In Strasbourg on Wednesday 5 July, the European Parliament agreed on its mandate to start negotiations with the Council to establish the 2018 EU budget European Parliament.
In its adoption of the report by Siegfried Mureşan (EPP, Romania), Parliament considers that overall, the Commission's proposal (draft budget for next year) is a good starting point for this year's negotiations.
The draft budget presented by the Commission on 30 May stands at €160.6 billion in commitments (+1.4% on 2017) and €145.4 billion in payments (+8.1%).
The MEPs welcome the increased funding proposed for Horizon 2020, the Connecting Europe Facility (CEF) and Erasmus+. However, it feels that further increases will be necessary, particularly due to the cuts in the financing of these instruments to be diverted into the European Fund for Strategic Investments (EFSI).
Parliament expresses concern at the possible repeat accumulation of unpaid bills at the end of this multi-annual financial framework (MFF) and recalls the unprecedented level of arrears at the end of 2014, standing at €24.7 billion. Parliament also considers that there is a considerable risk of missing the target of earmarking at least 20% of EU expenditure under the 2014-2020 MFF to actions in favour to the climate, unless efforts are stepped up.
Migration. In its adoption of an amendment tabled by the EFDD group, Parliament regrets that there is still no effective redistribution system, resulting in an unequal load for some member states, notably Italy and Greece. 361,678 refugees and migrants reached the EU in 2016, 181,405 of them arriving in Italy and 173,447 in Greece, and Italy has received 85% of refugees and migrants who have reached the EU so far in 2017. Parliament regrets that so far, Italy has received only €147.6 million from the 'asylum, migration and integration' fund, an amount that represents just 3% of the country's total expenses for managing the migration crisis. (Original version in French by Lionel Changeur)