EU leaders set October deadline for 2 trillion budget draft

European Union leaders concluded a summit in Brussels on Friday with an agreement to produce a preliminary deal on the bloc's next long-term budget by October, aiming to finalize a contentious 2 trillion euro spending plan for 2028-2034 by the end of 2026. The agreement sets a critical timeline for resolving deep divisions over the budget's size, priorities, and how it will be financed.

The negotiations pit two main camps against each other. A group of net contributor countries, often called the "frugals" and led by Germany and the Netherlands, is pushing to reduce overall spending. Conversely, a coalition of 16 nations, including Spain, Italy, Poland, and Greece and known as the "Friends of Cohesion," is demanding increased funding for traditional areas like agriculture and regional development, arguing the current proposals are inadequate, especially given inflation.

A compromise text prepared last week by Cyprus, which currently holds the EU presidency, proposed cutting 32.8 billion euros from the European Commission's initial 2 trillion euro proposal. This framework, which also shifts more money toward agriculture and cohesion policies at the expense of areas like research...