The MFF explained: 2021-2027 and the 2028-2034 proposal

What the MFF is, and how it is adopted

The MFF is not a budget. It sets annual ceilings on commitments by category of expenditure (the "headings") and an annual ceiling on payments, and the annual budget must fit inside them. Article 312 TFEU sets the rules.

• Duration: "a period of at least five years" (Article 312(1)). The current and the proposed frameworks both run for seven.
• Passerelle: the European Council may, unanimously, authorise the Council to adopt the MFF regulation by qualified majority (Article 312(2), second subparagraph).
• Safety net: if no new MFF is adopted by the end of the old one, the ceilings and other provisions of its last year are extended until one is (Article 312(4)).
• Annual budget: "The annual budget of the Union shall comply with the multiannual financial framework" (Article 312(1)). How the annual budget is adopted is on our budget and discharge page.

Parliament's fact sheet on the MFF (November 2025) notes that the Treaty of Lisbon turned the MFF from an interinstitutional agreement into a regulation, and that there have been six MFFs to date, counting 2021-2027.

The MFF in force: 2021-2027

Council Regulation (EU, Euratom) 2020/2093 of 17 December 2020 lays down the MFF for 2021 to 2027. Its Annex I, as adopted, set seven headings in 2018 prices.

As a share of income: Parliament's fact sheet 29 (November 2025) puts "the current MFF initial amount" at 1.13% of GNI over 2021-2027. The Regulation itself states amounts in euro only, not percentages.

The Regulation has been amended three times. The amended Annex I shows total commitments of EUR 1 079 523 million in 2018 prices.

Own resources: where the money comes from

Under Article 311 TFEU the budget is financed wholly from own resources, "without prejudice to other revenue". The Own Resources Decision is adopted by the Council unanimously after consulting Parliament, and enters into force only once the Member States approve it under their constitutional requirements. The current one is Council Decision (EU, Euratom) 2020/2053 of 14 December 2020.

The 2028-2034 proposal of 16 July 2025

On 16 July 2025 the Commission adopted its communication on the next MFF, COM(2025) 570, and its proposal for a Council regulation, COM(2025) 571, covering 1 January 2028 to 31 December 2034. Our short page on the proposal sets it among the other 2025 packages.

The main new structures are a National and Regional Partnership Plan for each Member State, bringing cohesion and agricultural funding under one plan; a European Competitiveness Fund; and a single Global Europe instrument for external action. The Commission's page also announces five new own resources, among them shares of the Emissions Trading System and the carbon border adjustment mechanism (about EUR 9.6 billion and EUR 1.4 billion a year), a resource on non-collected e-waste (about EUR 15 billion) and one based on tobacco excise duty (about EUR 11.2 billion).

A note on the figures: the Commission's page and Parliament's fact sheet give different numbers for the same lines because they use different price bases (the fact sheet works in 2025 prices). Quote the figure with its source and price basis, as the table does.

The MFF, the annual budget and NextGenerationEU

NextGenerationEU has no line in the MFF's Annex I. Its repayment does enter the next framework: that is the 0.11% of GNI inside the 1.26% proposed for 2028-2034.

The procedures that sit next to the MFF

Questions on how the MFF is adopted tend to offer the real formulas of neighbouring Treaty articles as wrong answers. Knowing the set is the best protection.

The state of play at each cut-off

The cut-off dates come from our research: the AD7 date is stated in the Commission's guidance to candidates; the others apply the same rule to each notice and are estimates. Our cut-off guide explains the rule.

How this is tested

The budget belongs to the content area on the Commission's governance, budget and human resources, named in the Commission's guidance to candidates (confirmed). We estimate that MFF questions turn on the adoption procedure, the percentages and which framework a figure belongs to.

Worked example 1 (our own)

In its proposal of 16 July 2025, what share of EU GNI did the Commission give for the 2028-2034 MFF? A) 1.13%. B) 1.26%. C) 1.40%. D) 1.46%.

Answer: B. Source: COM(2025) 570. 1.13% is the initial amount of the 2021-2027 MFF (EP fact sheet 29); 1.40% and 1.46% are the payments and commitments ceilings of Own Resources Decision 2020/2053, Article 3.

Worked example 2 (our own)

How is the regulation laying down the MFF adopted? A) By Parliament and the Council under the ordinary legislative procedure. B) By the Council, unanimously, after obtaining Parliament's consent. C) By the Council, unanimously, after consulting Parliament, with approval by the Member States. D) By the European Council, by qualified majority.

Answer: B. Source: Article 312(2) TFEU. Option C is the procedure for the Own Resources Decision (Article 311); option A is how the Financial Regulation is adopted (Article 322).

Related reading: the annual budget and discharge, how qualified majority is calculated for the passerelle, and the traps that catch candidates. Then test yourself with the free test.