MEPs call for more funding
The Budgets Committee has demanded more funds to help young people into jobs, to boost economic growth and assist third countries with a view to mitigating the migration crisis.
The draft resolution on the European Parliament’s (EPs) position on the EU Budget 2017, led by rapporteur Jens Geier and Indrek Tarandwas was approved by 29 votes to seven, with one abstention.
MEPs added €1.5bn in commitment appropriations for the Youth Employment Initiative (YEI), to help young persons seeking work.
They also decided to reinstate in full the original budgets of the Connecting Europe Facility (CEF), which funds infrastructure projects, and the Horizon 2020 programme, which backs research projects. Both programmes had faced cuts to help fund the EU contribution to the European Fund for Strategic Investments (EFSI).
The committee stated that the additional funds should be obtained through the mid-term revision of the EU’s long-term budget, Multiannual Financial Framework, (MFF).
MEPs also increased budgets for other programmes, including COSME, Progress, Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions, European Research Council, Eures and Erasmus+.
They “strongly questioned” whether the funds for projects in third countries were sufficient, especially in view of the current refugee and migration crisis.
MEPs therefore decided to reverse all the council’s cuts in this area.
They also reduced the cuts proposed by the commission in the Development Co-operation Instrument (DCI) and the Instrument contributing to Stability and Peace (IcSP).
Budgets Committee members expressed “strong support” for the agricultural sector in the EU and increased its appropriations by €600m above the draft budget, to tackle the effects of the dairy sector crisis.
Parliament as a whole will vote on 26 October on a proposed budget amounting to €161.8bn in commitments, €4.13bn more than the original commission proposal.
