France secures €1.6 bln cut in planned EU budget contribution
Based on facts, either observed and verified directly by the reporter, or reported and verified from knowledgeable sources.
France secures €1.6 bln cut in planned EU budget contribution
PARIS – France has secured a €1.6 billion reduction in its planned EU budget contribution for 2026, lowering the expected payment to €27.6 billion, according to L'Opinion .
Sources close to Budget Minister Amélie de Montchalin indicated that France's total payment to Brussels would be lowered from the €29.2 billion initially projected.
If confirmed, the move would offer relief to Prime Minister François Bayrou, just a day after he unveiled his sweeping austerity plan aimed at achieving nearly €44 billion in savings next year.
It also undercuts far-right Rassemblement National's (RN) core demand to slash France's contributions to the EU.
RN leader Marine Le Pen said in a post on X that the French had 'massively' endorsed freezing France's contributions to the EU by 'by backing Jordan Bardella's list in the European elections', referring to her party colleague's strong performance in last year's elections.
(Laurent Geslin) Euractiv is part of the Trust Project Topics
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Euractiv
an hour ago
- Euractiv
EU welcomes US-brokered deal between Syria and Israel
The EU on Saturday welcomed a US-brokered ceasefire between Syria and Israel, saying it was "appalled" by the deadly sectarian violence in Syria's southern Druze heartland that prompted Israeli strikes. "Now is the time for dialogue and for advancing a truly inclusive transition. Syria's transitional authorities, together with local authorities, bear the responsibility to protect all Syrians without distinction," the European Union's diplomatic service said in a statement. It also called for all perpetrators behind "grave violations" of international law to be held accountable. Syrian interior ministry forces began deploying in Sweida on Saturday under the US-brokered deal intended to avert further Israeli military intervention in the Druze-majority province. Israel had bombed defence ministry forces in both Sweida and Damascus earlier this week to force their withdrawal, after they were accused of summary executions and other abuses against Druze civilians during their brief deployment in the southern province. More than 700 people have been killed in Sweida since Sunday, as sectarian clashes between the Druze and Sunni Bedouin drew in the Islamist-led government, Israel and armed tribes from other parts of Syria. The office of interim President Ahmed al-Sharaa announced an "immediate ceasefire" in Sweida which it called on "all parties to fully respect". US-brokered deal The deal between the Islamist government and Israel was announced by Washington early on Saturday, Damascus time. US pointman on Syria, Tom Barrack, said interim President Ahmed al-Sharaa and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu "have agreed to a ceasefire" negotiated by the United States. Barrack, who is US ambassador to Ankara, said the deal had the backing of Turkey, a key supporter of Sharaa, as well as neighbouring Jordan. (aw)
Euractiv
a day ago
- Euractiv
The Brief – 18 July: The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly
Happy Friday and welcome back to GBU, where we look back on what should be (we hope) Brussels' last busy week before everyone in the vicinity of the Schuman roundabout logs off for the summer. Decide for yourself what's good, what's bad, and what's ugly. MFF MADNESS: After weeks of build-up, the European Commission's presentation of its 'most ambitious ever' seven-year EU budget proposal took ( messy ) centre stage on Wednesday. While no one really knows what it all means, and it's still subject to significant change as the real budget talks are only about to begin, it's provocative, and it surely gets people talking . It was my first MFF announcement day and a good chunk of it resembled mass confusion on all fronts, although one would think the Commission had enough time to plan everything surrounding that spectacular €2 trillion proposal drop to a T. The International Press Association seems to think so, too, accusing the Commission of breaching media agreements and deliberately keeping journalists in the dark in a press release sent earlier today. Anyway, we did follow the revolting commissioners, unhappy parliamentarians and more on our live blog and are keeping an eye on the budget aftermath. Spoiler: It is all 'bout the money, contrary to pop culture belief. Thomas Moller-Nielsen has a must-read budget breakdown , Sarantis Michalopoulos tells you why the new budget has a smoking problem and Jeremias Lin spoke to disgruntled farmers who are readying their pitchforks for a September return to Brussels after farm subsidies got slashed big time. TIT, TAT, TARIFFS: S omewhat in the shadows of the budget, the EU-US tariff bonanza kept going, too. Trade chief Šefčovič travelled to Washington again and briefed EU ministers on the outcome this afternoon. So, where do we stand? Some want peace, some want violence, seemingly. At least France wants Commission chief Ursula von der Leyen to get the "bazooka" – alias the EU's most powerful trade weapon, the anti-coercion instrument – out in response to Trump's tariff threats. Sun's out, guns out? Would that even be possible? Is that a good idea? I personally wouldn't trust my judgment on this, but Tom beautifully lays it all down here. TOUGH ON RUSSIA, ROUND 18: Today, EU member states agreed on a new wave of economic sanctions against Russia over its war in Ukraine – after Slovakia's Russia-friendly PM Robert Fico lifted his weeks-long veto. The new measures target Russian banks and lower a price cap on