Data extracted in July 2025
Planned article update: July 2026
This article presents the main indicators from the annual statistical accounts of the European Union institutions and bodies subsector, based on ESA 2010 [1] . They include Maastricht debt, total revenue, total expenditure and net lending/net borrowing.
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Source: Eurostat (gov_eu_nfa) and (gov_eu_debt)
The subsector of EU institutions and bodies in national accounts covers EU institutions and bodies financed by the EU budget, the European Stability Mechanism (ESM), the European Financial Stability Facility (EFSF), the Single Resolution Board/Single Resolution Fund (SRB/SRF), the Modernisation Fund the Joint Sickness Insurance Scheme (JSIS) and the European Peace Facility (EPF)[2]. These institutions have separate budgetary and accounting structures, different funding methods and different memberships and policy mandates.
It should be noted that a substantial part of the observed net borrowing of the subsector of EU institutions and bodies in national accounts is due to the grants provided to the EU countries through the Recovery and Resilience Facility (RRF) under the Next Generation EU, which is financed by debt to be repaid by future budgets (post-2028).
This information comes from data on debt and on financial and non-financial accounts published by Eurostat in its database.
Revenue and expenditure of the EU institutions and bodies subsector
In 2024, the main components of the EU institutions and bodies’ revenue were current transfers receivable and taxes.
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Current transfers receivable, which made up 71.5% of total revenue, concern mainly transfers made by the EU countries to the EU budget in relation to own resources based on GNI, VAT and non-recycled plastic packaging waste. Among these transfers, the GNI-based resource, which amounted to €89.3 billion in 2024, represents 44.8% of the total revenue of the EU institutions and bodies.
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Current transfers receivable slightly increased in 2024 compared to 2023. Besides the continuing increase in the VAT-based resource, the increase in other current transfers receivable is mostly explained by increases in competition fines as well as in revenue stemming from recovery orders. These increases resulted in lower GNI-based revenue in 2024 as compared to 2023, which not only is the primary element of the EU budget’s operational revenue, but also acts as a ‘residual’, namely funding the part of budget not funded by other sources of revenue.
In 2024, taxes were significantly lower than in 2023. This is mostly due to a significant decrease, by €11.2 billion, in the contributions from banks to fill the Single Resolution Fund – recorded in the SRB/SRF revenue as other taxes on production, in national accounts – which dried up in 2024 as the Fund has reached its reserve target. This decrease is only marginally compensated by a €1.4 billion increase in the revenue from the sale of ETS permits.
Property income receivable increased by 36% in 2024 after having more than doubled in 2023. This can be explained by the on-going increase of the stocks of interest-bearing assets of the EU institutions and bodies sector. It is worth noting that property income receivable was slightly higher in 2024 than interest payable, observed on the expenditure side (see Table 3 below).
Figure 2 depicts the composition of total expenditure of the EU institutions and bodies in 2024. In 2024, the main components of the total expenditure of the EU institutions and bodies were capital transfers payable, current transfers payable and subsidies.
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Current and capital transfers payable, which made up 60.6% of total expenditure, concern mainly the payments made in the context of the European Structural and Investment Funds, such as European Regional Development Fund and the European Social Fund Plus. They also include the non-repayable support provided in the context of the RRF that are financed by proceeds of debt issuance, which will be repaid from future budgets (post-2028).
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The increase in current transfers payable in 2024 is partly explained by the increased absorption of RRF grants at EU country level (€ 2 billion). It was also caused by the increased expenditure linked with the 2021-2027 programming period. Conversely to the period 2021-2023, capital transfers payable decreased notably in 2024, mostly due to a deceleration of the capital expenditure undertaken at the EU country level funded by RRF grants.
The significant increase in interest payable is mostly explained by the increasing stocks of debt of the European Commission, while the decrease of gross capital formation is explained by the € 900 million sale of 23 European Commission buildings in Brussels.
Maastricht debt liabilities of the EU institutions and bodies subsector and its financing
The Maastricht debt liabilities of the EU institutions and bodies and other institutions included in the subsector of EU institutions and bodies stood at €875.1 billion euro, at the end of 2024, before consolidation with the EU countries.
Maastricht debt means total consolidated gross debt at nominal (face) value, outstanding at the end of the year. It comprises liabilities in currency and deposits, debt securities and loans.
