By Ilker Girit
ISTANBUL (AA) – The European Union on Thursday adopted its 2018 budget, amounting to €160.1 billion ($189.7 billion) in commitments – an increase of 0.2 percent compared to 2017.
The EU said total payments amount to €144.7 billion ($171.5 billion), rising 14.1 percent from last year.
“Payments increase significantly because the implementation of the 2014-2020 programs is expected to reach full speed in 2018, ” the EU said.
The biggest portion of the budget — €11.2 billion ($13.4 billion) — will be allocated to the EU's research and innovation programs; this is an increase of 8.4 percent compared to 2017.
The bloc, meanwhile, said Turkey's pre-accession funds have been cut by €105 million ($124.4 million).
Thursday's statement also said an additional €70 million ($83 million) would be held in reserve until Turkey makes “measurable sufficient improvements ” to meet EU concerns on democracy, the rule of law, human rights and press freedom.
According to Turkey's EU ministry, the total allocation for the country under the pre-accession funds for seven years between 2014-2020 amounts to nearly €4.45 billion ($5.27 billion).
About €636.4 million ($754 million) of the total amount was allocated for 2017.
