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The EU budget

How much the European Union plans to spend each year, who decides it, and how the money is divided between its spending areas. Every figure comes from the budget as published in the Official Journal of the European Union, or from the European Commission.

2026 in progress · Data refreshed 20 September 2026 · EUR, current prices

Who decides and who spends

The annual budget is adopted under Article 314 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union. More on how EU money works.

ProposesEuropean Commission: Drafts the annual budget each summer and can amend its draft in the autumn with a letter of amendment.
DecidesEuropean Parliament and Council of the EU: The Council, representing national governments, adopts a position; Parliament votes amendments. If they disagree, a Conciliation Committee has 21 days to agree a joint text, which both must then approve.
Sets the limitsCouncil, with Parliament’s consent: Every annual budget must fit within the ceilings of the multiannual financial framework (MFF) for 2021–2027, which the Council adopted unanimously after Parliament’s consent.
SpendsEuropean Commission and member states: The Commission is responsible for carrying out the budget. Most of the money, including farm and regional funds, is managed together with national and regional authorities.
ChecksCourt of Auditors, Parliament, OLAF, EPPO: The Court of Auditors audits every year; Parliament then decides whether to approve how the budget was carried out (discharge). OLAF investigates fraud and the European Public Prosecutor’s Office prosecutes it.

Year

Adopted budget for every year. Actual spending for 2025 · 2026 is not published yet.

EU annual budget · 2026 (in progress)

Commitments, as adopted: €192.8bn; −3.3% vs 2025
Payments, as adopted: €190.1bn; +22.5% vs 2025
Commitments as % of GNI: 1.00%; Payments: 0.99% of GNI
Actually spent: Not yet; The year is still in progress

Exact figures in the act: 192,768,071,555 euros in commitments and 190,091,555,667 euros in payments.

Year by year

The annual budget as first adopted. Select a year to see its details.

Commitments
Payments

Year	Commitments	Payments	Actually spent	of which NextGenerationEU
2022	€169.5bn	€170.6bn	€243.3bn	€63.5bn
2023	€186.6bn	€168.6bn	€239.2bn	€66.1bn
2024	€189.4bn	€142.6bn	€247.0bn	€73.1bn
2025	€199.4bn	€155.2bn	Not published yet	—
2026 (in progress)	€192.8bn	€190.1bn	Not published yet	—

How the 2026 (in progress) budget is divided

By MFF heading

The seven spending areas of the 2021–2027 long-term budget. Actual spending by area will be added once the Commission publishes it.

Area	Commitments	Share	Payments	Actually spent	of which NGEU
1. Single Market, Innovation and DigitalResearch (Horizon Europe), strategic investment (InvestEU, Connecting Europe Facility, Digital Europe), the single market and space.	€22.2bn	11.5%	€23.3bn	—	—
2. Cohesion, Resilience and ValuesRegional and social funds, plus programmes for resilience, health, education and values.	€71.6bn	37.2%	€73.2bn	—	—
2a. Economic, social and territorial cohesionRegional development, the Cohesion Fund and the European Social Fund+.	€56.6bn	29.4%	€58.3bn	—	—
2b. Resilience and valuesRecovery and resilience, including the cost of NextGenerationEU borrowing, EU4Health, Erasmus+, Creative Europe, civil protection, justice and rights.	€15.1bn	7.8%	€14.9bn	—	—
3. Natural Resources and EnvironmentThe Common Agricultural Policy, fisheries, environment and climate action (LIFE), and the Just Transition Fund.	€56.5bn	29.3%	€52.6bn	—	—
of which: market-related expenditure and direct payments	€40.0bn		€40.0bn	—	—
4. Migration and Border ManagementAsylum and migration, and the management of the EU’s external borders.	€5.0bn	2.6%	€3.9bn	—	—
5. Security and DefenceInternal security, nuclear decommissioning, the European Defence Fund and military mobility.	€2.8bn	1.5%	€2.3bn	—	—
6. Neighbourhood and the WorldExternal action: neighbourhood and development cooperation, humanitarian aid, foreign and security policy, and pre-accession assistance.	€15.6bn	8.1%	€16.6bn	—	—
7. European Public AdministrationRunning the EU institutions: staff, pensions, buildings and administration.	€13.3bn	6.9%	€13.3bn	—	—
of which: administrative expenditure of the institutions	€10.0bn		€10.0bn	—	—
Special instrumentsReserves used on top of the normal ceilings, such as the Solidarity and Emergency Aid Reserve and the European Globalisation Adjustment Fund.	€5.7bn	3.0%	€5.0bn	—	—
Total	€192.8bn	100.0%	€190.1bn	—	—

How the 2026 budget was decided

Every step below is recorded in the act that adopted the budget. Open a step to read the official wording.