As shown in Figure 3, the vast majority (95.9%) of end-2024 debt is in the form of long-term debt securities. Debt securities are negotiable financial instruments, which have defined basic terms such as an issue date, the coupon rate the issuer pays to holders, the original maturity date, an issue price at which investors buy the debt securities when first issued and a redemption price (or face value), which is the amount to be paid by the issuer to the holder at maturity.
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The debt of the EU institutions and bodies subsector before consolidation with EU countries has increased by €135 billion in 2024 (stood at €740.1 billion in 2023). The increase reflects mainly the new net borrowings to finance NGEU grants (€55.8 billion) and loans (€29.4 billion), as well as new loans to Ukraine under the Ukraine Facility and MFA programmes (EUR 13.1 billion and EUR 1.1 billion respectively). This effect is partly offset by some decreases in debt liabilities, notably of the ESM (minus €4.3 billion) and the EFSF (minus €3.5 billion). Most of the increase in liabilities was in the form of long-term debt securities.
More information reconciling the €62.1 billion net borrowing and the €135.1 billion change in Maastricht debt can be found in the stock-flow adjustment Table 6 at the end of the section “Data coverage, sources and methods” below.
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It should be noted that the majority of the Maastricht debt of the EU institutions and bodies sector concerns issuances with the aim of on-lending to the EU countries. Loans extended to the EU countries are assets of the EU institutions and bodies sector, but at the same time they are liabilities of the EU countries included in their Maastricht debt. Furthermore, some of the EU institutions and bodies invest in securities issued by EU countries debt agencies and other general government entities. Moreover, the European Commission keeps funds deposited in accounts at the treasuries of the EU countries.
Table 5 shows that, by end-2024, the debt of the EU institutions and bodies subsector after consolidating the assets it holds against EU countries governments stood at €283.5 billion.
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Source: Eurostat (gov_eu_debt)
The major share of EU institutions and bodies debt that is not aimed at on-lending to EU countries concerns the debt issued to fund the grants provided in the context of the NGEU/RRF. Some amounts of non-consolidating debt concerns borrowing for loans to non-EU countries (e.g., in the context of the macro-financial assistance (MFA) and the Ukraine Facility), financial leasing, repurchase agreements and cash collateral received for financial derivatives’ contracts. To have a complete picture of the financial position of the EU institutions and bodies subsector it is, therefore, very important to consider its debt after consolidating the assets this subsector holds against the EU countries.
Figure 4 shows the net incurrence of liabilities of the EU institutions and bodies in 2024.
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The €125 billion net incurrence of financial liabilities in 2024 is mostly the result of a net incurrence of debt securities of €135.9 billion in 2024, which in turn is mainly explained by the net issuances of the European Commission, in the form of EU bonds and EU bills, aimed at funding the grants and loans under RRF as well as loans under MFA and Ukraine Facility programmes. The €9.0 billion decrease in the other accounts payable is mostly related to payments to EU countries in the RRF context (minus €10.5 billion).
Figure 5 shows that the biggest share of the €63.3 billion net acquisition of assets of the EU institutions and bodies in 2024 relates to loans (€41.3 billion), explained by further lending under the NGEU instrument (€29.5 billion) and new loans issued to Ukraine under the Ukraine Facility (€13.1 billion). In the opposite direction, repayments from EU countries continue as Spain repaid ESM loans in the amount of €4.6 billion, and Greece and Portugal repaid €1.7 billion and €1.5 billion respectively to EFSF.
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Moreover, the increase in currency and deposits (€23.7 billion) can be explained by increased borrowing under the unified funding strategy of the European Commission (aimed at keeping liquidity for upcoming disbursement obligations and to maintain a defined liquidity buffer) and will be mainly used for disbursements planned for the beginning of 2025.
Source data for tables and graphs
Data sources
Data coverage, sources and methods
The data cover the EU institutions and bodies financed by the EU budget (e.g., the European Commission, the European Parliament, the European External Action Service (EEAS) and the agencies) as well as the European Stability Mechanism (ESM), the European Financial Stability Facility (EFSF), the Single Resolution Board/Single Resolution Fund, the Modernisation Fund and the Joint Sickness Insurance Scheme (JSIS), which are classified in sector S.1315[3].
