The European Parliament and representatives of 28 EU member states reached an agreement on the EU budget for 2020 on Monday, November 18.

Revenues to the budget will amount to 168.7 billion euros. This is 1.5 percent more compared to the 2019 budget.. The agreed amount of financial revenue is a compromise between the demand of the European Parliament (171 billion euros) and the wishes of the paying countries (166.8 billion).

The total amount of expenses will be 153.6 billion euros, which is 3.4 percent more than a year earlier..

Climate protection, youth unemployment, and digital technology spending increased. At the same time, the amount of assistance to Turkey’s EU accession candidate has been reduced by 85 million euros, with which Brussels has had a lot of disagreements in recent months.

EU Budget Commissioner Gunter Oettinger said the new budget will redirect resources to areas where they are especially needed. “It will help create jobs, face climate change and spread investment throughout Europe,” he said..

Meanwhile, the “hard Brexit” option, which experts say could lead to a shortage of 16.5 billion euros in the EU budget, is still possible. According to the Bruegel think tank in Brussels, if the UK leaves the EU without an agreement, Germany alone will have to add up to EUR 4.2 billion to the EU budget by the end of 2020.. It is reported by Deutsche Welle.