EU budget for 2024: Council and Parliament reach agreement

The Council and the European Parliament today reached agreement on the EU’s annual budget for 2024.

Next year’s budget strongly focuses on the EU's main policy priorities and reacts to the currently difficult geopolitical context.

Total commitments are set at €189 385,4 million. €360 million have been kept available under the expenditure ceilings of the current multiannual financial framework for 2021-2027, allowing the EU to react to unforeseeable needs.

Total payments amount to €142 630,3 million.

Esperanza Samblás, Spanish Secretary of State and chief Council negotiator for the 2024 EU budget

I’m glad we have come to an agreement on next year's budget. This will give us the means to focus on the EU's priority areas, while keeping enough financial leeway to respond to unforeseen circumstances. It also ensures a realistic approach, taking into account the current economic and geopolitical context, the interests of taxpayers and the need to cater for new challenges that may arise in 2024.

Esperanza Samblás, Spanish Secretary of State and chief Council negotiator for the 2024 EU budget

 

2024 EU budget (in € million)

Headings

Commitments

Payments

1. Single market, innovation and digital

21.493,4

20.828,0

2. Cohesion, resilience and values

74.560,7

33.716,0

3. Natural resources and environment

57.338,6

54.151,4

4. Migration and border management

3.892,7

3.249,0

5. Security and defence

2.321,2

2.035,4

6. Neighbourhood and the world

16.230,0

15.291,2

7. European public administration

11.988,0

11.988,0

Special instruments

2.221,7

1.734,4

Total

189 385,4

142 630,3  

Appropriations as % of GNI (gross national income)

1,06%

0,8%

Commitments are legally-binding promises to spend money on activities that are implemented over several years.

Payments cover expenditure arising from commitments entered into during the current or preceding years.

Next steps

The European Parliament and the Council now have 14 days to formally approve the agreement reached. The Council is expected to endorse it on 20 November. Adoption of the budget requires a qualified majority within the Council.

Background

The Commission proposed the initial draft budget for 2024 on 7 June 2023, and amended it through a letter dated 9 October 2023. In the meantime, on 5 September 2023, the Council adopted its position on the EU budget 2024, and the European Parliament proposed amendments to the Council’s position on the draft budget on 18 October 2024. Since the Council stated its disagreement with the Parliament’s proposals, a meeting of the Conciliation Committee was convened. This year, the conciliation procedure took place from 24 October till 13 November.

The Conciliation Committee is composed of the representatives of the 27 member states and 27 members of the European Parliament, with the Commission acting as an honest broker towards reconciling the positions of the two branches of the Budgetary Authority.

This is the fourth annual budget under the long-term EU budget, the multiannual financial framework (MFF) for 2021-2027. The 2024 budget is complemented by actions to support the COVID-19 recovery under NextGenerationEU, the EU's plan to recover from the pandemic.