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Macron Urges EU Budget Deal Before French Elections
Confirmed
In Short: French President Emmanuel Macron urged EU leaders to finalize a budget deal by Christmas, warning that negotiations will be harder after January due to upcoming elections.
French President Emmanuel Macron urged his EU counterparts to seal a deal on a long-term budget by Christmas, warning that negotiations will grow much harder in the runup to the 2027 elections in France and elsewhere in Europe, according to AFP.
The nearly two-trillion-euro budget will determine the EU's main priorities for the period from 2028 to 2034, including agriculture, defense, competitiveness, and migration, as reported by AFP.
Leaders met Thursday but made little progress, with conclusions calling for a 'timely agreement' rather than setting a hard year-end deadline, according to AFP.
Spain's Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez said the proposal was 'clearly insufficient,' maintaining that the money on the table was 'far short' of what was needed for the bloc to respond to its challenges, as reported by AFP.
German Chancellor Friedrich Merz told reporters that negotiations would be 'very, very difficult,' suggesting leaders 'pack a few extra shirts' for a final summit meeting set for December, according to AFP.
Macron specifically raised the elections in France during the nearly four hours of talks on the budget, according to a European diplomat quoted by AFP.
Le Monde.fr (France) reported on October 12, 2026, that Macron called for a 'break with Macronism' and an end to 'Jean-Luc Mélenchon's dominance over the left,' while insisting the main opponent remained 'the far right.'
Le Monde.fr (France) also reported on October 11, 2026, that Gabriel Attal and Edouard Philippe were locked in a duel to determine who is best placed to represent the heirs of Emmanuel Macron.
Kyivindependent (Ukraine) reported that Macron said Russia was showing 'several signs' that it was preparing to mobilize 300,000 people following elections, in an interview with TF1 and France 2 on September 24.
Kyivindependent (Ukraine) also reported that Macron said, 'They took place. And now it's clear that Russia will do it. The question is whether it will announce it or do everything without a public announcement.'
Both Le Monde.fr and Kyivindependent reported on Macron's efforts to finalize the EU budget deal before the French elections, highlighting the urgency of the negotiations.
While Le Monde.fr focused on the internal political dynamics in France, Kyivindependent highlighted Macron's concerns about Russia's potential mobilization and its implications for the EU budget negotiations.
What's confirmed
- HOT: » Bulgaria's Summer Ritual: We Kill Each Other on the Roads, Then We Forget French President Emmanuel Macron said Russia was showing “several signs” that it was preparing to mobilize 300,000 people following elections, in an interview with TF1 and France 2 on Sept. 24.
- "They took place. And now it's clear that Russia will do it. The question is whether it will announce it or do everything without a public announcement," Macron said.
- France President Emmanuel Macron attends a news conference with Spain's Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez in Madrid, Spain, Wednesday, Sept.
- Trump and his Republican Party face pressure to address surging prices ahead of November’s midterm elections.
What's still developing
- Leaders must agree how much to give to farmers, what to spend on defence, how to make the economy more competitive against the United States and China, and whether to pour European money into migrant "return hubs" in Africa.
- Another diplomat said Macron told fellow leaders in Brussels there would be "no political breathing room from January onwards" for an agreement.
- The US war with Iran has sent energy prices skyrocketing, coming back to bite President Donald Trump at home with high fuel costs that have become a key issue ahead of midterm congressional elections in a month.
- After speaking with Trump, France's President Emmanuel Macron convened a video call starting at 1230 GMT of fellow G7 leaders -- also comprising Britain, Japan, Canada, Germany and Italy -- to discuss joint action.
- With just months to go before elections to replace President Emmanuel Macron, French authorities had been hoping that the protests would start to ease ahead of half-term holidays to start at the end of the week.
- “Young people are not being included in the conversation. Our future is being robbed away from us,” the 23-year-old told reporters at the Paul Eluard high school.
- But with elections in Israel and the United States approaching in the coming weeks, diplomats say a breakthrough is unlikely.
- Thursday’s talks, which will initially be chaired by French President Emmanuel Macron alongside Lebanese President Joseph Aoun and Jordan’s King Abdullah, are not formally part of Washington’s efforts.
- The Japanese yen cedes ground this morning after Japanese media reported on a potential second, smaller, supplementary budget in fiscal 2026.
- The French 10-yr OAT-swapspread narrowed from starting levels around 130 bps to a 117 bps close.
- Brussels is considering a broad levy on large corporations operating in the EU in a new effort to raise additional revenues for the bloc’s budget.
- The jury is out whether the short-term move sticks, with much possibly depending on a swift approval of the 2027 draft budget.