The European Commission (EC) proposed an annual EU budget of €189.3 billion for 2024 on 7 June 2023. The budget will be complemented by an estimated €113 billion in payments for grants under NextGenerationEU, the EU’s post-pandemic recovery instrument.
The EC points out that the EU has faced exceptional challenges in the last years, including fast rising inflation, which put considerable pressure on the ability of the budget to further respond to new developments. The draft budget for 2024 prioritises green and digital spending and should address the the most crucial recovery needs of the EU Member States and the EU’s partners around the world. The EC also stresses that it will continue to stand by Ukraine for as long as it takes and will assess future support to Ukraine in the context of the forthcoming review of its long-term budget 2021-2027.
From the proposed annual budget of € 189 billion for 2024, the following amounts (in commitments) are proposed for priorities with particular relevance to R&I:
- €47.9 billion for regional development and cohesion to support economic, social and territorial cohesion, as well as infrastructure supporting the green transition and Union priority projects.
- €13.6 billion for research and innovation, of which €12.8 billion for Horizon Europe. The Draft Budget also includes the financing of the European Chips Act under Horizon Europe and through redeployment from other programmes.
- €4.6 billion for European strategic investments, of which €2.7 billion for the Connecting Europe Facility, €1.3 billion for the Digital Europe Programme, and €348 million for InvestEU for key priorities (research and innovation, twin green and digital transition, the health sector, and strategic technologies).
- €2.1 billion for spending dedicated to space, mainly for the European Space Programme.
- €2.4 billion for environment and climate action, of which €745 million for the LIFE programme, and €1.5 billion for the Just Transition Fund.
- €1.6 billion to address defence challenges, of which €638 million to support capability development and research under the European Defence Fund (EDF)
The draft budget for 2024 is part of the Union’s long-term budget as adopted at the end of 2020, including subsequent technical adjustments, and seeks to turn its priorities into concrete annual deliverables. According to the EC, the budget remains on track to dedicate 30% of the long-term budget and the NextGenerationEU recovery instrument on combatting climate change