Seventeen EU leaders press Irish presidency to protect farm funding in next budget

With Giorgia Meloni and Nicușor Dan as first signatories, the group also wants cohesion funding preserved, national rebates scrapped and NextGenerationEU loan repaid more slowly to free up fiscal space.

The leaders of 17 European Union countries have sent a letter to Taoiseach Micheál Martin, in his capacity as current president-in-office of the Council of the European Union, calling for agriculture to be given priority ahead of the revision of the Negotiating Box, the document drawn up by the presidency to steer and progressively narrow down negotiations on the EU's long-term budget.

As negotiations on the 2028-2034 Multiannual Financial Framework (MFF) enter a decisive phase, the leaders of Bulgaria, Cyprus, Croatia, Estonia, Greece, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, Malta, Poland, Portugal, the Czech Republic, Romania, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain and Hungary have sent "some reflections ahead of the forthcoming revision of the Negotiating Box".

"We fully recognise that the European Union is facing an evolving strategic environment, which brings with it new challenges but also new opportunities for joint European action," reads the letter, whose first signatories are Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni and Romanian President Nicușor Dan.

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