EU budget draft proposes lower funding for defence-related programmes

The Irish presidency of the EU Council proposed reducing funding for resilience, security, defence industry and space by almost €17 billion in the 2028–2034 budget. The negotiating document was published on October 10.

Its comparison table lowers that allocation from €130.704 billion to €113.712 billion, in current prices. Military mobility funding would fall from €17.651 billion to €15.644 billion, a reduction of more than €2 billion.

Military mobility includes transport infrastructure supporting the movement of personnel and equipment between EU countries. Its budget line sits within the transport component of the Connecting Europe Facility.

The table reduces the overall Connecting Europe Facility allocation from €81.428 billion to €69.713 billion. Horizon Europe would receive about €158.2 billion rather than roughly €175 billion.

The competitiveness, prosperity and security heading would fall by almost €75.2 billion against the Commission proposal. RIA Novosti reported that the overall budget would be reduced by €159 billion to approximately €1.826 trillion.

Ukraine support above the budget ceilings remains at around €100 billion. Keeping that allocation does not amount to approval of the entire financial plan.

The Council confirmed that this is a third negotiating-box version prepared to guide leaders’ discussions. The proposals remain preliminary. RIA Novosti said they would be discussed at the October 15–16 summit amid disagreements among member states over future spending.