BRUSSELS — France, Italy and Spain are among 10 countries pushing back against a European Commission plan to link EU payments to policy overhauls in the bloc's next seven-year budget, four diplomats with knowledge of discussions told POLITICO.

Under the Commission’s budget blueprint currently being negotiated by national capitals, EU countries would have to jump through multiple hoops, including potentially highly sensitive issues such as raising the retirement age, to receive payouts.

The 10 governments came out against the idea during a meeting of EU ambassadors on Wednesday, opening a new battleground in fraught negotiations among countries over the bloc's 2028-2034 budget, which is worth almost €2 trillion.