Germany, Denmark, the Netherlands, Austria, Finland and Sweden said in a joint statement that the Commission's proposed budget of nearly €2 trillion ($2.33 trillion) for 2028-2034 should be reduced "in a balanced manner" with all areas of spending contributing to cuts.
Even if they cut the budget by the EUR 400 billion as proposed, this 'cut' would represent an increase of around 40% compared to the previous period, because the planned EUR 2 trillion for 2028-2034 is almost double the amount of the previous period.
Also, the EUR 2 trillion would represent 1.26% the EU’s gross national income on average between 2028 and 2034, and, more importantly, the EU budget is complementary to the national budgets.
The article also falls short of details and doesn't say which programs and projects the demands aim at, for example, how much of the planned activities can be covered by national budgets.
I come from a net receiver country and I feel for the net contributors. They have put their shit together so well that they can pay for development of others. But those others often have troubles to put their shit together... Even in small things like stopping to pay for US software where there is a free alternative that they can use. Countries like Austria, Germany and Denmark are setting up the example but it is slow to spread to net receivers 😐
I want more money so we can develop faster and be a well functioning European family. But that needs to be effectively used money on structural development, not just subsidies to feed folks that just sit, hold the status quo and just paint their outdated think in a new colour.
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