Next year, the EU budget commitments will amount to EUR 192.8 billion and payments will make up EUR 190.1 billion.
As usual, in the EU budget, the largest share of funding is allocated to the key areas such as Cohesion policy (EUR 56.6 billion) and the Common Agricultural Policy (EUR 56.5 billion). Sufficient funding for Cohesion programmes in 2026 is of particular relevance, in particular, due to the increased level of interim payments, as at the end of the EU's Multiannual Financial Framework, Cohesion programmes are usually implemented at full capacity.
The EU budget 2026 is expected to focus on the programmes that contribute to the EU single market, innovation, digital transition, connectivity in the transport and energy sectors (EUR 22.2 billion), activities in the fields of the EU's neighbourhood and external action (EUR 15.6 billion), as well as in the fields of migration and border management (EUR 5.0 billion) and security (EUR 2.8 billion).
Minister of Finance Kristupas Vaitiekūnas welcomed the final agreement between the EP and the Council, which reflects Lithuania's key priorities: "In this year's negotiations, it was important for Lithuania to secure not only sufficient appropriations in the field of Cohesion policy and agriculture, but also the necessary funding for the decommissioning of Ignalina nuclear power plant and the Connecting Europe Facility. It is also encouraging to see increased funding for border management and military mobility programmes in the final agreement, this is particularly relevant for Lithuania, which has one of the EU's longest external borders with hostile countries and faces hybrid threats."
In the final agreement between the Council of the EU and the EP, compared to the draft EU budget presented by the European Commission, it was agreed to provide additional funding for certain programmes: allocating EUR +10.0 million to the instrument for financial support for border management and visa and EUR +10.0 million to military mobility, EUR +35.0 million to the humanitarian aid, EUR +8.5 million and EUR +15.0 million, respectively, to the transport and energy fields of the Connecting Europe Facility (CEF).
Lithuania is expected to receive about EUR 2.81 billion from the EU budget 2026. Most EU funding is planned to come from the Cohesion policy Funds – about EUR 1.47 billion, the Common Agricultural Policy Funds – about EUR 0.82 billion, the Connecting Europe Facility – about EUR 0.25 billion, and for Ignalina NPP decommissioning programme – about EUR 0.13 billion. Lithuania's contribution to the EU budget should amount to EUR 0.88 billion.
