Agreed EU budget

The negotiators of the Council of the EU and the European Parliament reached an agreement on the budget for 2025 on November 16. The Council confirmed this agreement on November 25, and the representatives of the European Parliament confirmed it two days later at the plenary session in Strasbourg.

The budget for 2025 is the first annual budget from which interest will be paid to repay the debt that finances reconstruction and recovery from the pandemic. It is expected that the costs of servicing the debt in the next year will be higher by 2.6 billion euros compared to the initial estimates.

At the same time, programs such as Erasmus+, research, health, education, for young farmers, responses to natural disasters were maintained in the budget, and some were increased.

Traditionally, in negotiations on the budget, parliamentarians always ask for higher amounts, and member states for less, compared to the Commission’s proposal. The MEPs demanded 201 billion euros in obligations and 153.5 billion in payments through negotiations. The European Commission proposed a budget of 199.7 billion in liabilities and 152.7 billion in payments. The Council of the EU, which represents the member states, proposed a budget of 191.53 billion euros in liabilities and 146.21 billion euros in payments.

The final agreement is the closest to the amount proposed by the Commission.