On Tuesday 11 September, the European Parliament formally validated an agreement negotiated with the Council on the European Solidarity Corps. The text is accompanied by a statement by the three institutions and a statement by the European Commission on the way credits are used.
The European Solidarity Corps was launched by the European Commission in December 2016 (see EUROPE 11684) to allow young people aged between 18 and 30 to participate in a range of solidarity activities by volunteering or carrying out professional projects managed by a work contract. Based on this experience, the Commission proposed in May to provide the tool with a legal base and a specific budget until 2020 (see EUROPE 11798).
Delicate question of financing
The regulation stipulates that the tool will be based on the following types of actions: (a) volunteering; (b) training courses or jobs; (c) solidarity projects and work to add to a network; (d) measures for quality and measures for support.
In terms of financing, the budget will provide €375.6 million euros in current prices during the period from 1 January 2018 to 31 December 2020. It foresees that financial support for solidarity activities should be at an indicative level of 90% for volunteering projects and 10% for training courses or jobs, or both, with a maximum of 20% being allocated to activities limited to national level. The text’s referrals foresee safeguards to avoid abuse stipulating that courses must never give rise to replacing paid staff.
The interinstitutional statement accompanying the regulation clarifies where the financing will come from. It states that 80% of the budget for this tool between 2019 and 2020 should come from redeployment under the subheading 1.a (Competitiveness for growth and jobs) of the multiannual financial framework (MFF) 2014-2020 and from the EU's civil protection mechanism and the LIFE. It explicitly states that no redeployment will be made in excess of the 231,800,000 euros stated in the Commission’s proposal. For the remaining 20%, the text states that the money will come from available margins under the subheading for the multiannual financial framework for 2014-2020.
The ELDD group lodged a rejection amendment, which was itself immoderately rejected. (Original version in French by Sophie Petitjean)