Changes from adopted text to adopted text

AddedA comprehensive package of 24 pilot projects/preparatory actions (PP/PA), of which 17 new, for a total amount of EUR 75,1 million in commitment appropriations is agreed as proposed by the Parliament.

RemovedSpecial instruments and cascade mechanism

AddedThis package respects the ceilings for pilot projects and preparatory actions set out in the Financial Regulation.

Removed11. Notes that the 2026 budget will be the second full annual budgetary procedure under the revised MFF ceilings and rules; reminds that a certain level of redeployments, in particular under headings 1 and 6 was part of the MFF revision package; stresses its firm position to not see such reductions repeated or made worse in the annual procedure especially as margins have become extremely tight in the last years of implementation of the current MFF;

Added1.3. Expenditure headings of the financial framework - commitment appropriations

Removed12. Notes, further, that the initial 2026 availabilities for the Single Margin Instrument for commitments (Article 11(1)(a) of the MFF Regulation) stand at EUR 748,2 million and that the Commission proposes to exhaust the SMI compartment (a) for heading 7 - European Public Administration; is concerned that as a result, a total amount of only EUR 132,5 million remains available for unforeseen expenditure in 2026, all of which under the Flexibility Instrument (assuming that no amount would still be mobilised in the course of 2025);

AddedAfter taking into account the above conclusions on agencies and pilot projects and preparatory actions, the Conciliation Committee has agreed on the following:

Removed13. Underlines, once again, that repayment of the EURI borrowing costs is a legal obligation for the Union and a non-discretionary expenditure item in the Union budget; takes note with concern that the NGEU overrun costs, i.e. the needs for the EURI refinancing costs which have not been programmed from the outset, amount to EUR 4,225 billion for 2026, twice the Commission’s forecast, as specified in the Amending Letter (AL) 1/2026; notes that the Commission, in its DB and in AL 1/2026, following the outcome of the conciliation 2025 applies a 50:50 approach to the cascade mechanism, covering an amount of EUR 2,113 billion from the budget - i.e. 50 % of the cost overruns - stemming from the unallocated margin under sub-heading 2b for an amount of EUR 73 million and by the Flexibility Instrument for an amount of EUR 2 040 million, with the remaining half to be mobilised through the EURI instrument over and above the ceiling, covered by decommitments made since 2021;

AddedHeading 1 – Single Market, Innovation and Digital

Removed14. Reiterates its position that before having recourse to the EURI special instrument, the budgetary authority is expected to examine the possibility for covering part of any shortfall within the headings and through the Flexibility and Single Margin Instruments; emphasises that this process must be objective and based on real needs and cannot be driven by any arbitrary benchmarks; intends, therefore, to ensure that all programmes are properly resourced and that the budget’s flexibility and response capacity is maintained throughout the annual budgetary procedure; strongly disagrees therefore with the Council’s approach to opt for what it calls “prudent” budgeting, creating artificial margins under the MFF ceilings at the expense of the implementation of previously agreed Union’s priorities; regrets that the Council, in its position on the 2026 budget, and similar to previous years, reduces appropriations dedicated for EURI borrowing costs without due justification; alerts that in order to create additional unallocated margins (mostly in sub-heading 2b but also in other headings, presumably in view of using it in future years through the SMI), sizeable reductions to a number of flagship programme envelopes have been proposed that have repercussions in 2026 as well as in 2027; stresses that the cuts in sub-heading 2b are particularly disconcerting as the only motivation is to use the money for financing EURI to the detriment of the people-centred nature of the programmes anchored in the same heading as EURI; recalls that the most affected programmes, Horizon Europe, Connecting Europe Facility (CEF) Digital and Erasmus, are well-established shared priorities for the European Parliament and the Council and flagship programmes of the Union; deplores furthermore that the Council targets for reductions are across several headings and even touch some programmes that were already subject to the MFF revision redeployments, such as Horizon, or lines that were topped up in previous years, such as Erasmus+, EU4Health or LIFE;

AddedCommitment appropriations are set at the level proposed by the Commission in the Draft Budget, as amended by Amending Letter 1/2026 but with the following adjustments, agreed by the Conciliation Committee, set out in the table below:

Removed15. Recalls the joint statement to the IIA adopted as part of the 2020 MFF agreement, whereby expenditure to cover NGEU financing costs “shall aim at not reducing programmes and funds”; restores, therefore, all the cuts proposed by Council to ensure that programmes are properly resourced and that the budget’s flexibility and response capacity are maintained throughout the annual budgetary procedure; insists on the need for the Commission to provide reliable, timely and accurate information on NGEU borrowing costs and on expected Recovery and Resilience Facility disbursements throughout the budgetary procedure;

AddedThe reinforcement of the European Cybersecurity Industrial, Technology and Research Competence Centre of EUR 0,2 million is intended to finance two additional establishment plan posts.

