The countries of the European Union and the European Parliament reached an agreement this Saturday for a 2025 budget with 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 for 149,615.7 million euros in payments, as reported by the Council of the EU in a statement.
This year, €800.5 million have been kept available within the spending limits of the current multiannual financial framework for 2021-2027, allowing the EU to react to unforeseeable needs, reported the Council’s press department.
If this figure for special instruments outside the multiannual financial framework is included, the EU budget for 2025 amounts to €199,438.4 million in total commitments and €155,209.3 million 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 10% of existing cohesion policy funds to prevent and recover from such disasters, provided they submit a modified program to the Commission, he noted. for its part, the European Parliament in another statement. Sources from the socialist delegation in Brussels They claim that they promoted the inclusion of aid for the reconstruction of DANA damage. The vice mayor of Valencia, Sandra Gómez, is part of the Budget Commission.
In July, the European Commission proposed a budget for 2025 that included €199.7 billion in commitments (the resources that can be allocated to programs), 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 to reduce these figures by 1,520 million euros and 876 million, respectively, while the European Parliament called for raising the global level of commitments to 201,000 million euros and payments to 153,300 million, above the proposal of Brussels.
The European Parliament complained that the maximum limits are still very low and expressed its concern about the “extra costs” of the interests of the Next Generation recovery fund, which amount to about 2.6 billion euros, “double” of the initial forecasts of the Commission.
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 at a time when many have little fiscal margin, 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 was in favor of increasing the allocation of Horizon Europe, Erasmus Plus, and funds for the management of external borders, the EU’s southern neighborhood and sub-Saharan Africa.
Finally, the budget agreed upon this Saturday is “balanced” and “prudent,” leaving “sufficient financial margin 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 necessary financing 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 capacity of the EU to act and adapt in these times of uncertainty”, 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 2021-2027 multiannual financial framework, which 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 loans to kyiv) and created a “cascade” system to pay extraordinary interest on the recovery fund debt (estimated at around 15 billion for the period).
The European Parliament and the Council now have fourteen days to formally approve the agreement reached.
It is expected to be endorsed by the Council on 25 November and voted on by Parliament at its plenary session scheduled for 27 November in Strasbourg, France.
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