Negotiations within the Conciliation Committee on the budget for 2025 began on the morning of Friday 15 November (see EUROPE 13525/14). They were concluded during the night, shortly after 3am, with total commitments set at €192.768 billion and total payments set at €149.615 billion.
To deal with unforeseen circumstances, an amount of around €800.5 million has been kept available under the spending caps of the current Multiannual Financial Framework for 2021-2027.
In detail, the various headings are as follows, according to European Commission figures:
Single Market, Innovation and Digital: €21.480 billion in commitments and €20.460 billion in payments;
Cohesion, Resilience and Values: €77.980 billion in commitments and €44.445 billion in payments;
Natural Resources and Environment: €56.731 billion in commitments and €52.091 billion in payments;
Migration and Border Management: €4.791 billion in commitments and €3.203 billion in payments;
Security and Defence: €2.632 billion in commitments and €2.143 billion in payments;
Neighbourhoods and the World: €16.308 billion in commitments and €14.426 billion in payments;
European Public Administration: €12.845 billion in commitments and €12.845 billion in payments;
Special Instruments: €6.669 billion in commitments and €5.593 billion in payments;
According to Parliament, the agreement has resulted in additional funding of €230.7 million compared to the European Commission’s initial proposal (see EUROPE 13435/5).
For example, the Erasmus + programme has been boosted by €82 million and Horizon Europe by €20 million. The allocations for humanitarian aid and civil protection have been increased by €50 million and €8 million respectively in the context of war and climatic disasters.
The budget cuts proposed by the Council of the EU (see EUROPE 13455/8) have therefore been cancelled. The costs of repaying the EURI mechanism, which are twice as high as forecast for 2025, have not prevented the funding of essential EU programmes from being increased either. Used for the first time as part of an annual EU budget, the mechanism was adopted this year to manage the increased borrowing costs of Next Generation EU, without affecting key initiatives.
With this agreement, the EU budget for 2025 amounts to “6% more than [that] for the previous year”, noted the general rapporteur for the European Parliament, Victor Negrescu (S&D, Romanian). The MEP also welcomed the fact that “€6 billion in cohesion funds had been obtained, which the Central and Eastern European countries affected by the floods badly needed”.
The European Commissioner for Budget, Johannes Hahn, said that the agreement reached by the co-legislators “strikes a good balance between Europe’s urgent financing needs and the continuity of successful programmes that drive Europe forward”.
The agreement does not go in the direction advocated by the ‘frugal countries’ (the Netherlands, Denmark, Sweden and Austria) and others on Friday 15 November during the round table discussion at the Council of the EU, the latter favouring redeployment rather than the use of special instruments. According to Austria, for example, it was necessary first and foremost to establish priorities between the various expenditure items in order to make choices.
Parliament and the EU Council now have 14 days to formally approve the agreement on the 2025 budget. The EU Council is due to approve it on 25 November. Adoption of the budget requires a qualified majority within the EU Council. Parliament will vote in plenary on 27 November in Strasbourg. (Original version in French by Florent Servia)