Removed16. Is concerned by the fact that part of the EURI financing needs in 2026 is in fact due to the liquidity management cost of 2025; further notes that, for the first time, liquidity management costs have increased significantly due to delays and unpredictability of payment requests as the implementation of the recovery and resilience plans is slowing down in some Member States; underlines that the liquidity management costs are an additional burden in a context of extremely scarce resources; stresses that the currently estimated liquidity management cost of EUR 300 million for 2026 would consume approximately half of the overall availabilities (including margins and special instruments) of the DB without assurances that this is the most efficient and prudent way to manage the unpredictability of payment needs for the RRF; requests in this context that the liquidity management cost is isolated in a separate new budget line for transparency purposes; considers that this cost was never intended by the co-legislator to be included in the amounts subject to the 50 % benchmark within the cascade mechanism agreed during the MFF revision and further clarified in the 2025 conciliation; argues therefore that it should be financed solely from the decommitment compartment of the EURI instrument;

AddedAs a consequence, the agreed level of commitment appropriations is set at EUR 22 163,0 million, leaving a margin of EUR 47,0 million under the expenditure ceiling of heading 1.

RemovedHeading 1 - Single market, Innovation and Digital

AddedSub-heading 2a – Economic, social and territorial Cohesion

Removed17. Recalls that programmes under heading 1 play a crucial role in supporting research and innovation in key sectors, including health, energy and climate, enhancing the Union’s competitiveness, driving sustainable growth, economic development and quality job creation with an emphasis on SMEs, boosting funding for cross-border infrastructure, in particular in the sustainable transport, energy and digital sectors, thus contributing significantly to the green and digital transitions;

AddedCommitment appropriations are set at the level proposed by the Commission in the Draft Budget as amended in Amending Letter No 1/2026, but with the following adjustments, agreed by the Conciliation Committee, set out in the table below:

Removed18. Highlights the vital role that Horizon Europe plays in this context; recalls that the programme remains heavily over-subscribed and is therefore unable to support a large number of research projects evaluated as ‘excellent’; proposes, therefore, to increase allocations for the programme by a total of EUR 60 million compared to the DB, with reinforcements for the Cluster ‘Health’ to boost R&D, including research in areas such as cardiovascular diseases, lifestyles focusing on primary and secondary prevention as key objectives to increase life expectancy in the Union, cancer, antimicrobial resistance, non-communicable and rare diseases, palliative care, mitigating health risks, and mental health, as well as for the Cluster ‘Culture, Creativity and Inclusive Society’ and the Cluster ‘Climate, Energy, Mobility’, with special attention and support to research projects in the area of decarbonisation in Europe;

AddedAs a consequence, the agreed level of commitment appropriations is set at EUR 56 594,0 million, with no margin left under the expenditure ceiling of sub-heading 2a and the mobilisation of the Flexibility Instrument for an amount of EUR 1,0 million in accordance with Article 12 of the MFF Regulation.

Removed19. Calls on increasing the CEF Energy investments for an improved functioning and a deeper integration of energy markets, through modernisation of cross-border infrastructure, enhanced transmission via distribution grids and interconnections, better integration and larger investments in renewables and energy efficiency, including to reduce high electricity prices broadening of clean energy supply, while significantly reducing Union’s dependence on fossil fuels, enhancing security of supply, mitigating price volatility and improving energy security and enabling the Union to achieve its decarbonisation objectives for 2030 and 2050; proposes, in this regard, to increase appropriations for CEF Energy by EUR 50 million above the DB; believes that these measures will contribute to the Union’s objectives lowering energy costs to households and companies in Europe and to achieve the fair transition;

