Negotiators from the European Parliament and the Council of the European Union meet in Brussels today, Tuesday 10 November 2026, in a second round of conciliation talks aimed at agreeing the EU's annual budget for 2027.

The Economic and Financial Affairs Council, meeting in its budget formation, gathers from 09:00 in the Europa building to prepare the conciliation committee session, which is due to start at 10:45. The committee, made up of equal numbers of Council and Parliament representatives with the European Commission acting as honest broker, will aim to reach agreement by the end of the day.

The 2027 budget is the seventh and final annual budget of the current multiannual financial framework, which runs from 2021 to 2027. It is also the budget that will fund the EU through a year in which defence spending, support for Ukraine and the next long-term budget are all under negotiation at the same time.

Two positions nearly two billion euros apart

The gap between the two sides is measured in billions. In its position adopted on 4 September, the Council proposed setting commitment appropriations for 2027 at 191.88 billion euros and payment appropriations at 202.07 billion euros, slight cuts compared with the European Commission's initial proposal.

The European Parliament, by contrast, proposed moderate increases, with 194.05 billion euros in commitments and 203.27 billion euros in payments. Its position, approved on 21 October, provides for extra funding for the Horizon Europe research programme, transport and energy networks, Erasmus+, the European Agricultural Guarantee Fund and the LIFE environmental programme.

The Parliament aims to restore 1 billion euros in commitment appropriations and 501.8 million euros in payment appropriations cut by the Council, while adding a further 1.17 billion euros in commitments for several programmes compared with the Commission's draft budget.

Chair Simon Harris leads Council side

The Council meeting is chaired by Simon Harris, Ireland's Tanaiste and Minister for Finance, who is the Council's chief negotiator for the 2027 budget. The Commission is represented by Piotr Serafin, the Commissioner for budget, anti-fraud and public administration.

The conciliation procedure began on 27 October and the first meeting of the committee took place on 3 November. If the two sides agree on a joint text today, the Council and the Parliament will then have 14 days to approve it through their own procedures.

Deadline is 16 November

Time is short. The conciliation procedure ends at midnight on Monday 16 November. If no agreement is reached by then, the European Commission will be formally required to submit a new budget proposal, and the institutions will have to start the process again.

The stakes go beyond the 2027 figures. Talks on the next multiannual financial framework for 2028 to 2034 are running in parallel, and if agreement on that long-term budget is not reached in time, the 2027 spending ceilings could automatically be extended into 2028. A deal today would remove one source of uncertainty from a crowded EU agenda, but negotiators have warned that bridging the gap between the Council's cuts and the Parliament's increases will not be easy.