EU draft budget 2020 focuses on jobs, growth and security

BRUSSELS -- The European Commission released the draft 2020 EU budget on Wednesday, which would focus on competitive economy, security and solidarity, and climate change.

This budget is designed to optimise funding for existing programmes as well as new initiatives and to boost the European added value in line with the priorities of the Commission.

More than 83 billion euros in commitments will boost economic growth, European regions and will support young people, of which 1.2 billion euros (+75 percent compared to 2019) is for Europe's own global satellite navigation system Galileo.

Twenty-one percent of the overall proposed budget will go to tackle climate change.

"The draft 2020 EU budget is the last budget proposal of the (Jean-Claude) Juncker Commission. I invite the Council and the new Parliament to come to a timely agreement that would provide stability for the EU's future," said Günther H. Oettinger, European Commissioner for Budget and Human Resources.

The draft budget includes two amounts for each programme to be financed - commitments and payments. "Commitments" refers to the funding that can be agreed in contracts in a given year; "payments" to the money actually paid out. The proposed 2020 EU budget amounts to 168.3 billion euros in commitments and 153.7 billion euros in payments, both up compared with the 2019 level.