Battle over EU's budget hots up with fears of impact of large cuts on Horizon Europe
Fears are growing in the EU
European Union
’s research community at the prospect of major cuts to the Union’s budget for 2028-2034.
Earlier this week, Reuters news agency published a report saying that the German government wants to cut €400 billion from the Multiannual Financial Framework (MFF
Multiannual financial framework
) for 2028-2034 compared to the proposal from the European Commission in July 2025. As the proposal for the MFF was around €2 trillion, this would mean a cut of around 20%.
Jan Palmowski, secretary-general of The Guild
The Guild of European research-intensive universities
of Research-Intensive Universities, said: “Any drastic demand for cuts must come with a proposal where the cut needs to be made. The German government is committed to economic growth, competitiveness and leading in new technologies: given the position of China and the US, as well as other competitors, Germany cannot achieve these goals without the added value of European research and innovation, or indeed the European Competitiveness Fund.”
“The size of the MFF is not a power-grab by the European Commission, but recognises that given the global headwinds we face, member states cannot make it alone. That is true for Germany as it is for any other member state,” he said.
A German government spokesman declined to confirm that the report represented Germany’s official position. But German Chancellor Friedrich Merz has said on several occasions that the Commission’s proposal was too high and that reductions would be needed.
In June, Cyprus, which held the presidency of the Council of the EU, presented revised figures for the MFF which included cuts to the entire budget and reductions of around 4% to the funding for Horizon Europe and Erasmus+. EU leaders want to reach agreement on the MFF by the end of this year so that work on preparing new programmes like Horizon Europe and Erasmus+ can be completed and ready to start in January 2028.
“Reconciling the irreconcilable” to get unanimity among the 27 EU members
But the scale of the task of getting unanimity among all 27 EU governments was emphasised on 01/07/2026 by Micheál Martin, the prime minister of Ireland, the country that is chairing the Council of the EU until the end of December. Speaking at a launch event for Ireland’s presidency, he said: “My sense at the moment is it’s going to be extremely difficult.”
It would require “reconciling the irreconcilable,” he said, referring to the competing interests of member states who want to cut the budget with those who want to maintain spending on support to farmers and regional economic development.
The clash is between the member states who pay more into the EU budget than they get out, the net contributors, including Germany, the Netherlands, Austria, Sweden, Finland and Denmark. This group is also known as the “friends of competitiveness” as they favour pro-competitiveness policies such as Horizon Europe and the European Competitiveness Fund.
The other group is the net beneficiaries, many of whom have formed a group in the Council called the “Friends of cohesion”, who want to maintain spending on agricultural policy and cohesion aid to poorer regions. This group is numerically bigger, but as the budget has to be agreed by unanimity, the net payers tend to have more political power in the negotiations.
Ireland’s presidency of the Council plays a crucial role if the 27 are to reach agreement by the end of the year. Apart from chairing negotiations on the MFF in the Council and among ministers for EU affairs in the General Affairs Council, the presidency has been asked to come up with a report on new sources of revenue for the EU’s budget, known as “own resources”.
France is leading a drive to identify new own resources to avoid painful cuts to the EU’s spending, especially to support for farmers.
Ireland will present a new set of figures for the MFF in time for a meeting of EU leaders for the European Council on 15/10. There will also be an informal meeting of leaders on 13/11 to make progress in the negotiations ahead of a formal summit on 17/12.
EU countries are keen to strike a deal on the MFF before a series of elections in France, Italy and Spain in 2027. There is particular concern at the prospect of the far-right being elected in France, as a potential candidate has vowed to halve France’s contribution to the EU.
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