Funding plans

In line with established market practice and as part of its unified funding approach, the Commission publishes on a regular basis:

• An annual borrowing decision
• Semi-annual funding plans

The annual borrowing decision and the funding plan are key to ensure sound financial management, accountability and transparency in the implementation of EU's debt management operations.

The annual borrowing decision lays out the maximum amount of borrowing the Commission can execute in a given year. The semi-annual funding plan sets out the Commission's indicative issuance calendar and expected total issuance volumes for the forthcoming 6 months.

As part of its open and transparent communication to markets, the Commission publishes a quarterly newsletter updating investors of the latest developments in its borrowing and lending activities.

Annual borrowing decision

The annual borrowing decision sets a maximum ceiling on the borrowing operations the Commission can plan over a period of one year.

It also sets a range for maximum issuance amounts of long-term and short-term funding, the average maturity of the EU's long-term funding and limits the amount the Commission can issue in a single transaction.

Semi-annual funding plans

The Commission's 6-monthy funding plan map the borrowing in the coming 6 months, within the limits of the annual borrowing decision. Through its funding plans, the Commission manages market expectations and makes sure it can raise the necessary funds to cover for the relevant payment needs.

To ensure predictability, the Commission regularly communicates key elements of the funding plan to market participants. In particular, the Commission publishes on a regular basis:

• The targeted amounts to be financed by EU-Bonds;
• The number and timing of the expected syndicated transactions;
• The target auction dates for EU-Bonds and EU-Bills issuances.

Latest funding plan

On 24 June 2024, the European Commission issued its semi-annual funding plan for the period July and end-December 2024. The Commission intends to issue up to €65 billion in EU-Bonds between July and end-December 2024, complemented by short-term funding.

Issuances will be executed under a unified funding approach, whereby the Commission issues single branded EU-Bonds, and internally allocates the proceeds according to the needs of the various policy programmes funded through bond issuances.

EU-Bonds

• The European Commission intends to issue €65 billion of long-term EU-Bonds between July and December 2024.
• The Commission has planned six EU-Bond auctions and four to five syndicated transactions between July and December 2024. Communication about the use of the optional December syndication will be made well ahead.
• The funds raised will be used to meet payments related to NextGenerationEU and additional payment needs that arise from other policy programmes financed by EU Bonds (including support to Ukraine, the Reform and Growth Facility for the Western Balkans and Macro Financial Assistance programmes).
• EU-Bonds will continue to be issued using benchmark maturities from 3 to 30 years, with tap transactions and new lines, using auctions and syndications. The maturities for the new lines will depend on market conditions and the intention to bring liquidity to the curve where needed (with a tentative focus on 5y and 7y). 
• The Commission will continue to issue NextGenerationEU Green Bonds to finance the green component of the Recovery and Resilience Facility. NGEU Green Bond issuances are expected to take place via tapping of existing bonds to support the liquidity of these lines before launching a new ones.

EU-Bills

• The Commission will continue to issue EU-Bills using 3-month and 6-month tenors.
• New 6-month lines will be issued during the first auction of the month, while the second auction of the month will be used to tap already outstanding issuances. 
• Auctions for EU-Bills will typically take place twice per month, on the first and third Wednesday of the month, with the exception of August (when only one auction will be executed) and December (second auction optional).

Issuance calendar

Issuance weeks for EU-Bonds syndicated transactions:

EU-Bonds auction dates:

EU-Bills auction dates:

*The calendar information is indicative and transactions might be cancelled or additional transactions may be executed.

The next funding plan, to cover the period from January to end-June 2025, will be published in December 2024.

Past funding plans

Documents

All documents linked to the EU unified funding approach are available in the documents' section of our website.