Commission wants 6.8% rise in budget

The numbers

The draft budget for 2013 foresees €151 billion in commitments, up 2% from 2012, and €138bn in payments, up 6.8%. This would reduce the gap between commitments and payments from €18bn this year – a record – to €13bn next year.

The biggest of the five headings in the draft budget is “sustainable growth” with payment appropriations of €62.5bn, including €49bn for the cohesion policy – an increase of 11.7% over cohesion spending in 2012. Provisions for competitiveness spending are €13.6bn, up 17.8% over 2012 – the biggest increase in relative terms – to pay for research programmes that will be completed in 2013. The second-biggest budget heading is the preservation and management of natural resources, which includes payments of agricultural aid of €44.1bn (a 0.5% increase).

Administrative expenditure for all EU institutions is to rise by 2.8% to €8.5bn – but this excludes the costs of Croatia's accession, expected in summer 2013, which will require an amending budget once the ratification process has been completed.

It is proposed that the EU's spending on external relations will be €7.3bn (up 5.1%), which includes an increase of 21.1% in payments under the Instrument for Pre-Accession Assistance and of 11.6% for the European Neighbourhood Instrument. The heading for citizenship, freedom, security and justice comes last, with €1.6bn in payments, up 6.1% over 2012.