OddsFrontIreland asks EU governments to set revenue target for new budget resources
The Council presidency is testing a compromise on financing common priorities before the next seven-year spending framework begins in 2028.
Ireland's presidency of the Council of the European Union has asked national governments to identify an acceptable revenue target for new common funding sources, Euronews reported on September 8. The request was part of preparations for a compromise on the next long-term EU budget and was discussed by ambassadors on Tuesday. No new tax was agreed.
The immediate change is a push to make governments specify what they can accept collectively, alongside their objections to individual measures. Euronews based its account on a presidency note circulated before the meeting. The report places the next discussions at the General Affairs Council on September 22, with a revised compromise expected in early October.
What the revenue package would support
The European Commission's proposed 2028–2034 framework would finance common priorities across seven years. Its official explanation links new revenue to digital development, defence and clean technologies, as well as repayment of borrowing under the pandemic recovery programme, NextGenerationEU. The financing debate therefore affects both future investment and obligations created by earlier collective spending.
The Commission has proposed five revenue sources: emissions trading, the carbon border adjustment mechanism, uncollected electronic waste, tobacco excise duties and contributions from large corporations operating in the single market. These are proposals for the EU's own resources, the income assigned to its budget. Their design includes revenue-sharing and national contributions, so they should not all be understood as identical new taxes charged directly to individuals.
National approval remains decisive
The Council's published account explains why agreement is difficult: the long-term budget requires unanimity among governments and the European Parliament's consent. The separate own-resources decision also requires unanimity, followed by ratification under every member state's constitutional procedures. Agreement on a broad political ambition consequently does not establish either a final revenue amount or a legally operative funding mechanism.
The Council identifies a political agreement by the end of 2026 as necessary to leave time for legislation in 2027 and uninterrupted funding from January 2028. Ireland's request is an attempt to narrow the choices before those deadlines. The next substantive test will be whether governments can turn their preferred revenue target into a package that secures all the required approvals while supporting the spending commitments they want the Union to undertake.