General budget of the European Union for the financial year 2027 – all sections

The European Parliament adopted by 400 votes to 189, with 84 abstentions, a resolution concerning the Council's position on the draft general budget of the European Union for the financial year 2027.

Parliament strongly disagrees with the Council’s approach to opt for what it misleadingly calls prudent budgeting, creating artificial margins under the MFF ceilings by cutting programmes, including oversubscribed, successful and priority programmes. It therefore restores all the cuts proposed by Council to ensure that programmes are properly resourced and that the budget’s flexibility and response capacity are maintained throughout the annual budgetary procedure, in line with the 2020 Interinstitutional Agreement, and calls on the Commission for reliable information on the financing costs of NextGenerationEU and the expected disbursements.

Parliament:

- restores the amount of EUR 180 million for article 06 04 01 European Union Recovery Instrument (EURI) – Payment of periodic coupon and redemption at maturity; 65 %, namely EUR 3 320 296 411, of the EURI cost overruns, should be financed from the decommitment compartment of the EURI instrument;

- requests that the currently estimated liquidity management cost of EUR 350 million for 2027 are isolated in a separate new budget line for transparency purposes;

- recommends the full mobilisation of the EUR 1 115 000 000 planned for the support loan to Ukraine, after assessment of budgetary resources and in compliance with legal obligations and sound financial management;

- calls for the currently estimated liquidity management cost for the Ukraine Support Loan of EUR 35 million for 2027 to be isolated in a separate new budget line for transparency purposes;

- transfers the EUR 1 million of administrative support expenditure to a new budget dedicated to the Ukraine Support Loan in order to place support expenditure under the same title as the corresponding operational expenditure.

Heading 1 - Single market, Innovation and Digital

Parliament restores the Council cuts of EUR 435 527 000 and increases by EUR 376 657 801 in commitment appropriations above the draft budget and by EUR 812 184 801 compared to the Council position in order to reinforce the following programmes above draft budget:

- Horizon Europe by EUR 63 000 000;

- The Connecting Europe Facility by EUR 260 460 201;

- The Digital Europe Programme by EUR 14 813 000;

- The Single Market Programme by EUR 31 568 600;

- The Space Programme by EUR 3 000 000.

Sub-heading 2a - Economic, social and territorial cohesion

Parliament increases by EUR 150 000 in commitment appropriations above the draft budget and by EUR 150 000 compared to the Council position in order to reinforce the European Social Fund Plus.

Sub-heading 2b - Resilience and values

Parliament restores the Council cuts of EUR 523 143 000 and increases by EUR 275 100 000 in commitment appropriations above the draft budget and by EUR 798 243 000 compared to the Council position in order to reinforce the following programmes above draft budget as follows:

- Support to Turkish Cypriot Community by EUR 3 500 000;

- The Union Civil Protection Mechanism by EUR 80 000 000;

- The EU4Health Programme by EUR 50 000 000;

- The European Social Fund Plus by EUR 5 000 000;

- Erasmus+ by EUR 96 000 000;

- Creative Europe by EUR 5 000 000;

- The Citizens, Equality, Rights and Values Programme by EUR 15 000 000.

Parliament creates a new budget line: ‘European Union Recovery Instrument (EURI) – Additional liquidity management costs’ with commitments equal to EUR 350 000 000.

Heading 3 - Natural Resources and Environment

Parliament restores the Council cuts of EUR 12 550 000 and increases by EUR 170 000 000 in commitment appropriations above the draft budget and by EUR 182 550 000 compared to the Council position in order to reinforce the following programmes above draft budget as follows:

- The European Agriculture Guarantee Fund by EUR 85 000 000;

- The Programme for Environment and Climate Action (LIFE) by EUR 85 000 000.

Heading 4 - Migration and Border Management

Parliament restores the Council cuts of EUR 12 900 000 and increases by EUR 60 000 000 in commitment appropriations above the draft budget and by EUR 72 900 000 compared to the Council position to reinforce the following programmes above draft budget as follows:

- The Asylum, Migration and Integration Fund by EUR 20 000 000;

- The Border Management and Visa Instrument (BMVI) by EUR 40 000 000.

Heading 5 - Security and Defence

Parliament restores the Council cuts of EUR 11 522 000 and increases by EUR 54 800 000 in commitment appropriations above the draft budget and by EUR 66 322 000 compared to the Council position to reinforce the following programmes above draft budget as follows:

- The Internal Security Fund (ISF) by EUR 10 000 000;

- The European Defence Fund (EDF) by EUR 5 000 000;

- Military Mobility by EUR 20 000 000;

- The European Defence Industry Programme by EUR 6 800 000;

- The agencies in heading 5 by EUR 13 000 000.

Heading 6 - Neighbourhood and the World and Ukraine Support Loan Instrument

Parliament increases by EUR 139 000 000 in commitment appropriations compared to the draft budget and by EUR 137 990 000 compared to the Council's position to strengthen the following programmes compared to the draft budget, as follows:

- NDICI-Global Europe by EUR 99 000 000;

- Humanitarian Aid by EUR 40 000 000;

- Ukraine Support Loan - Additional liquidity management costs with commitments equal to EUR 35 000 000 and corresponding remark;

- Support expenditure for borrowing and debt management activities of the Ukraine Support Loan with commitments equal to EUR 1 000 000 and corresponding remark.

Heading 7 - European Public Administration

Parliament restores the Council cuts of EUR 8 549 500 and increases by EUR 512 000 in commitment appropriations above the draft budget and by EUR 9 061 500 compared to the Council position in order, notably, to reinforce the European Anti-Fraud Office (OLAF).

European Parliament

Members reiterate Parliament's priorities for forthcoming year, namely continuing to reinforce the administrative support for Parliament to exercise its core functions of co-legislator, budgetary and discharge authority, the digital transition including investment in cybersecurity and artificial intelligence, infrastructure as well as Green Parliament.

Parliament notes that the Council has maintained the overall level of the budget for Section I set at EUR 2 656 435 753 for 2027, in accordance with Parliament's provisional statement of revenue and expenditure for the financial year 2027.

In general terms, Parliament expresses its deep concern about the situation of Heading 7 of the current MFF. It condemns the Commission's horizontal approach to reduce the estimates of the institutions in order to adhere to the principle of stable staffing, and to a maximum increase of 2 % for non-salary related expenditure irrespective of new tasks given to the institutions by the Commission and the co-legislators. It underlines the detrimental consequences of this approach on the work of the institutions.