(Brussels) The measures adopted by the European Council today will enable the EU to “continue making payments to UK beneficiaries for contracts signed and decisions made before the withdrawal date, as long as the UK continues paying its contribution agreed in the EU budget for 2019”. This was announced in a statement released today after the meeting of the Economic and Financial Affairs in Brussels. The “contingency measures”, to which the European Parliament had already given its consent in April, will ensure “the implementation and financing of the 2019 EU budget in the event of a no-deal Brexit”. This scenario does not affect “the basic principle that the EU27 and the UK should honour the financial commitments they have both made together”, explained Mika Lintilä, Minister for Finance of Finland, the country which currently holds the Council presidency. The measures agreed today will benefit “UK individuals and entities” and will also help to “avoid possible disruptions to other beneficiaries of EU funding”. The measures will also “keep the relative shares of the EU27 member states in financing the 2019 EU budget unaffected”.