The European Parliament and the Council of the EU sealed a provisional interinstitutional agreement on the European Social Fund plus (ESF+) on Thursday 28 January in the late afternoon, in which they earmarked 25% of the available funds for social inclusion.
“After 7 hours of negotiations, a deal has been reached with the EU Council on the new European Social Fund plus”, the rapporteur, David Casa (EPP, Malta), former rapporteur for the Work-Life Balance Directive (see EUROPE 12179/2), welcomed on his Twitter account, recalling that the Fund has been allocated €90 billion (€88 billion in 2018 prices).
The last interinstitutional meeting focused mainly on thematic concentrations, we are told. Thus, the co-legislators agreed to allocate 25% of the fund to social inclusion (Parliament wanted 27%), including for socio-economically disadvantaged groups.
In addition to this 25%, 3% with a European cofinancing rate of 90% will be devoted to basic food and material aid, or even material deprivation, for the most deprived people, through the Fund for European Aid to the Most Deprived (FEAD). As a reminder, the Council of the EU wanted to set this limit at 2% as part of the 25% earmarked for social inclusion.
This agreement marks a partial reorientation of the Fund from a purely labour market-oriented instrument to one with a social inclusion objective, we are told.
Furthermore, the co-legislators agreed to allocate at least 5% of the funds to the fight against child poverty in the countries most affected by the phenomenon and which are above the EU average according to the “at risk of poverty and exclusion” criterion of Eurostat, the EU’s statistics office. For the other Member States, an “appropriate” sum will have to be agreed upon. The European Commission will have to clarify the term “appropriate” in a future declaration.
In the same spirit, Member States will also be obliged to allocate an “appropriate” amount to implement the Youth Guarantee, or 12.5% of the funds for Member States with a NEET rate (youth not in employment, education or training) above the EU average. Again, the Commission intends to present a statement to clarify the amounts available.
Finally, an “appropriate” amount or at least 0.25% of the funds should be allocated to support civil society and social partners, if requested by the European Commission’s country recommendations.
In addition, the co-legislators introduced an article emphasising respect for fundamental rights. Temporary measures in the event of a crisis (such as a pandemic) have also been agreed and are thus found across all structural and investment funds.
Trade unions and civil society rather satisfied
Per Hilmersson, Deputy General Secretary of the European Trade Union Confederation (ETUC), welcomed the agreement all the more as the negotiations were difficult (see EUROPE 12621/36), although he would have hoped for more funding for the social partners. For his part, the Director of the European Association of National Organisations Working with the Homeless welcomed the agreement as well, while noting the vagueness around the term “appropriate”.
The text still needs to be adapted at technical level. We were not provided with a date for a first presentation to the Committee of Permanent Representatives. (Original version in French by Pascal Hansens)