European citizens pay 1 billion euros per year for this service (the European External Action Service).

Omissions

• The EEAS annual budget has not yet reached 1 billion euros: the 2026 draft budget is 959.7 million euros (approximately 4% below the claimed figure) and the 2025 budget was approximately 932.5 million euros (approximately 7% below).
• The MEP rounds up from approximately 960 million to 1 billion euros, which is a common rhetorical simplification but slightly overstates the actual cost.
• The EEAS budget is funded through the overall EU budget, which is financed by Member State contributions, customs duties, and other own resources — not by direct payments from individual European citizens.
• The MEP could not have known the final 2026 budget at the time of the session, as only the draft budget was available (the annual budget is typically adopted in late 2026). The 2025 budget was the most recent adopted budget at the time.

Sources

• PrimaryEUR-Lex — Draft Budget 2026, Section X: European External Action ServiceThe EEAS draft budget for 2026 is calculated at 959.7 M€, which represents an increase by 27.2 M€ (+2.9 %) and 14 net full-time equivalents compared to the 2025 budget.