The EU Council and the European Parliament on November 11 in Brussels have agreed on the EU budget for 2014 in the negotiations guided by the Lithuanian Presidency. The budget amounts to 142.6 billion euros in commitments and 135.5 billion euros in payments.
The 2014 EU budget puts strong emphasis on priority areas such as innovation. Within the area of smart and inclusive growth, for which almost half of the budget (€64 billion) , is allocated, spending on research, innovation and education will increase substantially as compared to the Council’s proposal. This is important as the agreed budget includes €9.3 billion in commitments (i.e., legal promises to spend money for activities whose implementation might extend over several financial years) and €6.3 billion in payments for the framework programme Horizon 2020. This amount is low, in comparison to the €10.84 billion that have been executed in 2013, the last year of the 7th framework Programme (FP7), but similar to the amount executed in the first year of the FP7, €5,48 billion.
The approval of the 2014 budget is also important with a view to the approval of the EU’s long-term budget 2014-2020, the Multiannual Financial Framework.
More information on the 2014 budget available here.
