reopen EU accounts to cut French contribution

When they are fulfilled just eight years since the Brexit referendum, a very similar story repeats itself. This time, in the campaign of the French legislative elections, called by surprise by President Emmanuel Macron. The candidate of Marine Le Pen’s National Rally for the position of prime minister, Jordan Bardella who was an MEP last term and in theory knows what he is talking about, has made one of the axes of his program the cut by up to 3,000 million euros annually of France’s contribution to the EU budget.

He promises to use the money saved to finance the public spending increases and tax cuts included in his program, particularly the cut in energy VAT. If he obtains an absolute majority and becomes prime minister, he will begin to negotiate it with Brussels “this summer”. As in the case of Brexit, It is a commitment that is impossible to fulfill..

[La estrategia de Macron, en entredicho: Le Pen ganaría y la alianza de izquierdas sería segunda]

“The French contribution to the EU budget has skyrocketed since 2017, with a 44% increase in net terms, while the gross contribution has tripled. I think it should be reduced, I think it can be reasonably cut by between €2 and €3 billion, calling on the EU to also rationalize its spending”said Bardella at an event organized by the French employers’ association last week.

Le Pen’s candidate complains that Brussels demands cuts from the Member States and does not apply the same medicine. And he regrets that European money stops at “countries that are very far from our civilization and that sometimes they use it to blackmail us”, citing the specific cases of Turkey and Gaza. France’s contribution to the EU coffers in 2024 amounts to 21.6 billion euros, so the cut that Bardella requests would be between 10%-15%. Paris is the second net contributor to the community budget, only surpassed by Berlin.

However, Bardella’s promise is impossible to fulfill. The budget of the European Union It is approved for periods of seven years. It could only be modified by unanimous agreement of the 27 member states and approval by the European Parliament. The current multiannual financial framework was approved in 2020 – together with the Next Generation funds -, with a total allocation of 1,074 billion euros for the period 2021-2027.

“From a legal and procedural point of view, Mr Bardella cannot put his promise into practice because we have already agreed on the EU’s multiannual budget for 2021-2027. A framework that clearly sets out what each country pays and what receiving. In this period of seven years it is not possible to make any changesso even if Mr. Bardella reached a position of power in France, he would not be able to execute the reduction he promises,” he explains to EL ESPAÑOL. Siegfried Muresan, vice-president of the EPP in the European Parliament and rapporteur of the 2024 budget.

“Mr. Bardella’s promise is not realistic and It is the clearest proof that he is a populist, who promises things in the campaign that he knows he will not be able to fulfill. This promise reminds me of the Brexit campaign: it said that the United Kingdom paid too much to the community budget and they promised that things would improve after they left. But now we see that the United Kingdom is weaker, more isolated and economically vulnerable than ever,” says Muresan.

“The first victim of Mr. Bardella’s promise would be French farmers. France benefits a lot from the EU budget in all areas, but especially in agriculture. Any cut in the community budget would mean an immediate cut for French farmers,” says the popular MEP. In fact, Bardella has assured that he will save the common agricultural policy from any reduction, another thing that is not in his hands to fulfill.

In any case, an absolute majority of the National Group in the legislative elections would mean that France -which has traditionally been among the countries that ask for more ambition in the EU budget- goes over to the side of the frugal. In fact, the new coalition government of the Netherlands, led by the PVV of the ultra Geert Wilders, has also made it a programmatic priority to reduce the Dutch contribution to the EU budget. But even Wilders is more realistic than Bardella and postpones this objective to the negotiation of the next multiannual budget for after 2027.