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Written by Sidonia Mazur, updated on 23 October 2025.

On 22 October 2025, Parliament voted on amendments to the Council’s position and thus adopted its reading of the Union budget for 2026, aiming at a higher budget that better matches the EU’s key priorities than the European Commission’s draft. Parliament proposes an overall level of commitments at €193.9 billion and €192.6 billion in payments, including special instruments such as the Ukraine Facility or European Solidarity Reserve. To reach an agreement, a 21-day conciliation period runs until 17 November 2025. These negotiations aim at finding a compromise between Parliament and Council, without which the Commission will need to present a new budget proposal.

Background – 2026 budget procedure

The European Parliament is one of the two arms of the European Union’s budgetary authority, the Council being the other. The two institutions, assisted by the European Commission, decide on the budget in the annual EU budget procedure, within the limits of the long-term EU budget – the multiannual financial framework (MFF). Although it is the Commission’s right and duty to propose a draft budget for the upcoming year, the two arms of the EU budgetary authority, the European Parliament and the Council of the EU, play their part in the run-up to its presentation by submitting their views. The Economic and Financial Affairs Council (ECOFIN) agreed on its guidelines for the 2026 EU budget on 18 February 2025. The European Parliament adopted its guidelines for the preparation of the 2026 budget, Section III, on 2 April 2025.

On 9 July 2025, the Commission adopted the 2026 draft EU budget (DB). The Commission proposed 2026 EU budget commitments of €193.26 billion, and €192.20 billion in payments. The Commission in its General introduction to the DB underlined that ‘the draft budget 2026 will continue to provide the necessary funding for the agreed priorities of the Union, but the limited remaining availabilities leave virtually no space for any further unforeseen events or new initiatives’.

The Council adopted its position on the 2026 draft budget on 5 September, proposing to cut the proposed commitments by €1.3 billion and payments by €696.7 million.

Parliament’s rapporteur for the 2026 budget, Andrzej Halicki (EPP, Poland), presented his analysis of the Commission’s proposals and his assessment of the Council’s position in two working documents.

Parliament’s Committee on Budgets (BUDG) adopted amendments to the Council’s position on 6 October, and adopted an explanatory motion for a resolution on 13 October. BUDG set the overall level of commitments at €193.9 billion and payments at €192.6 billion, thereby restoring the 2026 draft budget appropriations on all lines cut by the Council. Moreover, BUDG proposed specific increases ‘to boost research, competitiveness, and defence’ for:

• Horizon Europe;
• transport and energy networks;
• support for small and medium-sized enterprises;
• health (EU4Health);
• education and youth (Erasmus+);
• Creative Europe;
• the Citizens, Equality, Rights and Values programme;
• the European Social Fund Plus;
• young farmers;
• the European Agricultural Guarantee Fund, including the wine sector;
• the LIFE programme;
• the Civil Protection Mechanism;
• the Asylum, Migration and Integration Fund;
• the Border Management and Visa Instrument;
• military mobility;
• the Southern Neighbourhood;
• the Eastern Neighbourhood; and
• humanitarian aid.

The BUDG committee drew attention to the fact that repayment of the EU Recovery Instrument (EURI) borrowing costs is a legal obligation for the Union and a non-discretionary expenditure item in the EU budget; and stressed that the Council cuts in sub-heading 2b are particularly disconcerting, as the only motivation is to use the money to cover the financing cost of the Recovery Instrument. The committee also remarked that the most affected programmes – Horizon Europe, CEF digital and Erasmus+ – are flagship Union programmes.

The Commission published Amending letter No 1/2026 on 8 October, lowering draft 2026 budget expenditure by €386.1 million in commitments and by almost €1.89 billion in payments. On 22 October 2025, Parliament voted on amendments to the Council’s position and thus adopted its reading of the Union budget for 2026 in line with the Committee on Budgets’ position.

Next steps

Parliament’s adoption of amendments to the Council’s position has triggered a conciliation procedure. The Conciliation Committee will seek to reach a compromise between Parliament and Council. The 21-day conciliation period will run until 17 November 2025, with the first conciliation meeting scheduled for 4 November. If conciliation fails to result in an agreement, the Commission is obliged to present a new draft budget.

Further reading

• For Parliament’s reading of 2026 budget see: Parliament’s reading of the 2026 EU budget
• For key issues in EU budget see the EPRS flagship publication: Budgetary Outlook for the European Union 2025
• For key dates see: Timeline for the three key EU budgetary procedures in 2025
• For Parliament’s guidelines for the 2026 budget: Parliament’s guidelines for the 2025 EU budget; Section III – European Commission
• For more on Parliament’s role in the EU annual budgetary procedure see: Annual EU budgetary procedure: An introduction to the steps in the European Parliament

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This blogpost is an update of a publication of 23 June 2025.

