Germany demands €400 billion cut to EU's proposed budget

Germany has demanded a €400 billion cut to the European Commission’s proposed 2028-2034 EU budget as the bloc debates whether it can fund more defence, border security and competitiveness without asking member states to pay much more. The German position comes as the Commission’s plan enters negotiations with all 27 capitals.

The Commission presented the long-term package on 16 July 2025 as a budget equal to 1.26% of EU gross national income on average over seven years. European Parliament briefing material puts the figure at €1.76 trillion in 2025 prices, including €149.3 billion set aside to repay NextGenerationEU debt. The same proposal would triple spending for migration, border management and internal security to €81 billion, while shifting money toward competitiveness, security and defence.

A cut of €400 billion would force the EU to decide which ambitions matter most, with cohesion policy and farm support likely to face the hardest pressure, and newer priorities such as defence and border protection also exposed to the squeeze.

Berlin has been signaling resistance since the Commission tabled the plan. On 17 July 2025, German government spokesperson Stefan Kornelius said, “A comprehensive increase in the EU budget is unacceptable at a time when all member states are making considerable efforts to consolidate their national budgets.” Germany is the bloc’s largest net contributor, and the Bundesbank said last year that Germany paid about €18 billion more to the EU than it received in 2024, equal to roughly 0.4% of German gross national income.

The long-term budget must be adopted unanimously by the 27 member states in the Council, after the European Parliament gives its consent. The Cypriot EU presidency proposed a 2% cut, or about €32.8 billion, as a starting point for talks on 11 June 2026.

Finland, Sweden, the Netherlands and Austria have also criticized the scale of the Commission’s proposal.