On Monday 24 September, the committee on budgets of the European Parliament suggested cancelling the cuts proposed by the European Commission to certain major programmes of the multiannual financial framework (MFF) of the EU 2021-2027.
On the same day, the budget committee discussed draft opinions on certain programmes and, consistently with its position of March of this year, cancelled the credit cuts proposed by the Commission to the 2021-2027 MFF.
Cohesion. The draft opinion by Siegfried Mureşan (EPP, Romania) on the common provisions concerning the European Regional Development Fund, the European Social Fund +, the Cohesion Fund and the European Maritime and Fisheries Fund aims to keep the funding for the 2021-2027 for the EU27 “at least at the same level as the 2014-2020 budget in real terms”, to allow the policy to do its job and achieve its goals successfully. The resources allocated for economic, social and territorial cohesion over the period 2021-2027 stand at €372.19 billion in 2018 prices (€419.87 billion in current prices), according to the draft opinion, compared to €330.67 million in 2018 prices in the Commission proposal.
Additionally, the draft opinion by Jan Olbrycht (EPP, Poland) on the proposed regulation concerning the European Regional Development Fund and the Cohesion Fund proposes to simplify the thematic concentration of the ERDF's support, making it more flexible and more operational by providing for just two categories of countries in the classification concerned. The determining threshold proposed has been set at 90% of the EU average of GNI ratios, as per the eligibility criterion for the Cohesion Fund.
Agriculture. The European Parliament opposes the proposed cuts to CAP expenditure (11% cut for the direct aid pillar and 28% cut in constant prices in the rural development pillar). The draft opinion proposes a total of €382.9 billion in 2018 prices (€430.9 billion in current prices) to come back up to the level of the 2014-2020 period.
Migration, justice. The Commission's proposals in the field of justice have been increased slightly (€355.5 million, compared to €305 million in current prices in the proposal). The rapporteur of the opinion approves of the Commission's proposal to more than double, for the period 2021-2027, the financial envelope allocated to the Internal Security Fund (total of €2.2 billion in 2018 prices).
Erasmus. The draft opinion on this programme provides for a financial envelope for 2021-2027 of €46.75 billion, compared to €30 billion in the Commission proposal.
The draft opinion on the instrument for pre-accession assistance (IPA) supports the Commission's proposal to allocate 1.2 times more funding to the new IPA compared to the IPA II in the current 2014-2020 MFF. The Commission is invited to set in place appropriate measures to accelerate the absorption of IPA funds, particularly over the first years, to avoid any structural delay in awarding contracts and payments.
The provisions on these sectorial proposals will be negotiated in parallel to the regulation on the 2021-2027 MFF (see EUROPE 12099). (Original version in French by Lionel Changeur)