The Council has adopted on 10 December its position on the new EU draft budget for the financial year 2011, approving the informal agreement reached between the Belgian Presidency and the European Parliament at the trilogue of 6 December and paving the way for the final adoption of next year's budget before the end of the year.

With the adoption of this position, the Council has endorsed the new draft budget presented by the European Commission on 26 November 2010, making some minor technical adjustments. Should the European Parliament formally approve Council's position, 2011 budget would be finally adopted, avoiding the application of the "provisional twelfths" scheme which would have major consequences to the implementation of key policies and programmes.

The new figures adopted by the Council regarding EU budget 2011 include total payments of 126.527 billion Euro, which means an increase of 2.9% compared to 2010, and represents 1.01% of the Gross National Income (GNI) of the EU. Commitments for 2011 would amount to 141.909 billion Euro, with an increase of +0.3% in relation to 2010, and leaving a margin of 1.891 billion Euro under the total ceiling of the financial framework.

The Council also adopted a decision on the mobilisation of the flexibility instrument to complement the financing in the 2011 budget, beyond the ceilings of the multiannual financial framework. 71 million Euro will be mobilised in heading 4 for the EU as a global player, and 34 million Euro in heading sub-heading 1a corresponding to competitiveness for growth and employment for lifelong learning and fostering competitiveness and innovation.

Furthermore, the Council has also adopted a decision revising the multiannual financial framework in order to finance the additional needs of the International Thermonuclear Experimental Reactor (ITER) project in 2012 and 2013, one of the actions which would be in danger should the budget not be adopted.

Following the failure of negotiations over EU budget 2011 within the Conciliation Committee on 15 November, and when positions held by institutions over the budget matter seemed to be irreconcilable, discussions continued under the trilogue framework searching for a final agreement which would allow to adopt a definitive budget before the end of the year. After Council's agreement, the European Parliament is expected to adopt its position on 15 December.