European Council President Antonio Costa said the EU needs a new approach to its next long-term budget for 2028 to 2034 after meeting Malta’s Prime Minister Robert Abela in Valletta, Malta.
Costa said he was visiting European leaders in their home countries to hear different national perspectives, describing this as part of efforts to maintain unity among EU member states, according to his statement published by the European Commission on Thursday.
He stated the next budget cycle will be negotiated in what he called a “fundamentally different geopolitical environment” from 2020, and that this required a new structure and a new way of allocating EU funds.
Costa listed “competitiveness, defence, security and strategic resilience” as strategic priorities that need funding.
He also said the next budget should continue to finance cohesion policy and agriculture — EU programmes that support regional development and farming — because they affect local growth and jobs.
Timetable and funding pressures
Reaching agreement by the end of the year was “key” to avoid interruptions to EU funding, including for farmers and fishermen, students and researchers, and businesses, Costa said.
He set out a timeline of agreeing the overall budget in 2026, then legislating and preparing in 2027, before delivery from 2028.
Costa said the overall size of the budget would be a “critical question”, noting that most EU spending is financed through national contributions from member states, which he said should be kept “within reasonable limits”.
He added the EU would need new sources of income at European level — referred to as “new own resources” — to reduce pressure on national budgets.
Costa also said he and Abela discussed preparations for the next European Council meeting, including developments in the Eastern Mediterranean and the Middle East, which he said had implications for Europe’s peace and stability, migration flows and energy security.
The EU would continue to work with regional and global partners towards “a long-lasting peace” based on a two-state solution.