Russian oil exports in a bid to crush the country's war chest. GERMANY'S MIGRATION SUMMIT: Against an alpine backdrop, German Interior Minister Alexander Dobrindt hosted France, Poland, Austria, Denmark, and Czechia as well as EU Home Affairs Commissioner Magnus Brunner atop Germany's highest mountain to talk migration on Friday. Berlin is talking the talk as it's getting tough on migration and walking the walk as the first deportation flight to Afghanistan under Merz took off early this morning. Read all about it here. STRANDED USAID CONDOMS IN BELGIUM: A total 26 million condoms, millions of contraceptive pills, thousands of implants, two million injectable doses, and 50,000 bottles of HIV prevention medication from the US development agency USAID are sitting – unused – in a warehouse in the north-east of Belgium and face possible destruction. That's a stockpile worth about €8.6 million, and destroying would cost Washington around €145,000. How did we get here? Thomas Mangin knows . In case you haven't had enough yet, here are a few weekend reads: Laurent Geslin looked at the latest of France's military disengagement from Africa . In Senegal, a remnant of French colonial presence came to an end on Thursday, with the French army officially handing over the keys of the Dakar-based Camp Geille – which has been occupied by French forces since 1960 – to Senegalese authorities. Inés Fernández-Pontes explained how Sanchez's domestic corruption pickle leads to the country pushing for its minority languages – Catalan, Galician, and Basque – to become EU official once again. Do you know what E3, E4, G5 and MED9 stand for? Fear not, this is not a quiz. Just read Nick Alipour's piece spoon-feeding you Europe's alphabet soup. … and in case you missed it, Brussels supermarkets will be allowed to stay open longer. Want to get The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly in your inbox? Subscribe to The Brief (jp)
Euractiv
a day ago
- Euractiv
FIREPOWER: France and friends in for EU's €150bn SAFE defence fund
Take a free trial of Euractiv Pro to get FIREPOWER in your inbox. Good afternoon and welcome back to Firepower. This week Firepower got word that France, along with Belgium and Romania, will likely join the EU's massive €150 billion SAFE funding programme for military procurement. More capitals may well follow in the next few days as the deadline to formally join will run out at the end of the month. Though it's not sure the EU countries will actually use (or want, or even need) the entire fund. More on that below. In today's edition, we also have fresh numbers from the Czech ammo initiative for Ukraine, while we explain why an extension for the EU's ammunition production iniative ASAP is as good as dead. Meanwhile, Firepower has obtained a list of NATO's draft calendar running through 2027, including a summit to be held in Ankara. We recommend you also watch out for Germany's Friedrich Merz and France's Emmanuel Macron meeting in Berlin on Wednesday, followed by their two defence ministers on Thursday. Franco-German defence cooperation will be high on their agenda given recent clashes over their joint fighter jet project. EXCLUSIVE: Trio onboard for SAFE defence spending Good news for the Commission first: FRANCE IS POISED TO JOIN the EU's €150 billion loan scheme for military procurement, sources told Firepower this week. So are Belgium and Romania. This would bring the total number of EU countries interested in the Commission's financing plan to nine, Firepower's tracking shows. Still, the clock is ticking: capitals have until 29 July to indicate how much money they want from the pot, and the industry still has little clarity on what exactly governments want to buy. Underspend: Despite the newcomers, the COMMISSION FEARS it will struggle to allocate the full €150 billion this autumn, four sources told Euractiv, because of a lack of interest in sizeable loans for rearmamanet. All in all, Brussels estimates EU countries will request between €75 and €100 billion, one of the people briefed on the file said. Ask us for the cash: The concern was made clear in a polite-but-pointed letter from EU defence and finance chiefs Andrius Kubilius and Valdis Dombrovskis sent last weekend seen by Euractiv, urging capitals to make use of the loans available. 'We look forward to constructive engagement to make SAFE a success', the letter reads. On your radar US in talks with Europe on tapping defence stockpiles for Ukraine EU vs TRUMP. Another piece of news arrived this week, stepping on the breaks of the EU's ambition to support EU-made products' research, production and procurement: Washington convinced a dozen of wealthy EU countries to stock up on more US-equipment – not only to arm Ukraine, but to replenish their own shelves – promising fast deliveries of the crown jewel: Patriots. The move left Switzerland 's deliveries hanging. Germany's Merz also said yesterday that its delivery to Ukraine could be finalised within weeks . If pouring billions into the American arms industry wasn't enough of a blow, the US envoy to NATO told Firepower that his 'top priority' is to promote defence industry cooperation and co-production with the Europeans, including joint ventures and expanding output. A potential conflict? We will be watching. RENDEZ-VOUS last week of August in Denmark, where EU foreign affairs ministers will discuss how to use Russia's frozen assets around the bloc to pay for American arms to send to Ukraine, EU top diplomat Kaja Kallas said . WAITING LIST. In the meantime, the industry is still waiting for NATO countries' shopping list, as reported by Firepower , meant to give arms makers perspective on incoming orders. EDIP GOVERNANCE DILEMMA. The last round of technical talks before the summer break on EDIP, the EU's