EU summit: Babiš rejects new sources of EU budget revenue

Czech Prime Minister Andrej Babiš said ahead of the EU summit in Brussels that the European Commission's proposals for new own resources for the Union's next seven-year budget are “absolutely unacceptable” for the country. He objects to the plan for part of the revenue from the tobacco excise, ETS emission allowances and the carbon border adjustment mechanism (CBAM) to go directly to the EU budget.

Ireland proposed cutting the budget

The draft of the new budget will be one of the main topics of the summit. Over the weekend, the Irish presidency proposed cutting it by eight percent compared with the original version: to €1.622 trillion (about CZK 39.5 trillion) instead of the €1.763 trillion (about CZK 42.9 trillion) that the Commission proposed last July — both figures in 2025 prices, according to the document. Many countries remain unhappy.

European Council President António Costa hopes for an agreement by the end of the year, but Babiš doubts it: the differences, he said, are huge. “Of course, we will fight for the maximum funds for our budget,” he said. The Czech Republic is moving ever closer to the position of a net payer, and, in the prime minister's view, Europe is attaching its own ideological conditions to the money the country fights to secure — something Prague finds unacceptable.

On the previous evening, Babiš met in Brussels with the leaders of the Visegrád Group countries (V4: the Czech Republic, Slovakia, Poland and Hungary), but, he said, the budget was not discussed. The leaders agreed to meet again during the day if necessary, and for now they are waiting for a draft of the Council conclusions from Slovakia, which holds the V4 presidency.

Sweden, Germany and the Netherlands object

Sweden was the first to react to the new draft, calling it unacceptable. German Chancellor Friedrich Merz said the cuts were not sufficient. Sweden, Germany, the Netherlands and Austria are net payers that had demanded the budget be cut by several hundred billion euros.

Dutch Prime Minister Rob Jetten said in the morning that his country would not support the current draft: “It is better to make a good deal than a bad one.” In his view, the budget should be cut even further and aimed at competitiveness, security and Europe's future prosperity. Swedish Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson called the draft “too big, too expensive and completely unacceptable”: Sweden's net contribution would rise by 60 percent.

A group of 17 countries called the “Friends of Cohesion,” which includes Italy, Spain, Poland and the Czech Republic, opposes the cuts.

Source: seznamzpravy.cz