EU budget today

The long-term budget and NextGenerationEU

The EU’s 2021-2027 long-term budget, together with the NextGenerationEU recovery instrument, amounts to €2.018 trillion in current prices. This unprecedented package helps repair the economic and social damage caused by the coronavirus pandemic and aid the transition towards a modern and more sustainable Europe.

Find out the EU spending and revenue for the 2021-2027 period by year and by country

^{Note: All amounts are in current prices.}
^{Source: European Commission.}

Read more about the long-term budget and NextGenerationEU by following the links below.

Policies funded by the EU budget

^{All amounts are in EUR billion, in current prices, as of November 2020.

Source: European Commission.}

The 2021-2027 long-term budget and NextGenerationEU are an investment into a modern, more sustainable and resilient Europe:

More than 50% of the long-term budget and NextGenerationEU are going to new priorities, such as research and innovation, fair climate and digital transitions and preparedness, recovery and resilience.
30% of the long-term budget and NextGenerationEU will be spent on fighting climate change.
20% of the Recovery and Resilience Facility funds – the instrument at the heart of NextGenerationEU - will be invested in the EU’s digital transformation.

The 2021-2027 long-term budget and NextGenerationEU finance a large variety of funding opportunities.

For an overview of all EU funding programmes, see here.

MFF 2021-2027

The 2021–2027 long-term budget, or the multiannual financial framework (MFF), of €1.211 trillion, supports the long term objectives of the sustainable and inclusive growth of the Union and the twin climate and digital transitions, investing in the EU’s regions, farmers, companies, researchers, students and citizens in general as well as our neighbouring countries.

Following the Russia’s unprovoked and unjustified invasion of Ukraine, it has also been instrumental to provide support to Ukraine and to EU countries welcoming refugees, and to secure investments in Europe’s independence and strategic autonomy.

NextGenerationEU

NextGenerationEU is an up to €806.9 billion temporary recovery instrument , which is channelled through the instruments of the EU’s long-term budget, particularly in the years 2021-2026.

To finance NextGenerationEU, the European Commission, on behalf of the EU, is borrowing on capital markets.

Revenue of the EU budget

The current three main sources of revenue for the 2021-2027 EU budget are customs duties, contributions based on the Value Added Tax (VAT) collected by Member States, and direct contributions by EU countries, also known as Gross National Income (GNI)-based contributions. As of 1 January 2021, a new revenue source to the EU budget is a contribution based on the non-recycled plastic packaging waste.

To finance NextGenerationEU, the European Commission is borrowing from the capital markets up to €806.9 billion. The borrowed amounts will be repaid over a long-term period, until 2058, with Member States themselves repaying the loan component of the instrument.

To help with the repayments of the grants under NextGenerationEU, in December 2021 the Commission has proposed three new sources of revenue: a Emissions Trading System Own Resource, a Carbon border adjustment mechanism (CBAM) own resource, and an own resource based on the reallocated profits of very large multinational companies. We discuss the future of EU budget revenues in the section “The Future of the EU budget”.

On 20 June 2023, the Commission completed its proposal for a next generation of own resources. The final package includes a new temporary statistical own resource based on company profits. Following the political agreement on the Fit For 55 package, which seeks to make sure EU policies contribute to the climate neutrality of our continent, the Commission has also adjusted the own resources proposals based on the Emissions Trading System (ETS) and Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism (CBAM) compared to the original proposals from December 2021.

In addition, the own resource based on the share of residual profits from multinationals that will be re-allocated to EU Member States under the OECD/G20 agreement on a re-allocation of taxing rights (“Pillar One”) is maintained.

The Commission is working with the European Parliament and with the EU Member States in the Council towards a swift approval of the new sources of revenue.

Revenues raised with both baskets of new own resources should be sufficient to cover the repayment needs of the grant component of the NextGenerationEU.