The European Commission on Wednesday proposed an EU budget for 2025 of almost €200 billion ($215 billion), plus €72 billion from a debt-financed fund set up in 2020 for post-Covid economic recovery.
As is usually the cae, the largest share of the budget would go to agricultural subsidies - some €54 billion. Almost as large is the €49 billion pot for regional development in poorer parts of Europe.
The 2025 budget is the annual slice of the European Union's seven-year budget for 2021-2027, which was set in 2020 but - unusually - increased earlier this year.
The EU budget sets the upper limits of what the bloc can spend in different areas.
Most of the revenue to cover that spending consists of contributions by EU member states, based on their gross national income (GNI). Some funding also comes from customs and other duties.
Ordinarily, the EU is not allowed to borrow money to fund its budget. But during the Covid-19 pandemic, the bloc exceptionally agreed in 2020 to create a separate debt-financed recovery budget called NextGenerationEU.
The commission estimates that roughly €72 billion from NextGenerationEU will be spent in 2025 - most of it on reform plans drawn up by member states, though a portion will top up parts of the main EU budget.
The draft 2025 budget still needs approval from EU member states and the European Parliament.
EU Budget Commissioner Johannes Hahn addressed the parliament's budget committee on Wednesday - although it consists of outgoing lawmakers, not members of the newly-elected parliament due to hold its first sitting in July.
"The timely agreement on the '25 budget remains essential for the financing of our policies," Hahn told legislators in the committee.