AddedSub-heading 2b – Resilience and Values

Removed20. Recalls that CEF is key for the Union’s overall security and for boosting investment in high-performance sustainable trans-European networks, and thereby promoting interconnectivity as well as for supporting the completion of TEN-T; highlights that CEF Transport remains largely oversubscribed and calls for additional investments to support research, development of cutting-edge technologies and innovation in transport infrastructure and digital connectivity ; stresses that additional investment is needed to ensure a fully operational TEN-T network, support research, innovation and cutting-edge technologies in transport infrastructure, deploy alternative fuels and digital connectivity, strengthen the Union’s solidarity lanes with Ukraine in border regions, and enhance the resilience of critical infrastructure, competitiveness and cohesion, also taking into account the need for investment into climate and environmentally friendly cross-border transport infrastructure such as rail projects and improvement and investment in clean mobility; proposes, therefore, to increase appropriations for CEF Transport by EUR 30 million above the DB;

AddedCommitment appropriations are set at the level proposed by the Commission in the Draft Budget, as amended by Amending Letter 1/2026 but with the following adjustments, agreed by the Conciliation Committee, set out in the table below:

Removed21. Stresses that a well-functioning Single Market is critical for the Union’s competitiveness and for enhancing access to markets for Union businesses, especially SMEs and young entrepreneurs; emphasises the importance of supporting SMEs as the main drivers of the European economy ; opposes Council's cuts and calls on a budgetary reinforcement to further support European SMEs, start-ups and young entrepreneurs in their competitiveness, resilience and their access to market, in line with the objectives of the EU Startup and Scaleup Strategy, announced by the Commission; proposes an increase of EUR 4 million above the DB for the SME strand of the Single Market programme, to enhance technological advancement, competitiveness and economic resilience;

AddedThe overall needs of the EURI interest line of EUR 4 225,4 million above the financial programming for 2026 are financed in part by the remaining margin under sub-Heading 2b of EUR 99,6 million and the mobilisation of EUR 2 013,1 million under the Flexibility Instrument, for an overall amount of EUR 2 112,7 million corresponding to 50 % of the additional needs. The EURI instrument will be mobilised for the remaining 50 %, i.e. EUR 2 112,7 million. This amount is fully covered by the de-commitments made since 2021 in line with Article 10a para 3(a) of the MFF Regulation.

Removed22. Reiterates the substantial investment needs in forward-looking digital infrastructure, underpinned by well-regulated, human-centred and trustworthy artificial intelligence and cybersecurity; stresses in this context the need to improve digital skills to match the needs of companies and to equip citizens to counter disinformation; proposes therefore an increase of EUR 4 million to the Skills strand of the Digital Europe Programme;

AddedAs a consequence, the agreed level of commitment appropriations is set at EUR 15 055,8 million, with no margin left under the expenditure ceiling of sub-heading 2b and the mobilisation of the Flexibility Instrument for an amount of EUR 2 013,1 million in accordance with Article 12 of the MFF Regulation and the mobilisation of the EURI instrument for an amount of EUR 2 112,7 million in accordance with Article 10a para 3(a) of the MFF Regulation.

Removed23. Recalls the important role played by the decentralised agencies under heading 1, including the Agency for the Body of European Regulators for Electronic Communications (BEREC), whose work is relevant for safeguarding the Union’s digital and communications networks; decides to reinforce BEREC by EUR 0,67 million above the DB to support the agency and strengthen the Union’s broader institutional resilience at a moment when this is increasingly tested;

AddedHeading 3 – Natural Resources and Environment

Removed24. Proposes to provide the necessary human resources to the European Cybersecurity Competence Centre (ECCC), key in countering the growing hybrid threats posed by the Russian Federation, to ensure it can fully deliver on its mandate in the evolving geopolitical context in light of the fact that adequate staffing is essential to ensure its critical functions are effectively carried out;

AddedCommitment appropriations are set at the level proposed by the Commission in the Draft Budget, as amended by Amending Letter 1/2026 but with the following adjustments, agreed by the Conciliation Committee, set out in the table below:

Removed25. Reinforces heading 1 by EUR 148 696 914 in commitment appropriations above the DB (excluding pilot projects and preparatory actions) and by EUR 636 944 317 compared to the Council reading;

AddedAs a consequence, the agreed level of commitment appropriations is set at EUR 56 529,4 million, leaving a margin of EUR 570,6 million under the expenditure ceiling of heading 3.