The European Peace Facility (EPF) is also classified in sector S.1315. However, due to non-availability of preliminary data, they are currently not covered in these accounts. Eurostat is in close contact with the EPF to remedy the situation.
The primary basis for this compilation is the underlying data of the Consolidated annual accounts of the European Union 2024, provided by DG Budget of the European Commission, the data underlying the ESM and EFSF annual reports, provided by ESM, the data underlying the annual accounts of the SRB/SRF, provided by the SRB, and data published concerning the Modernisation Fund. Aside from data, Eurostat works in close cooperation with these institutions, from which it receives several clarifications.
The compilation of annual statistical accounts of the EU institutions and bodies subsector follows the same approach used by the Member States for the compilation of their national general government sector accounts, i.e., starting from a public administrative source and applying to it the ESA 2010 methodology.
For the EU institutions financed by the EU budget and the Modernisation Fund, the compilation exercise starts from the budget (cash) accounts and then moves to accrual-based transactions. This is due to the fact that, in the ESA 2010 framework, transactions are recognized and recorded when economic value is created, transformed, exchanged, transferred or extinguished. For the ESM, the EFSF, the SRB/SRF and the JSIS, the exercise starts from already accrued information, to which some conceptual and methodological adaptations are applied.
There is thus sizeable overlap between International Public Sector Accounting Standards (IPSAS), and to some extent also International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS), and statistical accounts compiled following the ESA 2010. However, a 1:1 comparison between the financial statements observed in the consolidated annual accounts of the European Union and the annual reports of the ESM, the EFSF and the SRB/SRF, on the one hand, and the data sub-sets published today by Eurostat, on the other hand, is not possible or valid, due to relevant presentational, conceptual and valuation differences.
The difference between total revenue and total expenditure — including capital expenditure (in particular, gross fixed capital formation) — equals net lending/net borrowing of general government, which is also one of the balancing items of the government non-financial accounts.
The reconciliation between the €62.1 billion net borrowing in year 2024 and the €135.1 billion change in Maastricht debt is showed in the stock-flow adjustment table below and is mostly due to the net acquisition of financial assets, notably the loans granted and the increase in currency and deposits under the unified funding approach, as mentioned above:
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Source: Eurostat (gov_eu_nfa), (gov_eu_fa) and (gov_eu_debt)
Context
Background
In 2021, the Next Generation EU temporary instrument was launched with the aim to bring more than €800 billion in support to Europe's recovery from the Covid-19 pandemic, and to build a greener, more digital and more resilient Europe.
The European Commission has started borrowing on capital markets, implementing a diversified funding strategy with an open and transparent communication to market participants. The funding raised is being used to provide grants and loans to the Member States through the Recovery and Resilience Facility (RRF) under Next Generation EU, as well as for the SURE programme and to support Ukraine.
These developments have generated demands[4] for compiling statistical accounts of the EU institutions and bodies subsector based on the ESA 2010, thus bringing more transparency and a comprehensive picture of its financial position.
Footnotes
- The minor revisions, implemented for years 2021, 2022 and 2023, as compared to the previous publication, are mainly stemming from the inclusion in this compilation exercise of the JSIS as well as more detailed information on financial guarantee contracts of the European Commission (EC) and reflows from and to the EU budget. The statistics presented in the article provide an aggregate view for the European Union institutions and bodies’ sub-sector and its dynamics over the years. ↑
- For more information on the EU institutions and bodies, please see the data source section. ↑
- The government sector of EU institutions (similarly to the Member States) comprises entities financed by the EU budget (European Commission, European parliament, etc.) and other bodies, namely the EFSF and the ESM, set-up for the support of euro area governments. Principles of sectorisation are set in the ESA 2010 Chapter 19 and para 20.09-20.10, which are developed further in the Manual on Government Deficit and Debt Chapter 1.9. Notwithstanding the statistical sectorisation rules, the EFSF and the ESM are, legally, not EU Institutions strictu sensu. The EFSF has the legal form of a limited corporation established in Luxembourg, while the ESM is legally an international financial institution. ↑
- Council conclusions on EU statistics, November 2022 ([1]) ↑
Explore further
Other articles
Database
- Non-financial accounts for EU institutions (gov_eu_nfa)
- Financial accounts for EU institutions (gov_eu_fa)
- Debt of the EU institutions (gov_eu_debt)