In a Twitter post, M Philippot, leader of the populist Les Patriotes movement, said: “France will be ploughing more cash into an already ruinous European budget! Let’s take this money back – save more than 10 billion (euros) a year – by leaving the EU! #Frexit.” His comments came as crunch talks on the EU’s joint 2021-27 budget reached an impasse on Thursday, with hopes of a deal fading as rich “contributor” nations and poor “recipient” ones clashed over the size of the budget and how the money should be spent.
The tussle over money was made more intense this year by the departure of Britain from the bloc, which has left a 75-billion-euro (£62.7billion) “Brexit gap” over the seven-year period.
Britain, which left the EU last month, was the second-biggest net contributor to the budget after Germany.
“Are you asking if we’re going to resolve the whole budget discussion this weekend? No, I don’t think so,” Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen said as she arrived at the Brussels meeting.
Denmark is one of the self-styled “frugal four” – alongside the Netherlands, Sweden and Austria – who oppose a proposal by summit host Charles Michel, the president of the European Council.
They argue Mr Michel’s 1.09-trillion-euro budget plan is excessive and must be slashed, while also calling for the budget to be modernised to face new challenges.
The EU27 disagree over how much the multi-annual financial framework (MFF), as the long-term budget is called, should rise by.
They are also at odds over how spending should be shifted between priorities and how much each member state should pay as a percentage of its gross domestic product (GDP).
The previous MFF came in at 1.08 trillion euros.
Standing up to the so-called frugals is France, which wants farm payments protected and more money allocated to European defence projects. Siding with Paris are the so-called “friends of cohesion” – mostly southern and eastern states that get more from the MFF than they put in thanks to cohesion funds and support for their farmers.
French President Emmanuel Macron, who has sought to push the EU to be more united and ambitious, warned on Thursday that Brexit should not hobble the EU.
“It would be unacceptable to have a Europe that compensates for the departure of the British by reducing its own means,” Mr Macron said.
But his calls for increased post-Brexit spending were dismissed by the frugals, who said it was time for the bloc to be realistic and curb spending.
Talks resumed on Friday following a night of inconclusive negotiations. Many fear the summit could break up without a budget deal, forcing EU leaders to reconvene for another meeting, most likely in April.
Adding yet more discord is the European parliament, which wants the MFF hiked to 1.32 trillion euros to pay for costly goals such as turning the EU into a carbon-neutral economy within three decades.