European governments have watered down their commitment to secure a deal on the bloc’s next seven-year budget by the end of the year, according to draft Council conclusions seen by POLITICO. The retreat comes as leaders prepare to respond for the first time to an Irish budget proposal that envisages €159 billion in cuts.
European Council President António Costa wants leaders to finalize negotiations at a summit in December. His reasoning is political as well as financial: elections in France, Italy and Poland next year threaten to derail the talks, and the longer negotiations drag on, the harder a deal becomes to land.
Governments don’t want a hard deadline. They fear time pressure will erode their leverage at the table.
The Deadline Disappears
Several countries, including Italy and France, urged Costa’s team to remove the phrase “reaching a final agreement by the end of the year” from the Council conclusions, two EU diplomats briefed on the discussions told POLITICO on condition of anonymity. Circulated Tuesday evening, the new draft calls only for a “timely agreement.” It says a deal by year-end would allow EU funding to start flowing when the next budget takes effect in 2028 — the same wording the Council used in its conclusions last June.
Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni made the national position clear in a parliamentary speech on Wednesday. “We will not sign an agreement that is not beneficial to us just to meet a deadline,” she said, adding: “We will sign an agreement only when it is right for Italy.”
There’s another complication. Spain’s snap elections on Nov. 29, about six weeks away, have also raised concerns that they could work against a year-end deadline.
Cuts on the Table
Leaders gather in Brussels on Thursday and Friday to give their first reaction to the Irish proposal and its €159 billion in cuts. That figure matters to anyone who relies on EU money: a budget cycle turns priorities into spending, determining what gets funded, what gets trimmed and who absorbs the difference. The agenda also includes energy prices, enlargement, Ukraine and migration, all of which depend on the money this negotiation will eventually determine.
The softer wording gives governments room to bargain. It also means less certainty for the programmes and regions waiting for the 2028 budget to start flowing.
Transatlantic Friction
The draft conclusions add another notable point. EU leaders condemn U.S. President Donald Trump’s decision to lift sanctions on Russian diesel. They also express “regret” over U.S. sanctions against the International Criminal Court and pledge to engage with Washington to reverse those measures.
The language shows a bloc willing to put disagreements with its closest partner on paper, even as it struggles to agree on its own finances.
Why This Matters: A seven-year budget is the EU’s most concrete statement of what it values, and the fight over its timing shows how national leverage can crowd out collective urgency. Elections in France, Italy and Poland next year loom over the negotiations; if leaders miss the December window, talks could move into a more fractured political moment. From a social-investment perspective, the €159 billion in proposed cuts raises the question of which communities and programmes will bear the cost if the bloc settles for a late or smaller deal. Governments must agree before money for the 2028 budget can flow, and every month of delay brings another month of uncertainty for those who depend on it. The Brussels summit will show whether leaders treat the budget as a shared European project or a bargaining chip.