On the night on Monday 15 November, negotiators from the EU Council and the European Parliament reached an agreement on the main elements of the EU’s 2022 budget, which amounts to €169.5 billion in commitment appropriations and €170.6 billion in payment appropriations, or 1.14% of the EU's gross national income (GNI) (both in payments and commitments).
Next year’s budget reflects the EU’s priorities: economic recovery, the fight against climate change, and the green and digital transitions. It leaves sufficient margins under the expenditure ceilings of the 2021-2027 Multiannual Financial Framework (MFF) to allow the EU to react to unforeseen needs.
The two arms of the budgetary authority finally found common ground on next year's budget, just before the end of the conciliation period (midnight on 15 November). On Friday 12 November (see EUROPE 12831/18), the negotiations were suspended due to disagreements on several issues (administrative expenditure, Article 15.5 of the Financial Regulation, etc.).
The European Parliament successfully obtained an additional €479.1 million in 2022 compared to the draft budget plan presented by the European Commission for certain programmes.
The European Parliament team also obtained the additional funding requested, but did not manage to use Article 15.3 of the Financial Regulation on commitment appropriations (for Horizon Europe) corresponding to the amount of decommitments that occurred as a result of the non-implementation of research projects. The EU Council did not want to use this Article from the beginning of the MFF.
The European Parliament obtained the following increases: - Horizon Europe research programme (+ €100 million compared to the Commission’s draft budget plan); - environment and climate programme LIUFE (+ €47.5 million); - single market (€30 million, including €10 million for the tourism sector), and the European Public Prosecutor’s Office (+ €3.8 million); - Erasmus+ (+ €35 million); - EU4Health (+ €51 million); - Neighbourhood, Development and International Cooperation Instrument (NDICI - Global Europe) (+ €190 million, with a particular focus on the fight against pandemics, including vaccination).
Humanitarian aid has been increased by €211 million to allow the Solidarity and Emergency Aid Reserve to cover the increased needs of the EU Solidarity Fund in relation to natural disasters.
The breakdown for some major programmes is as follows:
- €49.7 billion in commitments to support recovery by stimulating investment in economic, social and territorial cohesion;
- €53.1 billion for the Common Agricultural Policy and €971.9 million for the European Fisheries and Aquaculture Fund;
- €12.2 billion for Horizon Europe and €613.5 million for the Single Market Programme;
- €839.7 million for the EU4Health programme;
- €1.2 billion under the Just Transition Fund and €755.5 million under the LIFE programme;
- €2.8 billion for Connecting Europe Facility and €3.4 billion for Erasmus+;
- €1.1 billion for the Asylum, Migration and Integration Fund and €809.3 million for the Integrated Border Management Fund (including €25 million for border protection with Belarus);
- €227.1 million for the Internal Security Fund and €945.7 million for the European Defence Fund.
Budget for 2021. As part of the overall agreement, draft amending budgets 5 and 6 (for 2021), focussing on aid to Syrian refugees in Turkey and the region, and the financing of 200 million doses of vaccinations through the COVAX mechanism, were also approved by the EU Council and the European Parliament.
Next steps. The EU Council and the European Parliament now have 14 days to approve the joint text. The EU Council is expected to approve it on 23 November and the Parliament on 25/26 November in plenary. (Original version in French by Lionel Changeur)