European Parliament and Council of the EU agree on the 2022 EU budget

EU. The European Parliament and the Council of the European Union reached an informal political agreement on the European Union (EU) budget for 2022 proposed by the European Commission on the evening of Monday 15 November 2021.
The commitments reach €169.5 billion and the payments €170.6 billion. They follow in their priorities the requirements of the Multiannual Financial Framework 2021-2027, towards a "greener, more digital and more resilient Europe" already applied to the 2021 budget. 

MEPs notably obtained additional financial support on health, research, climate action, smes and youth for an amount of €479.1m. "These reinforcements will help relaunch Europe and pave the way for a more resilient Union, with a focus on supporting SMEs, improving student mobility, strengthening the EU in health and continuing to invest in the digital and ecological transitions. A particular emphasis has been placed on the external dimensions with additional support for humanitarian aid and support for vaccination efforts worldwide. This budget sends a clear message to all Europeans that Europe is committed to a strong recovery, for all sectors, all regions and all generations," said Karlo Ressler, the European Parliament's general rapporteur for the EU 2022 budget.

"This agreement confirms that all institutions are ready to reach a compromise in order to have a budget, which will support a sustainable recovery and the necessary transition of the EU for the benefit of all," commented Johannes Hahn, European Commissioner for Budget and Administration.

"The agreed budget will put money where it can make the biggest difference, in line with the most crucial recovery needs of EU Member States and the EU's partners around the world," says a European Commission statement.

Of these sums, €49.7 billion will be devoted to commitments to support recovery and stimulate investment in economic, social and territorial cohesion.

Secondly, the Common Agricultural Policy is allocated €53.1bn (+€971.9m to the European Maritime Affairs, Fisheries and Aquaculture Fund). 15.2bn is set aside to support the EU's neighbours (international cooperation and development) with targeted reinforcements for the Neighbourhood, Development Cooperation and International Cooperation Instrument (NDCI)  which will receive €190m (at the instigation of the Parliament) allocated mainly to Syria and Afghanistan for the fight against pandemics, namely through vaccination 211 million is earmarked for the humanitarian aid programme to deal with crisis situations around the world.

Finally, the Horizon Europe programme will benefit from €12.2bn to support EU research in areas such as health, digital industry, space, climate, energy and mobility.

This is in addition to the NextGenerationEU recovery instrument  and its Recovery and Resilience Facility. To date, the European Commission has already disbursed €52.3bn in pre-financing for 17 Member States.

This annual budget for 2022 still needs to be formally adopted by the Council of the European Union and the European Parliament in plenary session on 24 November 2021.