Interest costs for servicing NextGenerationEU debt are higher than previously estimated.

Omissions

• The claim is qualitative ('higher than previous estimates') and is accurate as a direction of travel, but the speaker gives no figure; the scale of the overrun (ECA refers to expected borrowing costs for the current MFF being roughly double the original estimates) is not mentioned.
• Part of the statement ('we need to respect the established practice, which has provided us with an agreed balance between calling fresh money and reprioritisation') is a political/prescriptive judgement about EU budget methodology, not a verifiable statistic.
• Higher interest costs are largely a consequence of the ECB rate cycle since 2022 and of the lengthened disbursement schedule, not of a change in NGEU's nominal volume; this context is absent from the speech.

Sources

• PrimaryEuropean Court of Auditors — 2025 EU audit in brief (Annual Report 2025)"Due to NGEU, total payments in 2025 were higher than total commitments. ... Expected NGEU borrowing costs for the current MFF remain double ..." (i.e. expected NGEU borrowing costs remain about double the original estimates)
• SecondaryEunews — Court of Auditors on EU budget: without new own resources significant shortfall riskQuoting the Court of Auditors on NGEU debt-related payments: "this is considerably higher than the Commission's July 2024 estimate, which projected payments of ..."
• SecondaryEurofi Regulatory Update (March 2026) — 'NGEU: a game changer for the European Union?'"post-pandemic debt servicing costs are significantly higher than initial projections due to the rise in interest rates since 2022"