Germany and its allies in Northern Europe have pressured Dublin to make cuts worth hundreds of billions of euros across the board.

But 17 EU countries from Southern and Eastern Europe — led by Italy and Romania — are pushing in the opposite direction. They asked to preserve farmers’ subsidies and regional payouts, known as cohesion policy, in a joint letter last week.

During a separate speech to the European Parliament on Tuesday, Portuguese Prime Minister Luís Montenegro said that “there is no European competitiveness without cohesion, and no European cohesion without competitiveness.”

In a rebuke to the frugals, Montenegro said that Portugal’s contribution to the EU budget as a share of its gross domestic product is higher than that of Germany and other wealthier countries.

“Giving 10 out of 100 is much more than giving 50 out of 1,000," he told MEPs.

But Germany insists that its budget contributions are too high. In a thinly veiled threat on Monday, German Chancellor Friedrich Merz said that “having no new financial framework is by far the most financially advantageous solution for Germany.”