sk flag go to the original language article
This article has been translated by Artificial Intelligence (AI). The news agency is not responsible for the content of the translated article. The original was published by TASR.

Fico: The long-term EU budget after 2027 must maintain cohesion and balance payments

by AI | 21.Mar 2025 | Europe in brief AI

Robert Fico, after the EU summit in Brussels, hinted at what Slovakia’s priorities will be in the formation of the future multiannual financial framework.

Prime Minister of the Slovak Republic Robert Fico at the EU summit indicated what the priorities of the Slovak Republic will be in the creation of the multiannual financial framework. PHOTO: TASR/Jaromír Novak

Brussels – The working dinner of Thursday’s European Council meeting in Brussels was marked by the first debates on the preparation of the EU’s multiannual financial framework (MFF) for 2028-2035. This was confirmed by Slovak Prime Minister Robert Fico (Smer-SD) after the negotiations ended. According to him, Slovakia will primarily want to maintain cohesion policy and equalize payments to farmers, reports TASR correspondent.

Fico reminded that European Council President António Costa warned the summit participants that these are only informal discussions about the future long-term EU budget. Therefore, no specific financial resources were discussed, nor the so-called “red lines” of individual member states.

The Prime Minister stated that the MFF after 2027 must take into account the repayment of loans totaling 750 billion euros, which the EU created through the Next Generation EU recovery plan. Annually, this will mean 20 to 30 billion euros. Furthermore, the MFF will, according to him, have to consider higher defense spending and the expansion of the EU, or the possible accession of new member states, which would also be covered by expenditures from the common budget.

“The President of the European Commission wanted to hear the first opinions and based on this will then present the first proposal for a long-term budget for discussion in June,” Fico explained.

When asked by TASR what the priorities of the Slovak government will be when discussing increases or cuts in the MFF budget chapters, the Prime Minister noted that he went to the summit with a mandate from the National Council’s Committee on European and Foreign Affairs. According to him, he is to talk about cohesion on this topic, so that cohesion policy for the benefit of regional development is not diminished, and also about protecting the needs of Slovak farmers under the common agricultural policy.

“These are the two basic goals we pursue regarding the budget. I don’t want to talk about red lines now; we don’t know those numbers yet, we don’t know where it will end. Direct payments in Slovakia are at the level of 80 percent of the average in the EU. Any country with lower payments tries to increase them, and there is always some compensatory mechanism,” added the Slovak Prime Minister. (March 21)