RemovedSub-heading 2a - Economic, social and territorial cohesion

Addedp.m. Overall EAGF needs for 2026, including the agricultural reserve, amount to EUR 41 331,2 million. This is an increase of EUR 426 million compared to the Draft Budget 2026, which includes full support for the young farmers based on the needs and a reinforcement for the promotional measures of EUR 105 million.

Removed26. Underlines the important role cohesion policy plays in delivering on Union policy priorities, improving peoples’ quality of life and boosting the Union economy by contributing to fair and sustainable growth and development, promoting economic and social convergence between countries and regions, notably mountainous, insular and outermost regions, supporting the green and digital transitions, fostering investments, innovation and employment and addressing regional, economic and social disparities and inequalities; recognises that the mid-term review of cohesion brought increased flexibility; reiterates nevertheless that cohesion policy is not a crisis response tool and, therefore, should not be called on to make up for shortcomings of funding in other policies and priorities, in budgetary flexibility or crisis response mechanisms to the detriment of its long-term policy objectives; calls on the Commission and all Member States to maintain the cruising speed of implementation of cohesion policy, in parallel to the implementation of the Recovery and Resilience Facility;

AddedHeading 4 – Migration and Border Management

Removed27. Welcomes the recent acceleration in the execution of operational programmes in the Member States and regions and calls on Member States to continue to provide the necessary administrative capacity at all levels of governance; insists on the importance of ensuring funds accessibility to achieve absorption; calls on the Commission to do its utmost to protect the legitimate interests of final beneficiaries and to ensure that final beneficiaries can continue to benefit from Union funding in cases of breaching the rule of law by national governments, without weakening the application of Regulation (EU, Euratom) 2020/2092 and while maintaining the Member States’ payment obligation under the Union law;

AddedCommitment appropriations are set at the level proposed by the Commission in the Draft Budget, as amended by Amending Letter 1/2026 but with the following adjustments, agreed by the Conciliation Committee, set out in the table below:

Removed28. Accepts the Council position with respect to sub-heading 2a;

AddedAs a consequence, the agreed level of commitment appropriations is set at EUR 5 018,9 million, leaving a margin of EUR 84,1 million under the expenditure ceiling of heading 4.

RemovedSub-heading 2b - Resilience and values

AddedHeading 5 – Security and Defence

Removed29. Underlines that the expenditure programmes under sub-heading 2b have to share the already tight resources and margins with the EURI budget line which covers the NGEU interest costs, and that this has de facto prevented the Commission from proposing reinforcements where they are needed; is determined to cover these interest costs in a reliable and transparent manner while safeguarding programme allocations in this sub-heading;

AddedCommitment appropriations are set at the level proposed by the Commission in the Draft Budget, as amended by Amending Letter 1/2026 but with the following adjustments, agreed by the Conciliation Committee, set out in the table below:

Removed30. Is alarmed by the ever-growing impact of natural disasters often linked to worsening climate change and are thus likely to occur with even greater frequency; underlines that in light of the increasing frequency and severity of extreme weather events and natural disasters, effective Union coordination, preventive measures and robust disaster response capacities across Member States are all the more required; stresses that the RescEU mechanism has so far proven to be an instrumental and successful Union instrument in responding to crisis situations; notes that the Union action in this context responds to high citizens’ expectations; emphasises the need to significantly increase the funding of the Union's capacities to ensure effective disaster prevention, preparedness and rapid response capabilities and coordination and cross-border preparedness; highlights that investing in prevention and early detection protects lives and is more efficient than responding to crises; decides therefore to increase funding for the Union Civil Protection Mechanism by EUR 30 million;

AddedAs a consequence, the agreed level of commitment appropriations is set at EUR 2 813,5 million, with no margin left under the expenditure the ceiling of heading 5 and the mobilisation of the Flexibility Instrument for an amount of EUR 3,5 million in accordance with Article 12 of the MFF Regulation.

