France pushes for new EU taxes to raise over €60 billion
France has told closed-door EU talks that new bloc-wide taxes should raise more than €60 billion for the next seven-year budget, a higher figure than other member states are seeking, diplomats say.
France has positioned itself as the leading advocate for new EU-wide levies, known as "own resources," arguing they would boost funding for priorities like defense and competitiveness while cutting national contributions to the EU budget. According to three EU diplomats granted anonymity to discuss closed-door talks, France's ambassador to the EU, Philippe Léglise-Costa, told fellow diplomats on Tuesday that the new taxes should generate more than €60 billion — a threshold notably higher than what other countries are targeting.
None of the other governments has publicly specified a desired revenue figure. France's backing is considered essential to reaching an agreement among EU governments on the bloc's next seven-year budget proposal by the end of the year, ahead of 2027 elections in France, Italy, Poland and Spain that could complicate negotiations. There is concern that an unfavorable budget deal for Paris could benefit the far-right National Rally, currently leading in polls, which has campaigned to cut France's EU contributions in half.
Commission proposal faces pushback
The European Commission's proposal from last July outlined five new levies expected to raise up to €66 billion, but it has met resistance from national governments. Ireland, which holds the Council presidency steering talks on the next Multiannual Financial Framework, hopes to narrow the list of acceptable own-resource options ahead of an EU leaders' summit in Brussels on October 15. On Monday, Dublin announced that governments had reached consensus on introducing new levies on foreign polluters through the Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism and on electronic waste, projected to generate an average of €1.64 billion and €17.9 billion per year, respectively, between 2028 and 2034.
During Tuesday's talks, the Commission signaled openness to adjusting some tax proposals to raise more revenue than originally planned. However, according to an Irish note seen by POLITICO, other proposed levies — on tobacco products, corporate turnover, and revenue from the Emissions Trading Scheme — have drawn opposition from several countries, dealing a significant setback to France's ambitions.
