The European Parliament and the Council of the EU trimmed some €494 million from EU budget for 2026 proposed in June by the European Commission, in a provisional deal reached in the early hours of Saturday morning.
The EU executive had proposed a €193.2 billion budget, but today’s deal settled at €192.7 billion, meaning that the €1.3 billion cuts demanded by national governments in the Council of the EU in July were significantly reduced during the talks with MEPs.
Compared to the commission proposal, cuts concentrated in three main budget lines, with ‘Resilience and Values’ losing €77.9 million and ‘European Public Administration’ down by €197.7 million.
‘Natural Resources and Environment’ took the biggest hit, with lawmakers reducing the proposed budget for next year of almost €57 billion by €442.5 million.
The parliament’s press office said lawmakers had secured increases in the allocations to Horizon Europe’s research and innovation program and on funding for transport and energy networks, up by €20 and €23.5 million respectively. There was also an additional €3 million for the student exchange programme Erasmus+.
The EU environment and climate action LIFE programme, civil protection mechanism, military mobility, and border management allocations were also topped up with an additional €10 million each.
Politically powerful EU farmers saw their European Agricultural Guarantee Fund boosted by €105 million.
Priorities
The EU budget commissioner Piotr Serafin said that today’s deal would ensure predictability. “We have invested more in external security, defence, innovation, but also in programmes directly benefiting our citizens, students and farmers,” he said.
The Danish finance minister Nicolai Wammen, who chaired inter-governmental talks on the budget proposal, said that the budget deal would “allow us to deliver on our common priorities – security, competitiveness and border control – all while ensuring that the EU can react swiftly and effectively to unforeseen needs and crises”.
The Parliament and the Council have now two weeks to give a formal green light to the deal. The Council is expected to adopt it on 24 November by qualified majority, with a vote in the European Parliament two days later.
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