In Strasbourg on Wednesday 26 October, the members of the European Parliament adopted amendments to the 2017 budget with the effect of considerably increasing the credits and overshooting the ceilings (2017) of almost all of the headings of the multiannual financial framework (MFF), much to the displeasure of the Slovak Presidency of the Council (see EUROPE 11650).
This position of the European Parliament is diametrically opposed to that of the Council, which has officially started the three-week conciliation procedure (to run until 17 November), which is not expected to be a walk in the park. It will be a tough fight, but we are going into it with confidence, the chair of the Parliament's budgets committee, Jean Arthuis (ALDE, France), said after the vote.
The Parliament is putting pressure on the Council to agree to negotiate a package including the mid-term revision of the MFF and a compromise on the draft 2017 budget (see previous article). In order to mount the pressure, the Parliament is looking at an extra €4 billion on top of the European Commission's provisions in its draft 2017 budget. The Parliament's strategy consists of securing additional funding for the priorities of the EU (migration, growth and jobs) through a revision of the MFF, to begin in 2017.
The MEPs have agreed on a 2017 budget for the EU of €160.7 billion in commitments (+ €4.1 billion on the Commission's draft budget) and of €136.7 billion in payments (+ €2.5 billion).
"The situation has changed. We need a more ambitious budget", said the rapporteur on the general budget, Jens Geier (S&D, Germany). Youth unemployment is still far too high in Europe. "We are asking for €1.5 billion for the youth employment initiative, which will be possible if the MFF is revised", he added.
Pressure also brought to bear on the commissioners' code of conduct. Indrek Tarand (Greens/EFA, Estonia) welcomed the plenary's adoption of an amendment tabled by his group putting 20% of former commissioners' payments into reserve until the Commission has set in place a stricter code of conduct to prevent conflicts of interest and revolving-door employment moves. "We are hitting the former commissioners in the wallet", Tarand said, in reference to the two most outrageous scandals involving José Manuel Barroso and Neelie Kroes. He went on to say that he was confident that this would encourage the Commission to take action, in light of the recent revelations.
The Parliament approved a resolution on the 2017 budget (446 votes in favour, 184 against and 60 abstentions). In particular, it restored the initial budgets under the Connecting Europe Facility and the Horizon 2020 programme. Both of these programmes suffered cuts to pay for the EU's contribution to the European Fund for Strategic Investments (EFSI). The corresponding commitment appropriations represent an increase of €1.24 billion on the initial proposal. This money will be obtained by means of the mid-term revision of the MFF.
Migration. The financing of the agreement with Turkey on refugees and other ad hoc funds and instruments cannot be set in place at the expense of the EU's existing external actions, in particular its development policy, the MEPs argue. They expressed doubts as to whether the financing of projects in third countries will be enough, particularly in light of the current migration crisis. The European Commission welcomes the fact that the Parliament has accepted the financing details proposed for additional money to manage the refugee crisis.
The MEPs increased commitment appropriations for agriculture by €600 million, to offset the crisis in the dairy sector and the effects of the Russian embargo on agri-food products from the EU. Lastly, the Parliament bolstered the MEDIA sub-programme (+ €10.8 million) and multimedia actions (+ €13 million). (Original version in French by Lionel Changeur)