The German government, led by Friedrich Merz, rejected Cyprus's proposal to reduce the EU budget by 2%, considering it inaccessible and unbalanced.

The government of German Chancellor Friedrich Merz criticized Cyprus's proposal on Friday to reduce the long-term budget of the European Union, calling the plan 'unacceptable' and 'unbalanced.' Cyprus, which holds the presidency of the EU Council from January 1 to June 30, 2026, presented a plan to cut the budget for 2028-2034 by 2% (32.8 billion euros), which will be discussed by the leaders of the bloc at a summit in Brussels next week. A German official stated that this proposal cannot serve as a basis for an agreement, emphasizing that the negotiation framework is financially unacceptable. Merz's government supports substantial cuts to the EU budget and prioritizes spending on defense and competitiveness, calling for savings in other areas. Additionally, German officials want to finalize negotiations on the budget this year, considering the important elections in member countries next year. They emphasized that the current proposal is far from an agreement and that Ireland, which will take over the presidency in July, should present a revised proposal to meet the goal of finalizing the budget by the end of 2026.