The European Parliament approved in the plenary session the last amended budget by a large majority. On the report approved, the EU Member States' contributions to this year's budget will be cut by a total of €4.54 billion.

Following the vote held on 5 July, EU Member States' contributions to this year's budget will be cut by a total of €4.54 billion. Of the total, €2.72 billion consists of money not spent on EU programmes in 2010. The rest comes from fines, interest on late payments and surpluses due to exchange rate differences.

MEPs approved the amending budget by a large majority but they highlighted in the report that part of the revenue generated by interest on late payments and fines in the future should not be regarded as surplus to be returned to Member States, but invested directly in the budget of the EU next year.