Europe Minister, Thomas Byrne, has defended Ireland’s proposed EU budget in the face of widespread criticism from other member states.
EU ministers are meeting in Luxembourg today. It’s their first chance to discuss the EU budget face to face since Ireland – as the holder of the rotating presidency of the Council of the European Union – proposed significant cuts on Saturday.
The budget – which will apply from 2028 to 2034 – sets out all the areas the European Union can commit to funding covering everything from agriculture to defence and from tech to transport.
The original draft put forward by the European Commission last summer amounted to a total budget close to €2 trillion.
That would be a huge increase in the current EU funding. But the European Commission argues that the EU has more and more to do including increased spending on defence, migration and responding to crisis and so needs more money.
Member states are split between those who want to spend more and those who want the budget cut.
Ireland opted for a new draft slashing close to €160 billion in today’s prices off the European Commission’s plan.
Speaking on Saturday, Thomas Byrne said it was a saving of eight percent on the original proposal, but still a 30 percent increase compared to the current 2021-2027 budget.
Sweden, Germany and the Netherlands were amongst the first member states to criticise Ireland’s proposals.
Even the European Commission has spoken out against it.
But this morning Thomas Bryne insisted that its proposals were progress.
“I think we have now the basis for negotiation,” he said in Luxembourg. “That was our task to find that basis. We weren’t asked to find a basis for an agreement that will come later with the President of the European Council.
I think we have brought the member states closer,” he added.
The EU wants the budget deal wrapped up by the end of this year so that 2027 can be used for the cumbersome task of getting it into place and ready to start doling out cash from 2028.
Most of the EU’s budget is paid for by contributions from member states. Richer countries like Ireland, Germany and Finland are net contributors meaning they pay in more money than they get back.
Germany estimates that the Irish plan would see it being hit with a 50 percent increased contribution of €20 billion.
One thing all member states agree on is that the EU should increase its so-called “own resources” – taxes it collects itself – so that less of the burden has to come from national contributions.
But they disagree on where those extra EU taxes should be placed.
Ireland – home to many tech giants – strongly rejects the idea that part of the EU’s extra cash could come from creaming the profits of corporations with a turnover of more than €100 million.