On Monday 28 November, the Council of the EU will vote on endorsing the agreement reached in mid-November on the Community budget for 2017 (see EUROPE 11670).
Three countries are expected to abstain during the vote: Italy, Greece and the United Kingdom.
The total amount of commitments has been set at €157.88 billion and the level of payments at €133.49 billion. In particular, the following have been provided for: - €5.91 billion to tackle the migrant crisis and reinforce security (+11.3% on 2016); - €21.3 billion to stimulate economic growth and create new jobs (+12%). This part of the budget covers instruments such as Erasmus+, with an envelope that will rise by 19% to a level of €2.1 billion, and the EU Fund for Strategic Investments (EFSI), which sees its envelope increased by 25% to stand at €2.7 billion.
The 2017 budget of the EU also includes €500 million in commitments for the youth employment initiative. An envelope of €500 million has been approved to support the dairy sector and farmers (a consequence of the measures laid down in the agriculture crisis package of July of this year).
For its part, the European Parliament will adopt the 2017 budget on Thursday 1 December, including the amending budgets for 2016 and decisions on mobilising the flexibility instrument and the contingency margin.
Parliament's green light to MFF in mid-December?
The Council anticipates that Italy will lift its reservation on the compromise text on the mid-term revision of the multi-annual financial framework (MFF) of the EU for 2014-2020 (see EUROPE 11669) after the referendum of 4 December on constitutional reform. Once its reservation has been lifted, the ambassadors of the member states to the EU (Coreper) will be called upon to confirm the agreement and ask Parliament to return its opinion. Parliament can either approve the agreement or reject it- this will most likely happen at its December plenary session in Strasbourg (12-15 December). (Original version in French by Lionel Changeur)