EU budget for 2025.

The European Parliament and the Council of the European Union have reached an agreement on the EU’s annual budget for 2025. It will enable the EU to meet its political commitments, including changes agreed upon in the mid-term review of the multiannual financial framework. As agreed, the EU’s annual budget for 2025 will amount to €199.4 billion, of which €56.7 billion is planned for the natural resources and environment priority.

EU annual budget 2025.

The annual budget determines all expenditures and revenues of the European Union for a given year. It allows the EU to finance its policies and programs in accordance with its political priorities and legal obligations. Detailed information on the 2025 annual budget can be found on the European Commission’s website. Next year’s appropriations are about €10 billion higher than the current year’s EU budget, which we wrote about in a previous article: EU Budget 2024.

The annual budget determines all of the EU’s financial movements for the year. In terms of spending, it must be within the values set in the long-term budget, the multi-year financial framework. The EU usually stays below these ceilings to leave a reserve for unforeseen needs. Information on receipts allows spending to be planned accordingly so that there is enough money for everything.

EU budget for 2025. – priority actions

The EU’s annual budget for 2025 includes expenditures covered by long-term budget ceilings financed from own resources. These are supplemented by spending from NextGenerationEU, financed by borrowing on capital markets. The draft budget proposes two amounts for each program – commitments and payments.

The EU’s annual budget for 2025 provides funding to address EU policy priorities and respond to urgent domestic crises – for example, providing support for the recent floods that affected several member states. In addition, it will continue to fund flagship programs such as Horizon Europe and Erasmus+.

The European Commission has proposed to allocate the following amounts (in the form of commitments) for its priority actions:

• 21.4 billion euros – single market, innovation and digital economy;
• 77.9 billion – consistency, resilience and values;
• 56.7 billion – natural resources and environment, of which:
  • 39.9 billion for market-related expenses and direct payments;
  • 13.2 billion for the European Agricultural Fund for Rural Development (EAFRD);
  • 0.9 billion for the European Maritime, Fisheries and Aquaculture Fund (EMFAF);
  • 0.2 billion for the Sustainable Fisheries Partnership Agreement (SFPA) and Regional Fisheries Management Organizations (RFMOs);
  • 0.8 billion for the Environment and Climate Action (LIFE) program;
  • 1.5 billion for the Just Transition Fund;
  • 0.6 billion other;
• 4.7 billion – migration and border management;
• 2.6 billion euros – security and defense;
• 16.3 billion – neighborhood and world;
• 12.8 billion euros – European public administration;
• 6.7 billion euros – thematic specific instruments.

How is the annual EU budget passed?

The European Commission presents the draft annual budget, then the Council and the European Parliament decide on it on an equal basis. The Council adopts its position on the draft budget, then the European Parliament can adopt amendments to its position. If the opinions of the two institutions diverge, a conciliation committee is convened to find a compromise solution within three weeks. Once the Council and the European Parliament reach an agreement, they have 14 days to formally approve it. If there is no agreement, the European Commission must submit a new draft.

If the budget for a given year is not adopted, the system of provisional twelfths applies. This means that each month no more than one-twelfth of the budget appropriation for this purpose in the previous year, or one-twelfth of the appropriation that the European Commission proposed for this purpose in the draft budget, whichever is lower, can be spent on each chapter of the budget.