Over the past year, Europeans have weathered an energy crisis, welcomed into their homes millions of Ukrainian refugees in the largest displacement of people since the Second World War, and boosted the economy with unprecedented European investments.
The EU budget was instrumental in addressing these challenges. It empowered the EU to defend European peace, for example through financial support to Ukraine or funding the European Defence Fund. The EU budget and EU borrowing also enabled unprecedented investments in Europe’s prosperity – notably through the Recovery and Resilience Facility. And we built Europe’s societal resilience, for instance through investments in medical research and by using available mechanisms to protect the EU budget when the rule of law in a Member State is threatened.
Another year of unprecedented challenges and the EU has risen to the occasion once again.
The EU budget and NextGenerationEU actively support the EU’s flagship initiative to modernise the European energy system and phase out our dependency on Russian fossil fuels – REPowerEU.
Tags: REPowerEU - NextGenerationEU - Recovery and Resilience Facility
The EU budget has always supported the competitiveness of the Union’s industry. With the return of war to European soil in 2022, the budget has been mobilised to further strengthen the EU’s defence industry and promote research and capability development.
Tags: European security - European Defence Fund - Strategic Compass - European Peace Facility
The EU budget has been at the forefront of Team Europe’s response to Russia’s unjustified war of aggression against Ukraine since Day 1. To date, billions of funds were mobilised to address the immediate needs of Ukrainian people and support Ukraine's economic, social and financial resilience.
Tags: EU budget - MFA - MFA+ - Stand4Ukraine
The EU budget helps saving lives by protecting public health in Europe and globally. As a follow-up to a disaster or humanitarian emergency, the EU can provide assistance to the affected countries and populations.
Tags: EU-funded civil protection and humanitarian aid - rescEU - #EUSolidarity
European businesses are the driver of the European economy. To make sure they continue to thrive in an increasingly competitive global market, the EU budget acts as catalyst for other partners to support the EU economy.
Tags: EU economy - InvestEU Portal - InvestEU Fund
Funded by the EU budget, the European Chips Act helps build up the EU’s semiconductor ecosystem. This will strengthen the EU’s research and technological leadership which will reinforce its capacity to innovate in the design, manufacturing, and packaging of advanced chips. It will ensure Europe meets its digital decade target of doubling its global market share in semiconductors to 20%.
Tags: EU budget - Digital Europe - Horizon Europe
Funded by the EU budget, the European space policy continues to be a success story.
Galileo provides European citizens and businesses with free, independent, and highly accurate navigation services – used both on millions of phones and industrial devices across the EU and the rest of the world.
All EU Member States made considerable savings by pooling their resources to build, maintain and extend one satellite system rather than 27 individual systems. In addition, the EU is taking steps to further develop its joint satellite capacity – for example by improving its security.
In the aftermath of the coronavirus crisis, the EU provided an unprecedented response by putting forward NextGenerationEU (NGEU), an EUR 800 billion recovery programme, the largest in Europe since the Marshall Plan. To raise the necessary funds for NextGenerationEU, the Commission is borrowing on the capital markets on behalf of the EU.
With NGEU the EU budget has proven its ability to deliver massive financial support to Member States. In addition to the immediate response to the pandemic, the EU budget plays a central role in making the EU economies more resilient through massive investments, in particular on green and digital policies and for the first time with the combination of national reforms.
Image Source: European Union, 2022.
Thanks to the EU budget, the EU has responded to challenges in a quick, flexible, and efficient way, mobilising resources to where they are most needed.