Commission welcomes agreement on EU Annual Budget 2023

This article is brought to you in association with the European Commission.

Today, the European Parliament and the Council of the European Union, on a proposal from the European Commission, have reached an agreement on the EU budget for 2023. The agreement is for commitments of €186.6 billion, and payments of €168.7 billion. Once adopted, the budget would allow the EU to mobilise significant funds to help mitigate the severe consequences of Russia’s war of aggression against Ukraine in the country but also in the southern neighbourhood and Member States. It would also support the ongoing sustainable recovery from the coronavirus pandemic, and protect and create jobs. It would trigger further investments into a greener, more digital and more resilient Europe, while protecting the most vulnerable in its neighbourhood and around the world.

The budget agreed today will direct funds to where they can make the greatest difference, in line with the most crucial needs of the EU Member States and the EU’s partners around the world.

More concretely, it has been agreed to direct:

• 14.7 billion to support our neighbours and international development and cooperation. The agreement includes targeted increases for the Neighbourhood, Development and International Cooperation Instrument (NDICI) – Global Europe (€12.3 billion), focusing on Ukraine and Moldova, migration in the southern neighbourhood as well as for the Humanitarian Aid programme (€1.8 billion) to address crisis situations across the globe;
• €1.5 billion for the Asylum, Migration and Integration Fund and €956.8 million for the Integrated Border Management Fund to step up cooperation on external border management, as well as migration and asylum policy, including support to Member States receiving refugees from Ukraine;
• €3.0 billion for the Connecting Europe Facility for an up-to-date, high-performance transport infrastructure to facilitate cross-border connections, [with particular emphasis on strengthening the EU-Ukraine solidarity lanes, and the energy strand in response to the energy crisis, complementing the €20 billion euro REPowerEU proposal];
• €295.2 million for Military Mobility to improve civilian and military mobility;
• €3.7 billion for Erasmus+ to invest in young people, including pupils and students fleeing Ukraine, as well as €332.8 million for the cultural and creative sectors through the Creative Europe programme;
• €62.9 billion in commitments to support the ongoing recovery by boosting investments in economic, social and territorial cohesion;
• €53.6 billion for the Common Agricultural Policy and €1.1 billion for the European Maritime, Fisheries, and Aquaculture Fund, for Europe’s farmers and fishermen, but also to strengthen the resilience of the agri-food and fisheries sectors and to provide the necessary scope for crisis management;
• €12.4 billion for Horizon Europe, to support the EU’s research in areas like health, digital, industry, space, climate, energy, and mobility;
• €602.8 million for the Single Market Programme to support small- and medium-sized enterprises across the Union;
• €739.3 million for the EU4Health programme to support the EU Health Union and to deliver a comprehensive response to the health needs of European citizens;
• €1.5 billion under the Just Transition Fund to make sure the transition to climate neutrality works for all and €755.5 million under the LIFE programme to support environment and climate action;
• €309.9 million for the Internal Security Fund, €945.7 million for the European Defence Fund to support European strategic autonomy and security, and €157.0 million for European Defence Industry Reinforcement through Common Procurement Act.

The full breakdown per heading is available here:

Source: European Commission: Figures expressed in €million, in current prices

Together with the budget for 2023, the EU institutions agreed to endorse the proposed amendments to the 2022 budget as tabled by the Commission earlier this year. Once the approval process is finalised, the Commission will be able to continue supporting and assisting Ukraine, help Member States more affected from the inflow of migrants and Ukraine refugees, strengthen the Union’s preparedness for forest fires, respond to the currents outbreaks of avian influenza and swine fever, and address further challenges stemming from the overall macroeconomic context.

In parallel to the annual budget for 2023, EU countries will continue to rely on support from the NextGenerationEU recovery instrument and the Recovery and Resilience Facility at its heart.

On top of the budget reinforcement the Commission proposed on 9 November an unprecedented support package for Ukraine of up to €18 billion for 2023. This will come in the form of highly concessional loans, disbursed in regular instalments as of 2023.

What happens next?

The annual budget for 2023 will now be formally adopted by the Council of the European Union and by the European Parliament. The vote in plenary, which will mark the end of the process, is currently scheduled for 23 November 2022.