European Council president seeks EU wide taxes for long term budget

European Council President António Costa has taken over negotiations on the long term budget of the European Union, Euronews reported on October 21, 2026. Costa is working to identify new EU wide taxes after an inconclusive summit last week left national leaders deadlocked over funding. [1]

National governments remain reluctant to raise their national contributions, according to Euronews. In response, Costa is considering measures to raise revenue directly for Brussels. Options under exploration include taxes on large corporations, digital services, tobacco, carbon emissions, and online gambling. [1]

The European Union institutions employ tens of thousands of people and set policies affecting 450 million citizens. As FTMQ News reported earlier, individual member states have also targeted tobacco and digital assets for domestic revenues. Germany recently voted to raise tobacco taxes to collect 12 billion euros over four years, while French lawmakers moved to apply exit taxes to cryptocurrency holdings above 800,000 euros. [4][5][6]

Costa now faces the challenge of resolving how new revenue streams can secure consensus among member states to finance the upcoming budget, Euronews reported. [1]