Removed31. Underlines the importance of a stronger Health Union and enhanced protection, prevention, preparedness and response against human health hazards; highlights the vital role that the EU4Health programme plays in this respect, as well as in supporting actions that enhance the availability, accessibility and affordability of medicinal products, medical devices, crisis-relevant products and hospital infrastructures, as well as supporting Member States’ actions to promote access to sexual and reproductive health, rights and services, especially considering the backlash against women’s rights in several Member States; underlines that the Union’s public health needs are steadily increasing in light of the increased demographic pressure; highlights the programme's crucial role in strengthening health resilience and preparedness for future health crises, recalls the importance of reinforcing the cross-border healthcare cooperation; proposes to increase the programme’s appropriations by EUR 5 million above the DB to support investments with a focus on cardiovascular diseases, by focusing on primary and secondary prevention as key objectives to increase life expectancy in the Union, cancer, rare diseases, paediatric diseases, mental health, including youth mental health, and the issue of antimicrobial resistance;

AddedHeading 6 – Neighbourhood and the World

Removed32. Reiterates its unwavering support for promoting the learning mobility of young people and researchers; proposes to reinforce, against this background, the Union flagship programme Erasmus+, which consistently contributes to the priorities of long-term competitiveness, employability, knowledge, innovation and resilience, directly benefitting citizens, including learners and young people and engaging them in Europe's democratic life; emphasises that the programme is required by law to put in place measures to make grants schemes fairer and more accessible and boost participation rates among people with fewer opportunities and from disadvantaged backgrounds across the entire continent also in the context of high costs of living and inflationary context and calls for a readjustment of Erasmus+ grants to account for higher inflation and higher living costs; proposes, therefore, an increase of EUR 5 million for Erasmus+, specifically to ensure that the programme is accessible to all; rejects the proposed budget cuts of EUR 257 million by the Council as reckless and unjustified;

AddedCommitment appropriations are set at the level proposed by the Commission in the Draft Budget but with the following adjustments, agreed by the Conciliation Committee, set out in the table below:

Removed33. Calls on the Commission to take the necessary measures to ensure that the Hungarian government respects its obligation towards final recipients, in line with the Conditionality regulation; highlights, in addition, that in the face of persistent non-compliance by the Hungarian government with this obligation, the appropriations under Erasmus + should also be used by the Commission for an alternative solution benefitting Hungarian students; underlines that any alternative solution shall be implemented without weakening the application of the implementing decision of 15 December 2022 under Regulation (EU, Euratom) 2020/2092, which is a consistent and lawful application of that Regulation;

AddedThe decrease for budget line 14 02 01 11 with EUR 89,8 million is the net result of transferring EUR 114,8 million to the newly created budget line 14 02 01 13 and a reinforcement of EUR 25 million for the Eastern Neighbourhood.

Removed34. Underscores the continued socio-economic challenges in the cultural and creative sectors, which are often made up of small organisations and individual artists, and the key role of these sectors in combatting disinformation, threats to democracy, enhancing media literacy and promoting and protecting media freedom and pluralism as the basis for a functioning democracy; highlights that Creative Europe is one of the key programmes dedicated to the cultural and creative sectors, and has strong results and high oversubscription proposes to increase financing for the cross-sectoral strand of the Creative Europe programme by a total of EUR 2,5 million above the DB;

AddedAs a consequence, the agreed level of commitment appropriations is set at EUR 15 600,0 million, leaving a margin of EUR 14,0 million under the expenditure ceiling of heading 6.

Removed35. Reiterates the indispensable role of the Citizens, Equality, Rights and Values programme in promoting European values and citizens’ rights, in fostering active civic engagement, in building resilient societies, in raising awareness on disinformation, in combatting gender-based violence, notably violence against women, girls and the LGBTQI+ community and in supporting the key principles of democracy, the rule of law, solidarity, inclusiveness, justice, non-discrimination and equality; underlines that active and empowered civil society is key for democracy and the democratic life of our societies; proposes, therefore, to increase appropriations for the programme by EUR 2,5 million above the DB; in order to provide, inter alia, direct funding to civil society organisations working closest to the citizens at local, national and Union level, to protect and promote Union values and to counter democratic backsliding;

AddedHeading 7 – European Public Administration

Removed36. Highlights the growing threat posed by disinformation and foreign information manipulation to the Union’s democratic processes, stresses the need to support local media, strengthen fact checking, investigative journalism, quality content production and media literacy initiative in all Member States;