The countries of the European Union and the European Parliament reached an agreement this Saturday for a budget in 2025 of 192,768.6 million euros in commitments, 1.78% higher than the 2024 accounts, with funds to help countries that face natural disasters, like Spain.
The pact also provides 149,615.7 million euros in paymentsthe Council of the EU reported in a statement.
This year they have remained 800.5 million euros available within spending limits of the current multiannual financial framework for 2021-2027, allowing the EU to react to unforeseeable needs, the Council added.
If this figure for special instruments outside the multiannual financial framework is included, The EU budget for 2025 amounts to 199,438.4 million of euros in total commitments and 155,209.3 million euros in total payments.
As part of next year’s budget, negotiators agreed to advance payment credits worth up to €3 billion to support European regions affected by natural disasters.
In this way, once the legal basis is confirmed, Member States will be able to use up to the 10% of existing cohesion policy funds to prevent and recover from such disasters, provided that they present a modified program to the Commission, the European Parliament noted in another statement.
In July, the European Commission proposed a budget for 2025 that contemplated 199.7 billion euros in commitments (the resources that can be allocated to programmes), equivalent to 1.08% of the EU’s gross national income, and €152.7 billion in payments (the money actually disbursed).
Member States proposed in September reduce these figures by 1,520 million euros and 876 million, respectivelywhile the European Parliament demanded to raise the global level of commitments to 201,000 million euros and payments to 153,300 million, above the Brussels proposal.
The European Parliament complained that the maximum limits are still very low and expressed concern about the “extra costs” of the interests of the Next Generation recovery fund, which They amount to about 2.6 billion euros, “double” the Commission’s initial forecasts.
The Council, for its part, called for focusing on the major community priorities when distributing funds, criticized the excessive use of the flexibility instrument – intended to deal with unforeseen events – and insisted on not increasing the burden on Member States in a moment when many have little fiscal space, according to the Hungarian Secretary of State for Finance, Peter Banai, whose country holds the presidency of the Council.
Spain expressed during the debate between countries on Friday morning its rejection of the reduction of the budget for the Agricultural Guarantee Fund, which gives direct aid to farmers, while it showed favorable to increasing the allocation of Horizon EuropeErasmus Plus, and funds for the management of external borders, the Southern neighborhood of the EU and sub-Saharan Africa.
Finally, The budget agreed this Saturday is “balanced” and “prudent”, by leaving “sufficient financial headroom to respond to unforeseen circumstances,” Banai said.
And he added that “this is a realistic approach that takes into account the current economic and geopolitical context and the need to face the new challenges that may arise in 2025” and “provides for the financing necessary for the reconstruction of countries affected by natural disasters.”
The president of the Budget Committee, the Belgian Johan Van Overtveldt, one of the negotiators on behalf of the European Parliament, highlighted that the pact “demonstrates the EU’s ability to act and adapt in these uncertain times”such as wars in Ukraine and the Middle East, migratory pressures, natural disasters or pressures on economic competitiveness.
The 2025 budget is the first prepared after the review of the multiannual financial framework 2021-2027which was updated last February to include 50 billion euros in aid for Ukraine and reinforce certain priority items.
The review amounted to 64.6 billion euros (discounting the loans to kyiv) and created a “cascade” system to pay the extraordinary interest on the debt of the recovery fund (estimated at about 15,000 million for the period).
The European Parliament and the Council now have fourteen days to formally approve the agreement reached.
The Council is expected to endorse it on November 25 and the Parliament to vote on it in its plenary session scheduled for November 27 in Strasbourg (France).
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