The European Commission welcomes the agreement between the European Parliament and the Council of the European Union on the EU's 2026 annual budget. Next year's budget will continue to power the EU's political priorities and support strategic objectives, including support for Ukraine, competitiveness, migration management, security and defence, while maintaining momentum on green and digital priorities.
This budget is part of the EU's 2021–2027 Multiannual Financial Framework. This period was dominated by a series of unforeseen developments, including a global pandemic, the return of war on the European continent, an energy crisis, and growing geopolitical tensions on the global scene. The year 2026 will also be the final year with substantial payments under NextGenerationEU, the Union's economic recovery fund following the COVID-19 outbreak.
The annual EU budget for 2026 includes:
- stable and predictable funding for Ukraine through the Ukraine Facility;
- reinforced funding for humanitarian aid and neighbourhood policy;
- security and defence.
Building on the mid-term review of Cohesion funds, this budget creates major incentives and flexibilities for Member States to reprogramme available Cohesion funding towards emerging priorities, notably in the areas of competitiveness, defence, affordable housing, water resilience and energy transition. This will make it easier for regions, who are at the core of Cohesion policy, to redirect investments to areas of greatest need and to accelerate payments to recipients of EU funding on the ground.
The annual EU budget for 2026 allocates the following amounts to the various EU priorities:
Policy Area |
Amounts committed (in EUR million) |
1. Single Market, Innovation and Digital |
22,163.0 |
2. Cohesion, Resilience and Values |
71,649.8 |
— Economic, social and territorial cohesion |
56,594.0 |
— Resilience and Values |
15,055.8 |
3. Natural Resources and Environment |
56,529.4 |
—Of which Market related expenditure and direct payments |
40,011.3 |
4. Migration and Border management |
5,018.9 |
5. Security and Defence |
2,813.5 |
6. Neighbourhood and the World |
15,600.0 |
7. European Public Administration |
13,277.5 |
Thematic special instruments |
5,715.9 |
Total appropriations |
192,768.1 |
The full overview of the Commission proposal for the draft annual budget can be found in the 'Questions and answers' document.
Next steps
The annual budget for 2026 should now be formally adopted by the Council of the European Union and by the European Parliament. The vote in plenary, which will mark the end of the process, is currently scheduled for 26 November 2025.
Background
The annual EU budget for 2026 includes the expenditure covered by the appropriations under the long-term budget ceilings, financed from own resources. These are topped up by expenditure under NextGenerationEU, financed from borrowing on the capital markets.
