The European Commission’s publication of its draft of the union’s €2 trillion 2028-2034 budget, the Multiannual Financial Framework (MFF), once again opens up a tortuous two years of likely acrimonious budget negotiations.

Twenty seven states and the European Parliament must unanimously agree – in talks as complicated as four-dimensional chess – a new package of political imperatives, from defence, immigration, climate change, industrial innovation and inflation to safeguarding historic programmes such as CAP and cohesion. By all appearances, this will be an utterly impossible reconciliation.

Helping to steer a path towards it will be the onerous central challenge of next year’s Irish presidency. And complicating that challenge for cash-strapped Dublin negotiators will be a plethora of threats to........

© The Irish Times