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VIENNA: Austrian Chancellor Christian Stocker has threatened to veto the European Union’s proposed long-term budget for 2028–2034 unless the bloc presents a more realistic spending plan.
“There is a pain threshold for Austria. If this pain threshold is exceeded, I will not agree,” Stocker told German newspaper Die Welt, according to a report published on Monday.
Stocker criticised the European Commission’s proposal to create 2,500 additional civil service positions, describing the plan as unreasonable and out of touch with reality.
“We are cutting 2,600 administrative positions in Austria,” he said, adding that he expected EU institutions to reduce their staffing levels as well.
He argued that the EU should exercise greater fiscal discipline and use its resources more efficiently, particularly as Austria itself is under an EU deficit procedure and is working to consolidate its public finances.
The European Commission has proposed a seven-year budget of €1.985 trillion for 2028–2034. Approval requires unanimous agreement among all 27 EU member states, meaning opposition from a single country could block the proposal.
Austria is not alone in calling for tighter spending. Germany, the Netherlands, Finland, Sweden and Denmark have also opposed the proposed budget framework, arguing that its overall size needs to be reduced.
Stocker said he was not seeking to prevent an agreement but insisted that any compromise must be based on a more realistic proposal.