Proposal for a COUNCIL REGULATION amending Council Regulation (EU, Euratom) 2020/2093 of 17 December 2020 laying down the multiannual financial framework for the years 2021 to 2027
Date: 2025-12-03
Institutions: European Commission, Secretariat-General
Subjects: EU aid, Ukraine, budgetary procedure, commitment of expenditure, economic reform, economic stabilisation, financial management, general budget (EU), macro-financial assistance, multiannual financial framework

EN 

  EN 

   EUROPEAN COMMISSION  Brussels, 3.12.2025  COM(2025) 3500 final 2025/3500 (APP)  Proposal for a COUNCIL REGULATION amending Council Regulation (EU, Euratom) 2020/2093 of 17 December 2020 laying down the multiannual financial framework for the years 2021 to 2027  
 
EXPLANATORY MEMORANDUM 

1. 

CONTEXT OF THE PROPOSAL 

Reasons for and objectives of the proposal 

• 
This  proposal  for  an  amendment  of  Regulation  (EU,  Euratom)  2020/20931  is  presented 
together with the proposal for a Regulation establishing the Reparations Loan to Ukraine and 
amending Regulation (EU) 2024/792 establishing the Ukraine Facility2. 

Following  the  unprovoked  and  unjustified  Russian  invasion  of  Ukraine,  the  Union  has 
provided substantial support to Ukraine through a series of financial measures. Ukraine will 
require continued assistance, which should be delivered under the proposed new Regulation 
establishing the Reparation Loan to Ukraine. 

The amendment of Regulation (EU, Euratom) 2020/2093 will extend the budgetary guarantee 
currently  applied,  as  a  rule,  to  loans  to  Ukraine  under  the  MFA+  instrument,3  the  Ukraine 
Facility4 and the MFA to Ukraine under the Ukraine Loan Cooperation Mechanism5 to cover 
also  the  financial assistance to  Ukraine  under Regulation  (EU) XXX/XXX of  the  European 
Parliament  and  of  the  Council.  That guarantee should ensure  that the  necessary  resources 
are always available 
its  financial 
to allow 
obligations towards its  creditors.  Accordingly,  if  the  Union  has  to  honour  repayment 
obligations  from  resources  of  the  Union’s  budget  -  in  the  case  a  beneficiary  state  fails  to 
provide the due payment on time – the necessary amounts would be mobilised over and above 
the  MFF  ceilings  up  to  the  limits  of  the  own  resources  ceiling  (from  the  so  called 
‘headroom’). 

time in  order 

to  meet  all 

the  Union 

in 

The  budgetary  coverage  from  the  headroom  should  only  apply  to  financial  assistance  to 
Ukraine,  which  is  available  under Regulation  (EU) XXX/XXX of  the  European  Parliament 
and of the Council.   

2. 

• 

LEGAL BASIS, SUBSIDIARITY AND PROPORTIONALITY 

Legal basis 

Article  312  TFEU  constitutes  the  legal  basis  for  the  adoption  of  the  Multiannual  Financial 
Framework. 

1 

2 

3 

4 

5 

Council Regulation (EU, Euratom) 2020/2093 of 17 December 2020 laying down the multiannual 
financial framework for the years 2021 to 2027, OJ L 433I, 22.12.2020, p. 11. 
Regulation (EU) XXX/XXX of the European Parliament and of the Council of XXX on establishing the 
Ukraine Reparations Loan (OJ XXX). 
Regulation  (EU)  2022/2463  of  the  European  Parliament  and  of  the  Council  of  14  December  2022 
establishing an instrument for providing support to Ukraine for 2023 (macro-financial assistance +) (OJ 
L 322, 16.12.2022, p. 1, ELI: http://data.europa.eu/eli/reg/2022/2463/oj). 
Regulation  (EU)  2024/792  of  the  European  Parliament  and  of  the  Council  of  29  February  2024 
establishing 
ELI: 
http://data.europa.eu/eli/reg/2024/792/oj). 
Regulation  (EU)  2022/2463  of  the  European  Parliament  and  of  the  Council  of  14  December  2022 
establishing an instrument for providing support to Ukraine for 2023 (macro-financial assistance +) (OJ 
L 322, 16.12.2022, p. 1, ELI: http://data.europa.eu/eli/reg/2022/2463/oj). 

29.2.2024, 

2024/792, 

Ukraine 

Facility 

(OJ 

the 

L, 

EN 

1 

  EN 

 
 
• 

Subsidiarity (for non-exclusive competence)  

The initiative falls under a policy area where the EU has exclusive powers (under Article 312 
TFEU). Therefore, the subsidiarity principle does not apply. 

• 

Proportionality 

The  changes  are  proportionate  to  the  urgent  need  to  establish  an  instrument  for  providing 
support  to  Ukraine,  which  can  be  implemented  only  once  the  budgetary  coverage  currently 
applicable, as a rule, to loans to Ukraine has been extended to the proposed new instrument. 

• 

Detailed explanation of the specific provisions of the proposal 

Under  the  existing  provisions  of  Article  2(3)  of  Regulation  (EU,  Euratom)  2020/2093 
amounts needed to honour repayment obligations of the Union under borrowing-and-lending 
operations in case the Union does not receive from the beneficiary state the due payment on 
time  (i.e.  the  mobilisation  of  a  guarantee  for  financial  assistance  to  Member  States  and 
Ukraine) would be mobilised over and above the MFF ceilings.  

