EU-Haushalt: Merz hält EU-Finanzrahmen für „schlicht unbezahlbar“
Die EU-Kommission sieht hohe Ausgaben auf sich zukommen und möchte den Haushalt um bis zu 60 Prozent aufstocken. Merz und drei weitere Regierungschefs protestieren und fordern Kürzungen.
Berlin – Chancellor Friedrich Merz, along with other major net contributors, has called for drastic cuts to the future EU financial framework, according to a press release on Thursday from Berlin. The current proposals by the EU Commission for a potential increase of up to 60 percent were deemed "simply unaffordable" in times of budget consolidation, Merz stated after a meeting with several European government leaders.
The proposed sum must be reduced by several hundred billion euros, affecting all areas equally, he added. Representatives from Denmark, Finland, and Austria attended the confidential meeting in Berlin, with the Dutch and Swedish prime ministers joining via video conference. These six countries finance around 40 percent of the European budget, with Merz stressing that they also contribute 70 percent of the bilateral aid from EU states to Ukraine.
"We are not stingy, but such surcharges, as proposed by the Commission, simply do not fit our time," he concluded.
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