Seventeen EU countries, including Bulgaria, have asked for farm and regional aid money to stay untouched in the bloc's next long-term budget. Italian prime minister Giorgia Meloni posted the joint letter on X.
The letter, dated October 2, is addressed to Irish prime minister Micheál Martin, since Ireland currently holds the EU Council presidency, with a copy sent to European Council president Antonio Costa. Meloni and Romanian president Nicusor Dan lead the push and coordinated it. Bulgaria's prime minister Rumen Radev signed on its behalf.
Cyprus, Croatia, Czechia, Estonia, Greece, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Malta, Poland, Portugal, Slovenia, Slovakia and Spain also signed.
"We believe joint funding for cohesion policy and the Common Agricultural Policy must be kept in the next multiannual financial framework," the letter says. The 17 countries say new EU priorities should not be paid for with money taken from farming or from poorer regions.
The countries that signed say cohesion policy and the CAP bring countries and regions closer together, strengthen the single market, help rural and lagging areas, and support food security across Europe. They say the European Commission's current plan already amounts to a real cut for both policies — less money once rising prices are factored in, even though the overall budget is set to grow. Further cuts, they warn, would weaken the EU budget and erode public support for the European project.
The 17 do not deny the EU needs more money for security and defence, competitiveness, connectivity, energy security and the ability to cope with shocks. But they say this money should come from extra funds, not be taken from other budget lines. They say they are open to discussing new sources of income for the EU itself, to ease pressure on national budgets, as long as these are fair, simple, and do not hit lower earners harder than others.
The letter is a response to six countries that pay more into the common budget than they get back, and want the European Commission's proposed budget of almost €2 trillion cut by "several hundred billion euros." Their demands reached the Irish presidency four days earlier and are backed by Germany, the Netherlands, Sweden, Denmark, Austria and Finland.
These six countries provide close to 40% of all contributions to the EU budget and are threatening to block any deal. They want cuts across every area of spending, with more money going to security and defence, competitiveness, innovation and the fight against illegal migration. The same six countries already agreed a shared position in Berlin back in August calling for the budget to be trimmed.
The talks are about the EU budget for 2028 to 2034. All 27 EU members must agree unanimously, and the European Parliament must approve it too.