Parliament and states confirm new budget and STEP platform financial commitments

Strasbourg, from the correspondent – Mid-term budget review (2021-2027) and clean technology platform: Having overcome the impasse of Viktor Orbán’s veto on the €50 billion financial instrument for Ukraine, negotiators from the EU Parliament and Council reached an agreement in Strasbourg, in the night between Tuesday and Wednesday, on the so-called Multiannual Financial Framework (MFF) and on the new Clean Technology Platform (STEP), proposed by the Commission last June 20 as a structural instrument to finance part of the goals of the Industrial Plan for the Green Deal announced last February.

As for the budget review, the colegislators confirmed the resources agreed upon by EU leaders at the extraordinary Feb. 1 summit. 50 billion euros will be mobilized for the Ukraine Facility, divided into 33 billion in loans and 17 billion in grants. For migration and external challenges, the budget revision allocates an additional €2 billion for migration and border management and €7.6 billion for the external dimension: €3.1 billion to support priorities in the EU’s neighbouring regions and globally, and another €4.5 billion to be reallocated from other EU external policy programs.
EU crisis preparedness and budget flexibility are strengthened with an additional 3.5 billion euros.

️ Deal ! @EUCouncil and @Europarl_EN reach a provisional agreement on the Strategic Technologies for Europe Platform (#STEP).

The platform will boost investments in critical technologies in Europe in areas such as digital and deep tech, clean tech, and biotech. pic.twitter.com/AyaKJS62Uk

— Belgian Presidency of the Council of the EU 2024 (@EU2024BE) February 7, 2024

As part of the budget review, negotiators reached an agreement on the 1.5 billion euros for the STEP platform, resources that will go specifically for its defence investment component. “The platform will mobilize investments in the areas of deep and digital technology, clean technology and biotechnology, with the overall objective of strengthening EU sovereignty and long-term competitiveness in critical technologies,” the Council explains in a note. Through a mix of financial incentives and measures to facilitate project financing, funding will be mobilized to support critical technologies under existing EU programs and funds, including Cohesion Policy funds, InvestEU, Horizon Europe, the European Defense Fund, the Innovation Fund and the Recovery and Resilience Facility.