MEPs adopted the 2012 EU budget which was previously agreed with Member States. The European Parliament had focussed on growth, innovation, employment, border control, migration management, and support of democratic development in the Arab world. These priorities were all taken on board by the Member States in the final deal.

The European Parliament approved in plenary session the final size and priority spending areas of the 2012 EU budget. This approval follows the green light given by the Member States on 1 December and the previous agreement reached by the Parliament's negotiating team and the EU Member States on 18 November. The overall budget for next year will amount to €129.1 billion (1.86% increase) in payments and €147.2 billion (+3.8%) in commitments.

With regard to the administrative budgets through Parliament, José Manuel Fernandes, the MEP who was responsible for this part of the budget project, stressed that the budget for administration - making up somewhat less than 6% of the total budget - strikes the right balance between austerity and administrative needs. He underlined that administrative budgets for the different institutions were treated with rigour and will grow by around 1% only, which is a cut in real terms.

Additionally, the negotiated deal included an additional €100 million to finance the ITER nuclear fusion research programme. According to MEPs, a much greater amount will be needed to accommodate all the additional costs for this programme in future years. This will be further discussed in the Budgets Committee and with the Member States in "trailogue" meetings.