EU Budget 2019: a good deal despite the Council’s bad intents

“We managed to get a good deal even if the Council made it almost impossible. This is what our citizens demanded of us and we were able to deliver, but the Council’s red lines on the negotiation left us with little room for manoeuvre. The negotiations were so tough that I started to wonder if the Council's intentions were to reach no deal at all and drive us towards provisional twelves. I have to praise Commissioner Oettinger for his work”, said the EPP Group Spokesman in the Budgets Committee, José Manuel Fernandes MEP.

The deal for the 2019 EU budget comprises an overall level of commitments set at €165.795 million and a level of payments set at €148.198 million.

In total, this agreement represents an €820 million increase compared to the first Draft Budget of May and the Amending Letter of the Commission, adding €150 million to Horizon 2020 and €40 million to Erasmus+.

Also agreed is a Draft Amending Budget in 2019 that will reinforce Horizon 2020 and Erasmus by €100 million.

“The deal reached includes all the EPP Group’s priorities and we believe that we have achieved a good deal in favour of citizens and the challenges that lie ahead. I hope that the Council changes its negative attitude, otherwise the upcoming Multiannual Financial Framework negotiations will be an impossible task”, concluded Fernandes.