On Tuesday 18 February, the Council of the European Union established its guidelines for drawing up the EU budget for 2026.
From a political point of view, the EU institution emphasises the need to put into practice the commitment made to support Ukraine financially “for as long as it takes and as intensely as needed”. In its view, the 2026 budget should also provide sufficient resources to ensure the implementation of European programmes, including the implementation of the ‘RESTORE’ initiative, designed to help Member States affected by natural disasters (see EUROPE 13549/12). The European Commission is also invited to reflect in the draft budget plan for 2026 all the priorities agreed during the February 2024 revision of the Multiannual Financial Framework (MFF) (see EUROPE 13341/21), including “migration”.
The Council also asks the Commission to be transparent about how it will finance, in 2026 and 2027, the overruns linked to the payment of interest on the joint borrowing to finance the NextGenerationEU European recovery plan.
See the EU Council conclusions: https://aeur.eu/f/fk4 (Original version in French by Mathieu Bion)