In Brussels on Wednesday 27 September, the budget committee of the European Parliament decided to add more than €2 billion in total to the draft 2018 budget presented by the European Commission (see EUROPE 11862).
The MEPs also reversed all cuts to credit lines proposed by the Council in July for various programmes.
The parliamentary committee voted on budgetary amendments (including some 20 compromise amendments) to the Council's position, with the following result: a total envelope of €161.8 billion in payment appropriations for 2018, or €2.13 billion more than under the Commission's draft. As regards payment appropriations, the MEPs have tabled a total of €146.1 billion (Commission's initial proposal, €144.8 billion). The Commission proposed €158.9 billion in commitments and €144.4 billion in payments.
The MEPs increased the commitment appropriations of the Youth Employment Initiative by €366.7 million, to stand at €600 million in 2018. They also fully restored the budgets of the Connecting Europe Facility (CEF), which pays for infrastructure projects, and of the 'Horizon 2020' framework programme (research projects). These programmes have seen their money reduced, to be redirected into the European Fund for Strategic investments (EFSI).
The budgets committee increased the funding for certain programmes particularly close to its heart (compared to the Commission's draft budget): Horizon 2020 (+ €65 million, hence a total of more than €11 billion for this programme), Erasmus+ (+ €32 million), COSME (+ €22.5 million) and the EU Programme for Employment and Social Innovation (EaSI).
Migration, asylum, security and Turkey. Arguing that the current budgets are insufficient to tackle both the external and internal dimensions of the migration phenomenon, the MEPs increased the Commission's draft budget for agencies with missions related to security, such as Europol (increase of €10 million), the 'asylum, migration and integration' fund (AMIF, increase of €30 million) and the European Asylum Support Office (EASO, increase of €26 million).
To create more stability in the EU's immediate neighbourhood, the members of the budget committee proposed an increase of €299 million for the EU's external action, including the eastern and southern neighbourhoods.
As regards Turkey, they cut some of the pre-accession funds (reduction of €80 million), which will be freed up as soon as Turkey has made progress in respecting the rule of law, democracy, human rights and the freedom of the press.
Agriculture. The budget committee increased support for young farmers by €50 million, to reduce unemployment rates for young people in rural areas.
Siegfried Mureşan (EPP, Romania, Parliament's rapporteur for the 2018 budget, said that it was a “forward-looking budget with emphasis on support for research, innovation and youth employment”. Extra money has been earmarked for actions with real added value for the EU economy. “We reject all cuts undertaken by Council. The budget adopted by Council would not have enabled the EU to fulfil its duty commitments”, he added.
Next steps. The details of the amended draft budget will be available in the near future, and a resolution accompanying the budgetary amendments will be adopted by the budget committee on 10 October.
In Strasbourg on 25 October, the European Parliament will hold a plenary vote on next year's budget. There will then be three weeks of conciliation talks with the Council. The aim is to reach an agreement between the two sides of the budgetary authority in time for the 2018 budget to be adopted by the Parliament and signed off by its President in December. (Original version in French by Lionel Changeur)