The European Parliament adopted the EU's 2019 budget on Wednesday, ending the difficult year-end negotiations that required a new Commission proposal after a stalemate. The 2019 budget, the year in which the United Kingdom agreed to maintain its contribution despite Brexit, provides for an overall amount of $ 165.8 billion in terms of commitments (amounts foreseen for programs that may extend over more than one year) and EUR 148.2 billion in terms of payments (actually spent). € 1.3 billion is set aside to allow the EU to react in case of "unforeseen events".
Research and youth in "priority". The Commission had to submit a new draft budget in late November after the failure of tense negotiations between MEPs and member states. The main stumbling block was the wish of the European Parliament to be able to use in 2019 appropriations that had been planned but not used in 2017 for the European Horizon 2020 research program. The Chairman of the Budget Committee in Parliament Jean Arthuis hailed this budget as responding to "two major priorities". "I am thinking first of all about research: we have been able to inscribe a further 150 million euros, almost 11% more than in 2018. This is how we prepare the future of Europe. For Erasmus, which is so dear to us, we have been able to register 240 million additional euros, "he said, quoted in a statement from Parliament.
More funds dedicated to migration. The EU Council (the Member States), for its part, congratulated itself, after the negotiations, on a "solid" budget (which) will help to manage migration effectively, benefit researchers and young people, and support economic growth in Europe ", according to Austrian Finance Minister Hartwig Löger, whose country holds the rotating EU presidency. Funds dedicated to managing migration (€ 1.1 billion) were strengthened (+ 55.9% compared to 2018). The annual EU budgets are part of a seven-year multiannual framework (2014-2020 for the current one), which sets maximum amounts.