Based on the country context, EU budget support accompanies reforms in a variety of areas. Under the development policy, it focuses on fostering sustainable development, with the primary aim of eradicating poverty. Under the European neighbourhood policy, the EU works with its southern and eastern neighbours to foster stabilisation, security and prosperity.

EU budget support helps the building of more transparent and accountable public administrations, able to deliver services to their citizens more effectively and efficiently.  It is a vehicle for dialogue between the EU and its partner countries, involving discussions at technical, policy and political levels, making it pivotal to EU external action and the EU global strategy for foreign and security policy.

EU budget support covers a large variety of sectors, with 250 contracts implemented in 89 countries or territories. On average, it accounts for about 40 % of national cooperation programmes with partner countries. In 2018, it gave rise to € 1.8 billion of payments, providing countries with additional fiscal space to finance their public policies, bear the costs of reforms, build their administrative capacities, achieve ambitious results and sustain these.

This report describes the spread and depth of the EU budget support programmes in the different regions and countries. It presents their results according to the sustainable development goals (SDGs), analyses the risks associated with budget support and depicts the financial and geographical distribution of the ongoing operations.