France opposes fast-tracking EU budget deal by year-end

NICOSIA — France will not bow to pressure to conclude the EU’s budget negotiations by the end of 2026, its Europe minister said Monday.

Benjamin Haddad — who hails from President Emmanuel Macron’s Renaissance party — told POLITICO he opposes fast-tracking the negotiations at any cost.

“Our only priority is to have a good budget,” Haddad said on the sidelines of a ministerial meeting in Nicosia, in which the next budget was discussed, among other topics. “This is what we’re looking at and not putting on ourselves artificial deadlines to accelerate.”

EU countries are facing mounting pressure to finalize an agreement before French presidential elections in April 2027, which could hand power to the far-right National Rally.

German Chancellor Friedrich Merz and European Council President António Costa — who will broker the final stage of the talks — have called on EU leaders to secure a deal in the Council by the end of 2026.

The Commission’s proposal envisages €1.8 trillion to spend on EU priorities including agriculture and defense from 2028 to 2034, in addition to €166 billion to repay post-Covid joint debt. The Cypriot presidency of the Council of the EU is expected to propose new spending figures in early June.

Friedrich Merz and António Costa shake hands in Brussels on January 22, 2026. | Nicolas Tucat/AFP via Getty Images

There are lingering concerns that the National Rally’s platform — which includes slashing France’s contributions to the EU budget and downsizing military aid to Ukraine — could throw a spanner in the Council negotiations, should the party win next year’s elections.

Securing a Council agreement by the end of the year would leave plenty of time for negotiations with the European Parliament. The deadline for a plenary vote is Dec. 31, 2027, as the new budget comes into force at the start of 2028.

In a further complication, however, other major European countries — Italy, Spain and Poland — are also planning to hold national elections in 2027. A change of government in any of these nations might disrupt negotiations, as any incoming administration is likely to advance its own set of priorities in the budget.

Nevertheless, Haddad said: “You can have a deal in the second part of 2027. The most important thing is having a good budget that protects us, that reduces the dependencies.”

Securing an early agreement that is seen as detrimental to France’s interests — which include robust farmers’ subsidies and the introduction of new EU-wide taxes — could play into the hands of the National Rally, which is campaigning against Macron’s record in government.

However, several countries favor an early deal to carry out the technical legwork and prepare the spending plans before the budget comes into force in 2028.

“The faster we have the agreement the faster the sectoral policies will kick in … we want to have it fast, but the priority is the quality [of the agreement],” said Poland’s Secretary of State at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Ignacy Niemczycki, also speaking on the sidelines of Monday’s ministerial meeting.