European Council President António Costa begins a “tour of EU capitals” aimed at testing the political ground for a deal on the Union’s next Multiannual Financial Framework (MFF). The 2028–2034 budget, currently estimated at around €2 trillion, is the largest and most contested financial package the EU has ever negotiated.
The “tour des capitales” starts in Slovakia and will continue through Central Europe and the Baltic states. Sweden is being skipped for now because of its parliamentary election. Costa plans to meet presidents and prime ministers on their home turf to hear “the priorities of Europe’s leaders and the citizens they represent.” Ireland, which holds the rotating Council presidency in the second half of 2026, is expected to table a revised draft before the October European Council, after which Costa will try to corral the 27 leaders toward consensus.
National elections scheduled for 2027 in several member states risk freezing or further polarising negotiations. Yet the divides remain deep. So-called frugal countries – principally Germany, the Netherlands, Austria, Sweden, Finland and Denmark – want to limit the overall size of the budget and redirect spending toward new priorities such as defence, competitiveness and strategic autonomy. Net beneficiary states and the “Friends of Cohesion” group insist on protecting traditional policies, above all agriculture and regional development funds. The Commission’s ambitious proposal has already been trimmed in successive “negotiating boxes,” but neither side is satisfied.
Against this backdrop, individual capitals are lining up specific claims. Latvia has become the most vocal recent example. Prime Minister Andris Kulbergs is seeking an additional €7 billion from the next MFF — to be channelled through the planned Competitiveness Fund — to offset the military and economic costs of confronting Russia. The sum would cover a large share of Latvia’s projected defence expenditure over the seven-year period and compensate for the collapse in trade that followed the severance of economic ties with Moscow. Riga argues that frontline states are carrying a disproportionate burden for the security of the whole Union, and that a significant portion of its increased defence spending ultimately flows back to Western European arms manufacturers. The request lands in the middle of Latvia’s own election campaign and illustrates the broader pressure from eastern flank countries for greater recognition of their security costs.
