The ECOFIN Council will adopt in Septembre its position on the draft 2019 budget of the EU, in light of the agreement confirmed to have been reached at the level of the EU ambassadors (see EUROPE 12059).
For 2019, the Council foresees a total volume of €164.1 billion in commitment appropriations and €148.2 billion in payment appropriations. Compared to 2018, this represents an increase of 2.09% in commitments and 2.34% in payments.
The Council has reduced the funding compared to the Commission's initial proposal (€1.5 billion less in commitments), but has agreed to increases compared to 2018: an extra 5.79% for the research programme Horizon 2020 (€11.9 billion in total), +10.37% for Erasmus + (€2.6 billion) and an extra 26.46% (€3.5 billion) for the Connecting Europe Facility.
The LIFE programme is reported to be up by 5.2%.
Concerning migration, the Council position provides for a significant increase (55.8%) of the 'Asylum, migration and integration fund', or €1.1 billion to promote the effective management of migration flows. Funds are earmarked to reform the common European asylum system, for the central Mediterranean route and the second tranche of the Facility for Refugees in Turkey.
The Council supported the proposal to bolster the EU civil protection mechanism. €245 million will go to set in place a European defence industrial development programme. (Original version in French by Lionel Changeur) **** article modified on Thursday 12 July ****