European budget that matches our understanding of a sovereign and strong Europe," the German Chancellor added.