04/09/2018 (Agence Europe) – On Tuesday 4 September, the Council of Ministers of the EU formally adopted its position on the EU’s budget for 2019 (see EUROPE 12060). For 2019, it provides for a total volume of €164.1 billion in commitments and €148.2 billion in payments. Compared with 2018, this is an increase of 2.09% in commitments and a rise of 2.34% in payments. The Council has reduced credits compared to the initial Commission proposal (€1.5 billion less in commitments) but has accepted increases compared with 2018. These include +5.79% for the Horizon 2020 research programme (€11.9 billion in total) and +10.37% for Erasmus+ (€2.6 billion). (LC)