The President of the European Council, António Costa, is trying to save 33.5 billion euros for Portugal in the European Union Budget for the period 2028-2034. The European Commission, led by Ursula von der Leyen, proposed a budget of approximately two trillion euros, representing an increase of approximately 60 percent compared to the current 1.2 trillion. Costa has already initiated a diplomatic round across capitals to unblock the agreement, facing formal opposition from a bloc of six Member States.
The group of countries resisting the budget includes Germany, Austria, Denmark, Finland, the Netherlands and Sweden. The German leader Friedrich Merz met in Berlin with counterparts from these countries to block Brussels' pretensions, classifying the amounts as "simply unpayable". This group accounts for 40 percent of Community revenues and 70 percent of bilateral assistance channelled to Kyiv, demanding cross-cutting cuts of several hundred billion euros and refusing the issuance of common debt or an increase in staffing levels of Community institutions.
António Costa warned governments that rejecting new own resources will not avoid budget sacrifices, as without levies charged at Union level, direct transfers from national budgets will inevitably have to rise. Costa's contact roadmap has already included visits to Prague, where Andrej Babiš warned that the new accounts cannot penalise vulnerable industrial regions or imply cuts to cohesion or agriculture. The tour has a scheduled stop in Madrid on 10 September for consultations with Pedro Sánchez, before concluding on 17 September.
The calendar foresees that the Irish Presidency of the Council will present the first operational figures at the October summit, with a possible extraordinary Council in November and a crucial summit scheduled for 17 December. Costa recalled the lengthy 2020 negotiations, which lasted 90 hours and 20 minutes to clinch the 1.8 trillion package, appealing to leaders' spirit of compromise to make the future European budget viable before the Christmas period.
