On 20 July 2016, the Council’s Permanent Representatives Committee agreed its position on the 2017 EU draft budget for the upcoming negotiations with the European Parliament.
The Council’s position, agreed on the basis of a compromise text of the Slovak presidency, amounts to EUR 156.38 billion in commitments and EUR 133.79 billion in payments. This is a 0.9% increase in commitments and a 7.0% decrease in payments compared to the 2016 EU budget. The significant reduction of total payments is mainly due to two factors: the implementation of the programmes from the EU’s multiannual financial framework (MFF) for 2007-2013 has been finalised and the programmes of the MFF for 2014-2020 are not yet fully up and running.
The Council wants to spend the bulk of next year’s EU budget for measures supporting smart and inclusive growth, with EUR 74.3 billion in commitments and EUR 56.1 billion in payments.
Actions financed under this heading include:
•Horizon 2020 with EUR 10.2 billion in commitments and EUR 10.1 billion in payments, which is an increase by 6.9% and 0.7% respectively compared to the 2016 EU budget
•the European fund for strategic investments, with EUR 2.7 billion in commitments (+ 29.5%) and EUR 2.3 billion in payments (+341.3%)
•Erasmus+, with EUR 2 billion in commitments (+16.2%) and EUR 1.9 billion in payments (+4.5%)
•European aid for the most deprived (EUR 546 million in commitments and EUR 421 million in payments)
•the youth employment initiative with EUR 600 million in payments.
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