EU budget 2021: A kick-start of the European recovery

The European Commission welcomes the approval of the 2021 EU annual budget by the Council and the positive vote by the European Parliament. Commissioner Hahn i, in charge of the budget and administration, said “This is a budget for all EU citizens. It will directly support our common recovery, our researchers, businesses and farmers, as well as our regions and external partners. I encourage all beneficiaries of EU funding to make the most out of it!”

The formal adoption of the next annual budget follows the finalisation of the adoption process, on 17 December, of the next EU long-term budget for 2021-2027. As a result, €1.074 trillion [in 2018 prices] will become available for beneficiaries of EU funding during the next seven years.

In 2021, the European Union will have an annual budget of €164 billion in commitments and €166 billion in payments. The budget, the first under the 2021-2027 multiannual financial framework, will allow the EU to mobilise significant public funds for a continued EU response to the coronavirus pandemic and its consequences; to kick-start a sustainable recovery and to protect and create jobs. It will enable the EU to start investing in the future to achieve a greener, more digital and more resilient Europe.

The budget reflects Europe's priorities, which are relevant to ensure a sustainable recovery. To that end, it has been agreed to allocate:

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  €48.2 billion in commitments to support the recovery, boosting investment in economic, social and territorial cohesion.
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  €55.7 billion for the Common Agricultural Policy and €760.7 million for the European Maritime and Fisheries 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;
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  €1.1 billion for the Digital Europe programme for the Union's cyber-defences and to support the digital transition;
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  €1.1 billion under the Just Transition Fund and €738.5 million under the LIFE programme to support environment and climate action;
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  €2.8 billion for the Connecting Europe Facility for an up-to-date, high-performance transport infrastructure to facilitate cross-border connections;
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  €575 million for the Single Market Programme, €36.2 million and €126.9 million respectively for the programmes supporting cooperation in the fields of taxation and customs;
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  €2.7 billion for Erasmus Plus to invest in young people, as well as €306.4 million for the cultural and creative sectors through Creative Europe;
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  €873.3 million for the Asylum and Migration Fund and €533.5 million for Integrated Border Management Fund to step up cooperation on external border management as well as migration and asylum policy;
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  €175.6 million for the Internal Security Fund and €945.7 million for the European Defence Fund to support European strategic autonomy and security;
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  €12.1 billion to support our neighbours and international development and cooperation as well as €1.9 billion for pre-accession assistance, including in the Western Balkans.

The full breakdown per heading is available here:

EU budget 2021 (in €million):

Source: European Commission, in current prices

Background

On 4 December, the three EU institutions reached an informal political agreement on the EU budget for 2021, the first under the 2021-2027 EU long-term budget. On 10 December 2020, EU Member States in the European Council agreed to finalise the adoption of the MFF Regulation and the Own Resources Decision, at the level of the Council.

On 10 December, the Commission proposed the second draft budget 2021. The Council adopted its official position on 14 December, and the Parliament supported the agreement with a strong majority of 540 in favour on 18 December.

Once the new Own Resources Decision will be approved by Member States in accordance with their constitutional requirements, we will also be able to launch NextGenerationEU to fuel Europe`s recovery. On top of the EU budget, we will then have an additional firepower of €750 billion [in 2018 prices] to provide European people, businesses, regions and cities with the support they urgently need to recover from the pandemic.

For more information

Press release on MFF package adoption

Q&A on MFF package adoption

MFF website

Recovery website

Factsheet on the 2021 budget