EU annual budget 2026: Council sets guidelines for next year’s EU budget

The Council today approved conclusions setting guidelines for the EU’s annual budget for 2026. The guidelines provide political steer to the Commission in preparing the draft budget proposal for next year’s budget.

In its conclusions, the Council underlines that the EU budget for 2026 has a key role in the development and delivery of the long-term objectives and political priorities agreed by the EU.

The Council reconfirms that the EU remains committed to providing continued financial support for Ukraine, for as long as it takes and as intensely as needed, and supporting its resilience and long-term reconstruction.

The Council stresses the importance for the budget for 2026 to continue showing the Union’s solidarity with the people of Ukraine and to respond to the related crises.

The Council considers that the budget for 2026 should be realistic, in line with actual needs, ensure prudent budgeting and leave sufficient margins under the multiannual financial framework (MFF) ceilings to deal with unforeseen circumstances and address the Union’s challenges.

At the same time, the budget for 2026 should provide sufficient resources to ensure the implementation of Union programmes, including the implementation of the Regional Emergency Support to Reconstruction (RESTORE).

The Council stresses the need for the Commission to identify in the draft budget for 2026 the redeployments agreed in the revised MFF that are necessary to finance the priorities laid down in the revised MFF 2021-2027. The Council also calls on the Commission to take into account and reflect in the draft budget for 2026 all the priorities commonly agreed in the revised MFF, including migration.

The Council invites the Commission to take into account the agreement on the 2025 budget, with regard to the resources to be used for NextGenerationEU interest payments in case they cannot be covered by the existing budget line.

More information European Council.