In a plenary vote on Wednesday 4 July, the members of the European Parliament gave their blessing to the inter-institutional negotiations to increase the financial envelope of the structural reform support programme from €142.8 million to €222.8 million in current prices for the years 2019 and 2020, by 482 votes to 102 with 23 abstentions.
There are no notable changes from the text voted through by the regional development committee (REGI) at the end of June (see EUROPE 12048). For instance, the MEPs agree on the principle of increasing the financial envelope of the programme to meet increasing demand, as long as this increase is not at the expense of the priorities of the cohesion policy.
They also stress that this programme, the brainchild of the European Commission, should remain voluntary. They also reinforced the territorial and social dimension of the support programme. They introduce new objectives, such as tackling tax evasion and fighting poverty.
Inter-institutional negotiations will begin in July: at technical level on 7 July and political level on 11 July. Only one meeting is scheduled for each. A source told us that the timetable is tight, as the member states must submit their applications for assistance under the programme at the end of October. (Original version in French by Pascal Hansens)