The President, together with other EU leaders, is calling for funding for cohesion and agriculture to be maintained

President Gitanas Nausėda and 16 other EU heads of state are calling for funding for cohesion and agriculture to be maintained in the new multiannual financial framework.

The heads of state and government have written to the Irish Prime Minister, who currently holds the Presidency of the Council of the EU, regarding the EU budget for 2028–2034, the President’s Office has announced.

The letter emphasises that the European Union is facing growing challenges in the areas of security and defence, competitiveness, connectivity, energy security and resilience. The next multiannual financial framework must enable an appropriate response to these challenges, whilst maintaining funding for cohesion and the common agricultural policy.

The letter emphasises that the total funding allocated to these areas in the next multiannual financial framework should be maintained. As the leaders who signed the letter point out, under the European Commission’s proposal, funding for these areas would already be decreasing in real terms, despite the overall growth of the future EU budget.

The national leaders stress that additional resources must be allocated to new European priorities, whilst maintaining funding for agriculture and cohesion. They have expressed their readiness to work constructively on new EU own resources that would reduce the direct pressure on national budgets.

According to EU leaders, Cohesion Policy and the Common Agricultural Policy remain important for promoting convergence, strengthening the single market, European competitiveness and food security.

The EU leaders who signed the letter called on the Irish Presidency to take these positions into account when drafting the forthcoming negotiating text and expressed their readiness to work towards an ambitious, balanced and adequately funded Multiannual Financial Framework for 2028–2034.

In this regard, in addition to G. Nausėda, statements were made by the leaders of Bulgaria, the Czech Republic, Estonia, Greece, Spain, Italy, Cyprus, Croatia, Latvia, Poland, Malta, Po