European Commission proposes 123b euros for external action in next budget

BRUSSELS - The European Commission, the European Union (EU)'s executive arm, on Thursday proposed allotting 123 billion euros (about $145 billion) for the bloc's external action in the next long-term budget (2021-2027), a hike of 30 percent compared to the current one.

Speaking at a press conference alongside three commissioners, EU foreign policy chief Federica Mogherini depicted the proposal "first and foremost" as a "political statement."

"The world and our citizens need and demand a strong EU in the fields of global affairs and in our region," she said.

According to a Commission press release giving details of the proposal, the increased budget will be "more flexible and effective to address today's global challenges."

Of the total fund, Neighborhood, Development and International Cooperation Instrument gets the lion's share with 89.2 billion euros.

Some 14.5 billion euros are earmarked to "support EU candidate countries and potential candidates on their path towards fulfilling the EU accession criteria", and 11 billion euros are assigned for humanitarian aid.

The EU's current multi-year budget (2014-2020) earmarked 94.5 billion euros for the bloc's external action.

The external action budget is "the EU's main tool to support its partner countries in their political and economic transformations towards sustainable development, stability, consolidation of democracy, socio-economic development and the eradication of poverty," the press release noted.