Key facts
- New taxes are crucial to preserve the EU's next seven-year budget, according to Irish Prime Minister Micheál Martin.
- Martin stated that protecting the Common Agricultural Policy and cohesion, while enhancing European competitiveness, requires significant new own resources.
- He described reaching an agreement on new levies as "very complicated," citing tensions in negotiations.
- The European Commission proposed five new taxes in 2025, expected to raise €60 billion per year, but faced resistance from national governments.
- Ireland, holding the EU Council presidency, will issue a new negotiating document with revised figures.
Brussels requires new taxes to avoid substantial reductions in its upcoming seven-year budget, Irish Prime Minister Micheál Martin said on Thursday. Martin met with European Council President António Costa in Dublin to discuss negotiations for the Multiannual Financial Framework, the bloc's seven-year budget, with the aim of signing a deal before the end of the year.
"If we want to protect CAP [Europe's Common Agricultural Policy] and cohesion, yet enhance European competitiveness into the future, we need to generate significant own resources," Martin told reporters. However, he also noted that an agreement on these new levies, also known as own resources, would be "very complicated," highlighting existing tensions.
The European Commission had put forward five new tax proposals in 2025, projected to generate €60 billion annually. These proposals have encountered resistance from member states, which are hesitant to adopt new levies that could disproportionately impact their domestic industries. Ireland, currently holding the rotating presidency of the Council of the EU and leading the budget discussions, is preparing to release a new negotiating document, or 'negobox,' with updated figures in the coming weeks.
"When we meet all the various Member States, they have ambitions, they have asks, they have requests, and ... we cannot satisfy those requests if there's not a sufficiency of new own resources," Martin added. This statement sets the stage for the next European leaders' meeting on October 15, where Costa intends to secure backing for several own resources that have strong support among EU countries.