EU Has to Make Do With the Money It Has, Germany’s Merz Says
Germany's chancellor Friedrich Merz during a meeting with UK prime minister Keir Starmer, not pictured, at Downing Street in London, on July 17.
Photographer: Neil Hall/EPA/BloombergGerman Chancellor Friedrich Merz rebuffed the European Commission’s new €2 trillion ($2.3 trillion) budget plan, dismissing any attempt to tax his country’s companies.
“Increasing debt had been used in exceptional cases but these days it’s become the new normal,” he told reporters in London on Thursday, speaking alongside UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer. “The EU will now have to make due with the funds that it has its disposal. This will mean a tough fight over the budget for the next two years.”