"On 17 November 2016, the Council and European Parliament reached agreement on a 2017 EU budget which strongly reflects the EU's main policy priorities. Total commitments are set at €157.88 billion and payments at €134.49 billion," the Council said in a statement.
The sums are a compromise, as the bloc's Council wanted to set payments at 133.79 billion euros and commitments at 156.38 billion, while the parliament wanted them increased to 138.03 billion euros and 162.42 billion, respectively.
Next year's budget focuses on priority measures, such as tackling the root causes of the migration crisis, a budget article which received a 10 percent boost compared to 2016. Commitments to spending on resettling refugees and creating reception centers amount to nearly 6 billion euros, according to the statement.
Over 20 billion in commitments have been allocated to boosting jobs and economic growth, while over 50 billion have been allocated to social and economic cohesion. Almost 60 billion in commitments and a similar amount in payments have been allocated to sustainable growth.
Europe is suffering from a massive migration crisis, trying to find a way to tackle the flow of undocumented migrants. Some 1.8 million illegal border crossings were detected by the EU border agency Frontex in 2015.
