In total, the Council's position for next year's budget amounts to €166.8 billion in commitments and €153.1 billion in payments. Compared to 2019, this is an increase of +0.6% in commitments and +3.3% in payments.
The increase in payments reflects the acceleration of programme implementation towards the end of the multiannual financial framework for 2014-2020. It should allow for budgetary commitments to be paid in sufficient time to avoid the accumulation of outstanding bills, in particular in cohesion policy, where the implementation of programmes continues at an accelerated pace.
The agreed figures are based on the premise that the UK will continue to participate fully in the financing and implementation of the EU budget until the end of 2020.
"Next year's budget is the last under the current multiannual financial framework. Member states want it to be realistic and fit for purpose. The Council's position provides for adequate payment levels and funding for key priority areas, such as growth and jobs, climate action and the management of migration. At the same time, it includes targeted adjustments to the Commission's proposal and leaves sufficient margins for unforeseen needs. The agreement reached today will provide a solid basis for negotiations with the European Parliament."
Kimmo Tiilikainen, State Secretary, Ministry of Finance of Finland, chief Council negotiator for the 2020 EU budget
Continued support for growth and jobs
Strengthening the European economy remains a key priority for member states.
The Council therefore continues to support the reinforcement of programmes under the "Competitiveness for growth and jobs" heading, which would receive €24.0 billion in total, or +2.72% compared to 2019.
The biggest increases in the 2020 budget would concern European satellite navigation systems (EGNOS and Galileo: €1.2 billion, or +74.75%), the energy strand of the Connecting Europe Facility (€1.2 billion, or +24.94%) and the European Solidarity Corps (€166 million, +15.88%). In all these cases the Council has supported the funding levels proposed by the Commission.
Increases are also foreseen for the EU's flagship programmes Horizon 2020 (€12.8 billion, or +3.73%) and Erasmus+ (€2.8 billion, or +2.49%), as well as for COSME, which supports SMEs and entrepreneurship, and the European Defence Industrial Development Programme, which will help to pave the way for the European Defence Fund for the 2021-2027 period (+7.06% and +4.08%, respectively)
The "Economic, social and territorial cohesion" heading, gets a boost of +€633.6 million, which represents an increase of +2.23% compared to 2019.
Other priority areas
The Council also backs a reinforcement of the LIFE programme, which provides funding for environment and climate action (€580 million, or +3.85%).
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Full press release available via the link below.
