Sweden rejects EU budget proposal as unacceptable

Sweden has firmly rejected the EU's proposed long-term budget, with Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson calling it unacceptable and refusing to use it as a basis for negotiations at Thursday's EU summit. Kristersson stated that Sweden's net contribution to the EU would increase by 60 percent under the proposal drafted by the Irish presidency, which he described as too large and too expensive. Irish Prime Minister Micheál Martin defended the proposal as a good negotiating platform, noting that a small group of wealthy northern countries contributes 46 percent of EU funds, and that Ireland has already cut over 140 billion euros from the original commission proposal.