The amount mobilised cannot result in exceeding the limits of the own resources ceiling. The 
provision extending the budgetary coverage from the headroom to the guarantee for financial 
assistance  to  Ukraine  under  the  [Reparation  Loan  Regulation]  is  therefore  compatible  with 
paragraphs  1  and  3  of  Article  312  TFEU,  under  which  the  MFF  ‘shall  ensure  that  Union 
expenditure  develops  in  an  orderly  manner  and  within  the  limits  of  its  own  resources’,  and 
‘shall  lay  down  any  other  provisions  required  for  the  annual  budgetary  procedure  to  run 
smoothly’. 

4. 

BUDGETARY IMPLICATIONS 

By extending the mobilisation of a guarantee for financial assistance over and above the MFF 
ceilings to Ukraine for the proposed financial assistance in addition to financial assistance to 
EU Member States and to Ukraine under the MFA+ instrument, the Ukraine Facility and the 
MFA to Ukraine under the Ukraine Loan Cooperation Mechanism, the proposal will allow a 
more  efficient  use  of  the  budgetary  resources  under  the  MFF  ceilings.  The  possibility  to 
mobilise  the  guarantee  over  and  above  the  MFF  ceilings  would  offer  full  coverage  of  the 
financial assistance available to Ukraine in accordance with  Regulation (EU) XXX/XXX of 
the European Parliament and of the Council in the next years, in accordance with the principle 
of  sound  financial  management.  Given  that  it  is  a  guarantee,  no  expenditure  is  expected 
during the period of the 2021-2027 MFF. 

EN 

2 

  EN 

2025/3500 (APP) 

Proposal for a 

COUNCIL REGULATION 

amending Council Regulation (EU, Euratom) 2020/2093 of 17 December 2020 laying 
down the multiannual financial framework for the years 2021 to 2027 

THE COUNCIL OF THE EUROPEAN UNION, 

Having  regard  to  the  Treaty  on  the  Functioning  of  the  European  Union,  and  in  particular 
Article 312 thereof, 

Having  regard  to  the  Treaty  establishing  the  European  Atomic  Energy  Community,  and  in 
particular Article 106a thereof,  

Having regard to the proposal from the European Commission,  
Having regard to the consent of the European Parliament6,   

After transmission of the draft legislative act to the national parliaments,  

Acting in accordance with a special legislative procedure, 

Whereas: 

(1) 

(2) 

(3) 

(4) 

(5) 

(6) 

Following Russia’s unprovoked and unjustified war of aggression against Ukraine, the 
Union has been supporting Ukraine with a series of financial measures.  

Ukraine  will  require  continued  financial  and  economic  assistance  in  a  predictable, 
continuous, orderly,  flexible and timely manner  covering its financing  needs notably 
resulting  from  Russia’s  war  of  aggression.  To  that  end,  the  Union  has  established  a 
new instrument under Regulation (EU) XXX/XXX of the European Parliament and of 
the Council. Under that instrument, the envisaged financial assistance is to be provided 
in the form of loans.  

To  that  end,  the  Union  budget  guarantee  should  be  extended  to  cover  the  financial 
assistance to Ukraine under Regulation (EU) XXX/XXX of the European Parliament 
and  of  the  Council.  That  guarantee  should  ensure  that  the  necessary  resources  are 
always  available  in  time  in  order  to  allow  the  Union  to  meet  all  its  financial 
obligations towards its creditors. 

It  should  be  possible  to  mobilise  the  necessary  appropriations  in  the  Union  budget 
over  and  above  the  ceilings  of  the  multiannual  financial  framework  for  financial 
assistance to Ukraine under Regulation (EU) XXX/XXX of the European Parliament 
and  of  the  Council.  That  possibility  should  be  without  prejudice  to  the  obligation  to 
respect the own resources ceiling laid down in Article 3(1) of Council Decision (EU, 
Euratom) 2020/2053  

Council  Regulation  (EU,  Euratom)  2020/2093  should 
accordingly. 

therefore  be  amended 

In view of the urgency entailed by the exceptional circumstances caused by Russia’s 
unprovoked and unjustified war of aggression against Ukraine, it is  considered to  be 
appropriate to invoke the exception to the eight-week period provided for in Article 4 

EN 

3 

  EN 

of Protocol No 1 on the role of national Parliaments in the European Union, annexed 
to  the  Treaty  on  European  Union,  to  the  Treaty  on  the  Functioning  of  the  European 
Union and to the Treaty establishing the European Atomic Energy Community. 

(7) 

In light of the situation in Ukraine, this Regulation should enter into force as a matter 
of  urgency  on  the  day  following  that  of  its  publication  in  the  Official  Journal  of  the 
European Union, 

HAS ADOPTED THIS REGULATION: 

Article 1 

In Article 2(3) of Regulation (EU, Euratom) 2020/2093, the following subparagraph is added: 

ʻWhere  it  is  necessary  to  mobilise  a  guarantee  for  financial  assistance  to  Ukraine 
under  Regulation  (EU)  XXX/XXX  of  the  European  Parliament  and  of  the  Council  
and  authorised  in  accordance  with  Article  223(1)  of  the  Regulation  (EU,  Euratom) 
2024/2509, the necessary amount shall be mobilised over and above the MFF ceilings. 
ʼ 

This  Regulation  shall  enter  into  force  on  the  day  following  that  of  its  publication  in  the 
Official Journal of the European Union. 

Article 2 

This Regulation shall be binding in its entirety and directly applicable in all Member States. 

Done at Brussels, 

For the Council 
The President 

EN 

4 

  EN