blueprint for subsidising industry and joint military purchase, ended without a compromise on supply chain surveillance, according to Euractiv's information. MEPs and capitals proposals differ on who should map out and monitor supply chains. EU countries are wary of giving the Commission too much power to identify and report on their manufacturing capabilities. EU lawmakers, instead, are more open to Commission involvement, but only with safeguards for handling sensitive data. Negotiations resume the week of 22 September, when political negotiations kick off. ASAP NO MORE. The €500 million plan to boost ammunition production is officially dead, according to the latest agreement on the EU's mini- simplification package on defence, seen by Firepower, brining EU countries on the same page with the Parliament . NEW JOB. Jitka Látal Znamenáčková, the current Czech ambassador to the political and security committee in the Council, is moving to the Berlaymont with a focus on defence policies. RUSSIA ATTACKS. NATO countries "are determined to employ the full range of capabilities in order to deter, defend against and counter the full spectrum of cyber threats", they wrote in a strongly-worded statement against Russia published Friday after the United Kingdom identified spies targeting the country and its military allies with cyber attacks. EXCLUSIVE: NATO's 2025 – 2027 calendar The makeover of NATO HQ's entrance in the north of Brussels is finished, creating a much more enjoyable environment with benches and a garden for officials, diplomats, military personnel and reporters wanting to take a break in the sun between meetings. It seems the perfect place to get head-on the ministerials NATO has planned for 2026. Firepower has obtained a list of the Alliance's tentative calendar: Defence: 16-17 October, 11-12 February, and 18-19 June Foreign affairs: 2-3 December, 1-2 April, and 20-21 May (in Sweden for the informal meeting). NATO Summit is planned around 8 August in Ankara Looking ahead to 2026-2027: Defence: in October, on 17-18 February, and 17-18 June Foreign ministerials on 1-2 December, 7-8 April, in May in Croatia for the informal before the Albania Summit. The Money Corner Commission pitches €131bn for defence and space in EU budget MFF CHEAT SHEET. The Commission's proposed €131 billion for both defence and space for the next EU's seven-year budget is already making the rounds. But there's more for defence, including €17.7 billion for military mobility under the Connecting Europe Facility, €6.4 billion for collaborative defence and space research under Horizon Europe and a new DARPA-approach for the European Innovation Council. The €865 billion Cohesion Funds could also be tapped for defence. Von der Leyen has proposed a broader €150 billion-strong loan scheme called 'Catalyst Europe', similar to SAFE loans but not limited to defence. Meanwhile, the European Peace Facility, the EU's war fund to pay for weapons for third countries, including Ukraine, should get €30.5 billion. PAY UP. All the spending comes with a price tag. So, among other EU income streams, a taxation on cooperations with an annual net turnover of over €100 million is planned. While SMEs would be exempt, Europe's biggest defence players – think Airbus, Leonardo, Thales and MBDA – could be asked to contribute a share of their skyrocketing revenues. CIGARETTES FOR TANKS? The Commission wants the EU budget to get €78.4 billion over seven years from tobacco taxation, enough to cover a substantial portion of new defence spending. Read more. Bombshell budget Minutes before a key EU's long-term budget defence briefing at the Commission HQ in Brussels, the Berlaymont, a bomb alert drill locked the building down. Security told journalists to stay out, unless they wanted to be escorted to a bomb shelter. Ironically, the designated bomb shelter was none other than the Salle de Presse – exactly where reporters were trying to go in the first place. News from the Capitals THE NETHERLANDS said this week it is considering buying and repurposing 24 decommissioned train carriages of the state-owned railway operator NS to mobile military hospitals. Just earlier, the defence ministry also reached an agreement with airline KLM to keep former F-35 pilots up to date on their training. The move followed accusations that KLM was luring military pilots away from the air force. GERMANY is reportedly weighing in on acquiring a minority stake in the Franco-German defence company KNDS, amid concerns that the German half's planned share sell-off could upset the company's delicate bilateral ownership balance. Earlier this month, Berlin explored a possible stake in TKMS, the shipbuilding division of ThyssenKrupp, should it go public. These moves show how serious the Berlin is in following through on its intent to intervene when Germany's security interests are threatened by ownership changes of key defence companies. CZECH Foreign Minister Jan Lipavský warned this week that a victory of Andrej Babiš as prime minister in the October elections would sign the end of the signature ammunition initiative to Ukraine. Czechia and its 12 partners delivered 800,000 large calibre ammo have been delivered including 290,000 of the 155mm type to Kyiv in 2025, he said, hoping it will continue. While FRENCH prime minister François Bayrou pitched on Tuesday a total freeze of state spending in his 2026 budget plan, Emmanuel Macron announced €3.5 billion extra for defence, financed through 'productivity' (not debt!). Opposition leaders have already called for a vote of no confidence in the autumn. According to Socialist MP Anna Pic, talking to Firepower, Macron's figure is not fresh contracts, but what the government actually has to pay for some of what defence companies have already delivered.
