Nine countries, including Latvia, object to creating new jobs in EU institutions

BRUSSELS - Nine of the 27 European Union (EU) countries are pushing back against requests by the bloc's executive to add 2,500 new jobs as part of new budget negotiations, according to a letter seen by AFP on Friday.

A EUR 2 trillion budget proposal for 2028-2034 put forward by Brussels envisions creating the posts within the European Union's governing institutions, which currently employ around 51,000 people.

But the joint letter, spearheaded by fiscally conservative Austria, criticized the planned increase as running "counter to the stated objectives of efficiency, restraint and reform".

The signatories are the Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, Germany, Latvia, the Netherlands and Sweden.

A spokesman for the European Commission, Balazs Ujvari, said the new jobs were needed to close a "capacity gap". There is "more work, more duties to deliver on, but not more staff members," he said. "That's exactly what we are trying to close with the new budget proposal."