The European Commission has proposed this Wednesday a budget of the European Union (EU) of 189,300 million euros for 2024, which provides for another 113,000 million euros in subsidies from the Recovery Fund, which finances the national plans (PRR).
“The Commission has proposed an annual EU budget of €189.3 billion by 2024”, which “will be supplemented by an estimated €113 billion in grant payments under the Recovery Fund, the EU’s post-pandemic recovery instrument. EU”, announces the community executive in information sent to the press this Wednesday.
According to Brussels, this “mixed potential”, the annual budget and the mechanism that finances the national recovery and resilience plans (PRR), “will continue to drive the ongoing economic recovery in Europe and create jobs, while reinforcing strategic autonomy.”
For 2023, the annual budget (including total commitments) was €186.6 billion.
The institution also addresses the weight of the war in Ukraine in community finances, indicating that, “after Russia’s war of aggression against the country, the EU budget was fully mobilized to support Ukraine and the Member States that host refugees , but their availabilities have been reduced”. exhausted”.
For this reason, “the Commission will assess future support for Ukraine in the context of the next review of its long-term budget for 2021-2027,” says Brussels without specifying.
Recognizing the “exceptional challenges of recent years, including rapidly rising inflation, which has put considerable pressure on budget capacity to continue responding to new developments”, the European Commission stresses that the proposed funds will allow “providing fundamental financing for the EU’s political priorities, as planned”, with an emphasis on ecological and digital priorities.
The largest part of the EU’s annual budget is for the Common Agricultural Policy, responsible for €53.8 billion in commitments, to which will be added €1.1 billion for fisheries.
It is followed by areas such as regional development and cohesion (47.9 billion euros) to guarantee infrastructures that support the ecological transition, support for global partner countries (15.8 billion euros), research and innovation (13.6 billion euros), strategic European investments (4,600 millions of euros). million for strategic investments), space programs (2.1 billion), social cohesion and values (10.3 billion for people), environment and climate action (2.4 billion for environment and climate action), border management (2.2 billion), migration ( 1,700 million), defense (1,600 million), single market (947 million), health (754 million), security (726 million) and secure satellite connections (213 million).
The 2024 draft budget is part of the EU’s long-term budget, adopted at the end of 2020, and dedicates 30% to the fight against climate change, as with the Recovery Fund.
The proposal refers to credits below the long-term budgetary limits, financed with own resources, which are complemented by the expenses of the Recovery Fund, financed with loans contracted in the capital markets.
With a budget of up to 807,000 million euros at current prices, the Recovery Fund aims to repair the economic and social damage caused by the pandemic and has as its central element the Recovery and Resilience Facility, which provides grants and loans to countries to carry out reforms and investments, under its PRR.
Source: Observadora
