Brussels, 12 July 2023
Today, the ambassadors of member states to the EU (Coreper) agreed the Council’s position on the 2024 EU draft budget. In total, the Council’s position for next year’s budget amounts to €187.008 billion in commitments and €141.167 billion in payments.
Overall, the Council takes a prudent approach. The Council stresses the importance for the budget for 2024 to continue showing the Union’s solidarity with the people of Ukraine and to respond to crises. The Council recalls the principle of solidarity and underlines that effective use of the EU budget will bolster the credibility of the EU with the European citizens. The Council also calls for common measures to contain administrative expenditure that has been increasing over what was initially planned due to the high inflation and energy prices .
A summary of the Council’s position is set out in the table below.
Commitments are legal promises to spend money on activities whose implementation extends over several financial years.
Payments cover expenditure arising from commitments entered into the EU budget during current and preceding financial years.
In addition, the Council also issues two statements: one on payments in 2024 and one on administrative expenditure.
Next steps
The Council aims to formally adopt its position on the draft general budget for 2024 via a written procedure ending on 5 September 2023. This will then serve as a mandate for the Spanish presidency to negotiate the 2024 EU budget with the European Parliament.
Background
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 Next Generation EU, the EU’s pandemic recovery plan.
- Council position on the 2024 EU budget
- Statements accompanying the Council position
- Technical annex
- Budget 2024: Council agrees on its guidelines for the establishment of next year’s EU budget (press release 14 March 2023)
- European Council conclusions, 17-21 July 2020 (press release)
- EU budget for 2024 (background information)
Source – EU Council