EU chief unveils new $2.3 trillion budget. Lawmakers say the math doesn't 'add up'

BRUSSELS -- The European Union needs a new budget that would allow it to respond to crises like Russia’s war on Ukraine or climate change, fund railways and energy grids, and protect farmers’ livelihoods, the EU chief said Wednesday while unveiling her proposal totaling 2 trillion euros ($2.3 trillion).

European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, who heads the EU’s executive branch, said that under her budget plan, spending on defense and space would increase five-fold, while investment in migration and border management would triple.

The proposal kicks off two years of wrangling between the 27 member states which fund most of the budget and the European Parliament. The spending package — which runs from 2028 to 2034 — is seen as a statement about Europe’s ambitions in the world.

Von der Leyen described her plan for the budget – known as the Multiannual Financial Framework – as “the most ambitious ever proposed.”

“It is more strategic, more flexible, more transparent, and we are investing more in our capacity to respond and more in our independence,” she told reporters in Brussels.

But in an early sign of the troubles ahead, von der Leyen conceded that even within her own team of policy commissioners — which worked through the night to finalize the proposal – “not everyone was satisfied with the amount.”

EU lawmakers who will chaperone the commission’s proposal through parliament over the next year and 2027, and who were briefed on it, said that the budget math doesn't "add up.”

“However you try to package this, what we have is a real-terms investment and spending freeze,” they said in a statement. “It is the status quo, which the Commission has always insisted is not an option.”

Part of the numbers confusion is due to von der Leyen's insistence that national contributions to the budget will not increase. Extra funds would be found through “a step change” in the way the commission raises its own money, she said.

The EU as a bloc is not allowed to levy its own taxes, but it does earn revenue from things like customs duties and value added tax. The plan now is to get money through the carbon emissions trading system and a new tobacco duty, among other measures.

At the same time, the EU must also pay off billions of euros in debt incurred by measures introduced to stop the spread of COVID-19 and to help revive economies after the pandemic.

As for security, von der Leyen said 100 billion euros ($116 billion) should be set aside to help Ukraine rebuild from the ravages of the war, now in its fourth year.

“We are suggesting 100 billion euros ... to support recovery, resilience, and of course their path to the EU membership,” she said.

Outside the commission headquarters, as von der Leyen’s team debated the plan, around 200 farmers gathered and threw boots at the building.

“Everybody is talking about security for Europe. Everybody is talking about a stronger Europe. Well ,let me tell you, you can’t get stronger with an empty stomach,” said Lode Ceyssens, head of the Belgian farmers trade union Boerenbond.

___

Associated Press journalist Sylvain Plazy in Brussels contributed to this report.