Provisional agreement reached on EU budget for 2019
05 December 2018
The Austrian presidency and the European Parliament reached a provisional agreement on the EU budget for 2019.
This paves the way for the adoption of the budget before the end of the year, if the deal is backed by member states in the Council and the EP plenary next week.
Under the agreement, the total commitments in the 2019 EU budget are set at €165.8 billion and payments at €148.2 billion. This is an increase of 3.17% in commitments and 2.37% in payments compared to 2018.
Some elements of the agreement are as follows:
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Commitments of €23.3 billion (+6.07% compared to 2018) were agreed to support growth and job creation under subheading 1a (competitiveness for growth and jobs). This includes more funds for research and innovation (Horizon 2020, €12.3 billion), infrastructure projects (Connecting Europe Facility, €3.8 billion), youth exchanges (Erasmus+, €2.8 billion) and small and medium-sized enterprises (COSME, €0.4 billion).
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The Youth Employment Initiative receives an additional €350 million to help improve young people's chances of getting a job.
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In the field of migration and security, the Asylum, Migration and Integration Fund gets a strong boost, with €1.1 billion (+55.85% compared to 2018) allocated to migration management. The Internal Security Fund will receive €533.5 million. Additional funds are provided for several agencies in charge of responding to the current migration and security challenges.
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The 2019 EU budget will contribute €1.45 billion to the EU Facility for Refugees in Turkey. This is in line with the agreement reached between the member states on how to finance an additional €3 billion for the facility to support Syrian refugees.
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Pre-accession funds to Turkey have been cut by €146.7 million compared to the financial programming in view of the situation in Turkey as regards democracy, rule of law, human rights and press freedom.
Full press release
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