First-ever revision of the EU’s long-term budget: Agreement between Parliament and Council

Written by Karoline Kowald and Marianna Pari, with Roberto Gallo.

For the first time ever, the European Parliament and the Council have agreed to revise the ceilings of the EU’s multiannual financial framework. The agreement affects the remaining years of the current financial period: 2024 to 2027. The European Parliament had demanded a revision to enable the EU to rise to its challenges effectively. At the special European Council meeting on 1 February 2024, the EU Heads of State or Government reached a highly anticipated decision on the revision following the deadlock of their December meeting. This opened the way for the final negotiations with Parliament and, on 6 February, the negotiators reached a political agreement. Parliament is expected to vote on giving its consent during its 26-29 February plenary session.

The core element of the political agreement is the decision to establish predictable and stable financial support for Ukraine, totalling €50 billion from 2024 to 2027. The funds will be provided through a new framework, the Ukraine Facility, endowed with €33 billion in loans, guaranteed by the EU budget, and €17 billion in grants, financed by the EU budget through a special instrument.

In addition to the financial support for Ukraine, the EU budget will provide €14.6 billion to cope with migration needs, support key technologies and enhance the EU budget’s flexibility, of which €10.6 billion originates from a redeployment of funds. The overall reinforcement of the EU budget amounts to €31.6 billion in grants for current priorities, with €21 billion in ‘fresh money’ from the Member States. This includes the €17 billion that will go to the Ukraine Facility.

As requested by the European Parliament, a mechanism will be introduced over and above the budget’s ceilings to cover over-runs in the borrowing costs of the EU’s recovery fund, Next Generation EU. In negotiations with the Council, Parliament also secured the smooth implementation of the EU4Health programme.

Read the complete briefing on ‘First-ever revision of the EU’s long-term budget: Agreement between Parliament and Council‘ in the Think Tank pages of the European Parliament.