In mid-November 2025, the European Commission welcomed the agreement reached between the European Parliament and the Council on the European Union’s annual budget for 2026. The budget amounts to €192.8 billion in commitments and €190.1 billion in payments, and represents the last year with significant payments under NextGenerationEU, the EU’s post-COVID recovery instrument.
The 2026 budget is part of the 2021–2027 Multiannual Financial Framework and is designed to support the EU’s main political priorities in a context still marked by geopolitical tensions, the energy crisis and the green and digital transitions. Among the pillars highlighted by the Commission are:
- stable support for Ukraine through the Ukraine Facility;
- strengthening appropriations for humanitarian aid and neighbourhood policy;
- security and defence, in response to new strategic challenges;
- competitiveness, migration management and the continuation of green and digital priorities.
From the point of view of the main spending headings, the 2026 budget allocates resources as follows:
- Single market, innovation and digital – around €22.2 billion;
- Cohesion, resilience and values – around €71.6 billion, of which more than €56 billion for economic, social and territorial cohesion;
- Natural resources and environment – around €56.5 billion, including the Common Agricultural Policy;
- Migration and border management – around €5.0 billion;
- Security and defence – around €2.8 billion;
- Neighbourhood and the world – around €15.6 billion;
- European public administration – around €13.3 billion, plus special thematic instruments for around €5.7 billion.
The budget also makes use of the mid-term review of cohesion funds to create incentives and greater flexibility: Member States will be able to reprogramme part of the resources towards emerging priorities such as competitiveness, defence, affordable housing, water resilience and the energy transition, facilitating the reallocation of investments where needs are most pressing.
At procedural level, following the political agreement reached in mid-November, the Council of the EU gave its final approval on 24 November 2025, confirming the budget volumes agreed with the European Parliament. The financial framework for 2026 is therefore stabilised, with a margin below the ceilings of the Multiannual Financial Framework, allowing the EU to respond to unforeseen needs.
In particular, it will be strategic to monitor:
- competitive calls linked to the single market, innovation and digital, including projects on AI, data and cybersecurity;
- calls under cohesion programmes and support for territorial resilience, where projects for urban regeneration, housing and sustainable infrastructure are possible;
- initiatives linked to security, defence and Ukraine, which will require strong consortia and robust international project management capacity.
In this context, Core is ready to support public and private partners in the design, partnership building and management of European projects, turning the 2026 budget lines into concrete and long-term investments.