The European Parliament's Committee on Budgets supported on Monday 14 October, the proposal on emergency measures to guarantee, in the event of a no-deal Brexit, payments from the European Union budget in 2020 to British beneficiaries such as universities, local communities, farmers and young people participating in the Erasmus+ programme.
This decision is subject to the United Kingdom paying its share of the EU budget. The European Commission is also considering a proposal on emergency measures in the event that the United Kingdom refuses to pay its contribution to the EU budget for 2020 (see EUROPE 12345/6).
British researchers, students and farmers would continue to receive EU support, even in the event of a no-deal Brexit, according to the provisions adopted by MEPs on Monday.
The proposed regulation extends the contingency plan already approved, so far limited to 2019, until the end of 2020. The objective is to minimise the negative impact of the United Kingdom's withdrawal from the EU on the beneficiaries of EU funding and on the EU budget in the event of a no-deal Brexit.
The measure includes programmes such as Horizon 2020, Erasmus+, as well as agricultural and regional policies. The draft recommendation by rapporteur Johan Van Overtveldt (ECR, Belgium) endorsing the approval of the proposal was adopted with 26 votes in favour, 4 against and 3 abstentions. The vote in the European Parliament plenary session will take place at the end of October in Strasbourg.
The regulation should enter into force as a matter of urgency and apply from the day following that on which the Treaties ceased to apply to and in the United Kingdom. (Original version in French by Lionel Changeur)