European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen defended her proposed €2 trillion, seven-year EU budget as the bloc's best tool for cutting reliance on the United States and China, even as a Germany-led bloc of net-contributor states pushes for cuts, according to POLITICO.

Representatives of six EU net contributors met in Berlin to coordinate their demand for cuts but left without agreeing on a figure, according to Euronews. The so-called frugals want "several hundred billion" euros stripped from von der Leyen's plan — a scale, but not yet a shared number.

The fight runs through the EU's procedure for setting its multiannual financial framework, or MFF: the Commission tables a proposal, all 27 national governments must then agree unanimously in the Council — giving every single capital an effective veto — before the European Parliament gives its consent by majority vote. One holdout can force the whole bloc back to the table.

That unanimity rule is what turns a spending dispute among a handful of governments into a bloc-wide problem. The budget is meant to underwrite continued support for Ukraine, a larger EU defence push and future enlargement costs, so a smaller pot — or years of deadlock over its size — would ripple through funding decisions for all member states, not just the ones demanding cuts.

Budget talks are entering what Euronews calls a "key phase," with the frugals still needing to settle on a number of their own before formal negotiations with the Commission and Parliament can move forward.