Commissioner Piotr Serafin presented the Draft Budget 2027 to the European Parliament's Budgets Committee on 15 June 2026, proposing €200 billion in commitments and €212 billion in payments — a 7% increase year-on-year. He stressed that margins are extremely tight due to debt servicing costs (€9.9 billion for NGEU interest and €1.15 billion for the Ukraine support loan), leaving little flexibility for new initiatives without redeployments.
General rapporteur Nils Ušakovs (S&D, Latvia) pushed back, arguing the budget is insufficient: commitments rise only 3.5% in nominal terms, meaning a real-terms cut given inflation, and margins below €500 million leave no room for unforeseen needs. He questioned assumptions on NGEU disbursements and interest rates, and criticized the use of all flexibilities to cover Ukraine loan costs rather than using the dedicated instrument. Janusz Lewandowski (EPP, Poland), replacing the rapporteur for other sections, echoed concerns about tight margins.
Serafin defended the proposal as respecting MFF ceilings and commitments, noting that reflows from EFSD+ provisioning freed €3 billion to offset Ukraine costs. Next steps: full draft budget on 9 July, trialogues on 16 July and 14 October, amending letter in early October, with reconciliation starting 27 October.
Stakeholder impact
The budget affects several groups. Member states face higher GNI contributions due to the overall increase. Farmers benefit from an increased agricultural reserve. Cohesion beneficiaries see a reduction in the payment backlog. Ukraine receives €4 billion in non-repayable support. However, the tight margins mean that any new unforeseen needs would require redeployments, potentially squeezing other programmes.