Members of the European Parliament's Committee on the Environment, Public Health and Food Safety (ENVI) highlighted the shortfall in the Just Transition Fund (JTF) on Monday 4 May during a debate on a draft opinion on the establishment of this fund drawn up by Alexandr Vondra (ECR, Czech Republic).
With the European Commission planning to endow the fund with €7.5 billion (2018 prices) (see EUROPE 12403/2), ENVI committee members supported Mr Vondra's call for further new funds for the JTF, to enable it to effectively support the EU regions most affected by the transition to a low-carbon economy.
"At 7.5 billion EUR, the size of the JTF falls far too short of meeting projected needs, which are estimated in the hundreds of billions by 2050 in some Member States", writes Mr Vondra in his report.
However, during the debate, he felt that it was not for the ENVI Committee to define what the amount of the fund should be.
In his draft report, consulted by EUROPE on Thursday 30 April (see EUROPE 12478/20), Manolis Kefaloyiannis (EPP, Greece), Parliament's rapporteur on the JTF and a member of the Committee on Regional Development (REGI), proposes increasing the fund's budget to €17.88 billion (2018 prices).
Another important point of the draft opinion is that the transfer of resources from the ERDF and ESF+ European funds to the JTF should not be compulsory, but should be left to the free choice of the Member States, an opinion notably shared by Edina Tóth (EPP, Hungary).
Other points in the draft opinion, however, have been heavily criticised. With the exception of the ID Group, all the other groups opposed Mr Vondra's proposal to postpone the climate neutrality target beyond 2050 because of Covid-19.
The deadline for submitting amendments to Mr Vondra's draft opinion is 12 May.
To consult the draft opinion (in English): https://bit.ly/2W3hccd (Original version in French by Damien Genicot)