BRUSSELS, September 22. /TASS/. The EU is seeking to adopt a new seven-year budget plan as quickly as possible due to fears that allies of right-wing politician Marine Le Pen will win the 2027 French presidential election, Politico reported, citing sources.
According to the newspaper, the adoption of the new budget plan could be derailed if the leader of the right-wing National Rally party, Jordan Bardella, or Marine Le Pen, who is banned from participating in the elections, comes to power in France. The party's plans include reducing France's contributions to the EU budget and cutting military aid to Ukraine. For this reason, the European Council aims to adopt the budget plan before the end of 2026, at which point the future president of France will no longer be able to influence it.
Some other EU countries, including Spain and Italy, are also set to hold elections in 2027, further heightening concerns that the proposed budget plan will not be adopted. Denmark currently holds the presidency of the European Council and is reportedly conducting technical negotiations at an accelerated pace. This is causing discontent among other countries that do not have time to familiarize themselves with the issues being put to the vote.
"At the European Council in December 2026, there will be blood on the walls," an unnamed European diplomat told the newspaper, referring to the upcoming budget discussions.
On March 31, a Paris court sentenced Le Pen to four years in prison for the parliamentary assistant case. Two of the years will be served under electronic monitoring, and the other two were suspended. The court also stripped the politician of her right to hold elected office or participate in elections for five years. Unlike the prison sentence, this measure took effect immediately and can only be overturned if her appeal is successful. The ruling does not apply to her parliamentary mandate. The Paris court's verdict prevented the politician from running for president of France in 2027. Le Pen called the verdict political and filed an appeal with a higher court. The review of the appeal may be completed in the summer of 2026.
On July 16, the draft EU budget for 2028-2034 was presented in Brussels. It will total two trillion euros. The European Commission announced that Ukraine will receive 100 billion euros, or 5% of the total amount. However, Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orb·n said that, according to various expert groups' estimates, at least 20% of the budget should go to Ukraine to finance its accession to the EU. Budapest has called on Brussels to withdraw and revise its budget plan. Consultations among EU countries on this issue may continue until the end of 2027. The plan requires the consent of all EU members to be adopted.