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Background Many Sub-Saharan African countries have shifted from fiscally unsustainable free healthcare models to contributory national health insurance schemes, which rely on payments from informal sector workers. Yet, enrolling these workers remains a key barrier to achieving universal health coverage. Using the case of Kenya’s Afya Care free healthcare pilot, this paper investigates whether earlier exposure to free healthcare influences informal sector workers’ later decisions to enrol and contribute to the national health insurance scheme (NHIS). Methods We used nationally representative household survey data from 2018 and 2020, collected before and after the Afya Care pilot. The analysis focused on 6,900 informal sector workers, applying a quasi-experimental difference-in-differences approach to estimate the effect of exposure to the free healthcare pilot on subsequent NHIS enrollment. Results Before the pilot, no significant differences existed between treatment and control groups. After the intervention, NHIS enrollment was 10.5% higher in intervention counties (p < 0.001). Informal sector workers exposed to Afya Care were 65% more likely to enrol in the NHIS compared to those in control counties (odds ratio = 1.65; 95% CI = 0.96–2.83). Heterogeneity analysis showed that the policy’s impact was stronger among the least educated (30% higher enrollment) and the poorest workers (18% higher). Conclusions Exposure to the Afya Care pilot positively influenced informal sector workers’ willingness to join the NHIS and improved equity in enrollment. However, overall participation remains low. To expand coverage, the government should intensify information campaigns to raise awareness, extend subsidies to make premiums more affordable, and fully finance those unable to contribute. Strengthening these measures will be crucial for advancing Kenya’s progress toward universal health coverage.

Background Many Sub-Saharan African countries have shifted from fiscally unsustainable free healthcare models to contributory national health insurance schemes, which rely on payments from informal sector workers. Yet, enrolling these workers remains a key barrier to achieving universal health coverage. Using the case of Kenya’s Afya Care free healthcare pilot, this paper investigates whether earlier exposure to free healthcare influences informal sector workers’ later decisions to enrol and contribute to the national health insurance scheme (NHIS). Methods We used nationally representative household survey data from 2018 and 2020, collected before and after the Afya Care pilot. The analysis focused on 6,900 informal sector workers, applying a quasi-experimental difference-in-differences approach to estimate the effect of exposure to the free healthcare pilot on subsequent NHIS enrollment. Results Before the pilot, no significant differences existed between treatment and control groups. After the intervention, NHIS enrollment was 10.5% higher in intervention counties (p < 0.001). Informal sector workers exposed to Afya Care were 65% more likely to enrol in the NHIS compared to those in control counties (odds ratio = 1.65; 95% CI = 0.96–2.83). Heterogeneity analysis showed that the policy’s impact was stronger among the least educated (30% higher enrollment) and the poorest workers (18% higher). Conclusions Exposure to the Afya Care pilot positively influenced informal sector workers’ willingness to join the NHIS and improved equity in enrollment. However, overall participation remains low. To expand coverage, the government should intensify information campaigns to raise awareness, extend subsidies to make premiums more affordable, and fully finance those unable to contribute. Strengthening these measures will be crucial for advancing Kenya’s progress toward universal health coverage.

Background Many Sub-Saharan African countries have shifted from fiscally unsustainable free healthcare models to contributory national health insurance schemes, which rely on payments from informal sector workers. Yet, enrolling these workers remains a key barrier to achieving universal health coverage. Using the case of Kenya’s Afya Care free healthcare pilot, this paper investigates whether earlier exposure to free healthcare influences informal sector workers’ later decisions to enrol and contribute to the national health insurance scheme (NHIS). Methods We used nationally representative household survey data from 2018 and 2020, collected before and after the Afya Care pilot. The analysis focused on 6,900 informal sector workers, applying a quasi-experimental difference-in-differences approach to estimate the effect of exposure to the free healthcare pilot on subsequent NHIS enrollment. Results Before the pilot, no significant differences existed between treatment and control groups. After the intervention, NHIS enrollment was 10.5% higher in intervention counties (p < 0.001). Informal sector workers exposed to Afya Care were 65% more likely to enrol in the NHIS compared to those in control counties (odds ratio = 1.65; 95% CI = 0.96–2.83). Heterogeneity analysis showed that the policy’s impact was stronger among the least educated (30% higher enrollment) and the poorest workers (18% higher). Conclusions Exposure to the Afya Care pilot positively influenced informal sector workers’ willingness to join the NHIS and improved equity in enrollment. However, overall participation remains low. To expand coverage, the government should intensify information campaigns to raise awareness, extend subsidies to make premiums more affordable, and fully finance those unable to contribute. Strengthening these measures will be crucial for advancing Kenya’s progress toward universal health coverage.

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