France will pay a lower contribution than expected to the European Union next year, the Minister of Public Accounts Amélie de Montchalin said on Wednesday, July 16, the day after the announcement of an economy plan for next year.
Paris will thus contribute to the European budget up to 5.7 billion euros more, instead of 7.3 billion euros planned, said the minister with regard to 2026, confirming information published earlier by the newspaper L’Opinion.
“We have made a reform of three elements to succeed in reducing 1.6 billion which should have been the levy from French revenue for the European Union next year”said the Minister during a hearing at the National Assembly Finance Committee.
A “historical responsibility”
“It is a technical negotiation (…). The European Commission is not an exogenous entity with whom we do not negotiate anything. It is precisely a negotiation that we have led with all net contributory states ”she continued, the day after the announcement of a savings plan of more than 43 billion euros by the government of François Bayrou.
The measures are divided between a drop in state spending, largely, but also an increase in revenue and support for production. “We feel that our responsibility is historic so that we can take over our public finances”said the minister, returning to the announcements of the day before.
“The trajectory we offer is clear, predictable and sincere (…). This trajectory is both controlled and sustainable. I do not deny the effort, but this effort, I believe, is fairly distributed and it is realistic ”also said the minister.
This announcement from the Ministry of Public Accounts comes at a time when the European Union unveiled its budget proposal on Wednesday from 2028 to 2034, from 2,000 billion euros, upon sharply compared to the previous period, said the European Commissioner for the Budget Piotr Serafin.
The president of the European Commission Ursula von der Leyen praised “The most ambitious (European) budget ever proposed”.