9 July 2025Commission
Commission proposes the draft budget
“Draft general budget of the European Union for the financial year 2026, which the Commission adopted on 9 July 2025.”
5 September 2025Council
Council adopts its position
“Position on the draft budget of the European Union for the financial year 2026, which the Council adopted on 5 September 2025 and forwarded to Parliament on 12 September 2025.”
8 October 2025Commission
Commission amends its draft (Letter of Amendment No 1)
“Letter of Amendment No 1/2026 to the draft general budget of the European Union for the financial year 2026, which the Commission presented on 8 October 2025.”
22 October 2025Parliament
Parliament votes its amendments
“Amendments to the draft general budget adopted by Parliament on 22 October 2025.”
22 October 2025Council
Council does not accept all of Parliament's amendments
“Letter of 22 October 2025 from the President of the Council stating that the Council was unable to approve all the amendments adopted by Parliament.”
27 October 2025Parliament
Conciliation Committee is convened
“Letter to the President of the Council of 27 October 2025 convening the Conciliation Committee.”
Within 21 daysConciliation
Conciliation Committee agrees a joint text within 21 days
“Fact that the Conciliation Committee agreed on a joint text within the 21-day time-limit referred to in Article 314(6) of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union.”
24 November 2025Council
Council approves the joint text
“Council's approval of the joint text on 24 November 2025.”
26 November 2025Parliament
Parliament approves the joint text
“Parliament's approval of the joint text on 26 November 2025.”
26 November 2025Parliament
Budget declared definitively adopted
“The President of the European Parliament declares the procedure under Article 314 TFEU complete and the budget definitively adopted.”

Source: Definitive adoption (EU, Euratom) 2026/72 of the European Union’s annual budget for the financial year 2026, Official Journal of the European Union, 26 February 2026.

What the figures mean

Commitments: The legal promises the EU can make that year, such as signing a grant agreement. They may be paid out over several years.
Payments: The cash the EU can pay out that year, for commitments made that year or earlier.
As adopted: The budget as first adopted at the end of the previous year. Amending budgets adopted during the year are not included.
Actually spent: What the Commission reports as spent that year, by area. It differs from the adopted payments because it also includes NextGenerationEU, other revenue assigned to specific programmes, and changes made during the year.
NextGenerationEU (NGEU): The recovery instrument financed by EU borrowing. Its money enters the budget as external assigned revenue under Regulation (EU) 2020/2094, on top of the amounts voted each year, so it is not part of the adopted totals.
MFF headings: The seven spending areas set by the 2021–2027 multiannual financial framework. Special instruments are reserves that can be used on top of their ceilings.

Sources

Adopted budgets, Official Journal of the European Union

Definitive adoption (EU, Euratom) 2022/182 of the European Union’s general budget for the financial year 2022CELEX 32022B0182 · Published 24 February 2022European Commission page for the 2022 budget
Definitive adoption (EU, Euratom) 2023/278 of the European Union’s annual budget for the financial year 2023CELEX 32023B0278 · Published 23 February 2023European Commission page for the 2023 budget
Definitive adoption (EU, Euratom) 2024/207 of the European Union’s annual budget for the financial year 2024CELEX 32024B0207 · Published 22 February 2024European Commission page for the 2024 budget
Definitive adoption (EU, Euratom) 2025/31 of the European Union’s annual budget for the financial year 2025CELEX 32025B0031 · Published 27 February 2025European Commission page for the 2025 budget
Definitive adoption (EU, Euratom) 2026/72 of the European Union’s annual budget for the financial year 2026CELEX 32026B0072 · Published 26 February 2026European Commission page for the 2026 budget

EU annual budgets as definitively adopted (Official Journal)
Commitment and payment appropriations by MFF heading, and the dates of each step of the budget procedure. Years: 2022, 2023, 2024, 2025, 2026.
European Parliament, Council of the EU and European Commission; published by the Publications Office of the EU · Retrieved 20 September 2026
EUR-Lex: official EU legal texts, free to reuse
EU spending and revenue
Actual EU spending by MFF heading, including NextGenerationEU. Years: 2022, 2023, 2024.
European Commission, DG Budget · Retrieved 20 September 2026
Dataset file used (.xlsx)

Notes

Figures are in euros at current prices, rounded to the nearest million on this page. The exact amounts are in the acts.
2026 is still in progress: its adopted budget is known, its actual spending will be published after the year ends.
Corrections published later in the Official Journal (corrigenda) and amending budgets are not applied.
Every figure on this page is generated from the sources above by npm run data:budget. Nothing is typed in by hand. All sources are also listed on the Sources page.