Skip to content
OPINION (2025/0000(BUD))

On the General budget of the European Union for the financial year 2026

DEVE-AD-775546

Committee on Development · Rapporteur: Charles Goerens

Official HTML ↗ PDF DOCX
✦ In shortFull textProcedure & committee votes
✦ In short · AI summary of this text, generated 10 Sept 2026

Written by a language model from the full text only; every figure comes from the text. The paragraph links open the paragraph a statement rests on — check the text itself before relying on it.

The Committee on Development gives its opinion to the Committee on Budgets on the 2026 EU budget, asking it to include these points in its resolution. It asks for a large reinforcement of humanitarian aid and for the Emergency Aid reserve of EUR 595 million for 2026 to be used entirely for humanitarian needs in third countries. It wants more funding for the Southern Neighbourhood, especially for Palestinian refugees, and warns that Sub-Saharan Africa programmes were cut despite a legal obligation to reach at least 29.18 billion by 2027. It calls for stable support to civil society, stronger EU Delegations, new monitoring tools, and funding for human development, jobs, SMEs, women's and LGBTQ+ rights, and action on migration root causes. It asks for funds for the PDCA with Cuba to be audited and suspended, and welcomes the Seville financing for development framework while noting limited concrete commitments.

Committee position. The Committee on Development asks the Committee on Budgets to incorporate its suggestions into the resolution on the 2026 budget, mainly to reinforce humanitarian aid, protect funding for Sub-Saharan Africa and the Neighbourhood, and support civil society and human development.

Key points

  1. Notes that the margin for Heading 6 in the draft budget is only EUR 109 million and that the NDICI-GE cushion is nearly exhausted, with 13% remaining until 2027.
  2. Requests that the Emergency Aid reserve of EUR 595 million for 2026 be mobilised entirely for humanitarian needs in third countries.
  3. Calls for additional funding under the Southern Neighbourhood heading for health and primary education for Palestinian refugees.
  4. Recalls the legal obligation for Sub-Saharan Africa to reach at least 29.18 billion by 2027 and that envelopes for that region and the Neighbourhood should only be increased.
  5. Calls for continuous and stable EU financial support to developing countries for fundamental rights, civil society, climate change and humanitarian aid.
  6. Urges active participation of civil society and non-governmental organisations in budget planning and allocation of NDICI-Global Europe funds.
  7. Underlines the need for effective EU Delegations, opposes their downsizing, and calls for strengthening them in the most critical countries.
  8. Calls on the Commission to develop evidence-based instruments to monitor the distribution and impact of interventions in partner countries.
  9. Highlights the need to invest in human development, including health, sexual and reproductive health and rights, nutrition and education, and sufficient funding for Global Gateway.
  10. Emphasises the trans-Atlantic partnership for food insecurity and malnutrition, and calls for support to vocational education, private sector development, job creation and SMEs.
  11. Calls for EU funds to protect women's rights and LGBTQ+ rights, advance gender equality under SDG 5, and combat violence against women and girls.
  12. Calls for audit and suspension of funds for the PDCA with Cuba, and for addressing root causes of migration in North Africa and the Horn of Africa with conditional support.

Who is affected

  • The Committee on Budgets, which is asked to incorporate these points into its resolution.
  • Partner countries in Sub-Saharan Africa, the Southern Neighbourhood, North Africa and the Horn of Africa, which would receive or lose funding.
  • Civil society organisations and non-governmental organisations, which should take part in budget planning and access funds.
  • EU Delegations, which should be strengthened rather than downsized.
  • Women, children, LGBTQ+ people and Palestinian refugees, whose services and rights the funding aims to protect.

Figures and deadlines

  • EUR 109 million, the margin for Heading 6 in the draft budget.
  • 13% remaining availability of the NDICI-GE cushion until 2027.
  • EUR 595 million for 2026, the Emergency Aid reserve to be mobilised entirely for humanitarian needs.
  • at least 29.18 billion by 2027, the legal obligation for the Sub-Saharan Africa envelope.
  • nearly 300 million people require urgent humanitarian assistance and protection.
  • only 12% of humanitarian requirements were funded by mid-2025.

Legal basis: Article 208 of the TFEU