The European Parliament approved the Interinstitutional Agreement on the European Social Fund plus (ESF+) without a vote on Tuesday 8 June.
“This European Social Fund plus is (...) the oldest of the structural funds. So it is also a reminder to all those who sometimes question or doubt the need for the social dimension of our Europe. The founding fathers thought of this. They understood that there is no strong Europe without a strong social Europe”, declared the Commissioner for Jobs and Social Rights, Nicolas Schmit, in plenary session shortly before the adoption of the text.
The parliamentarians gave the final green light for the publication of the regulation in the Official Journal of the EU. By way of a reminder, the co-legislators had agreed to earmark 25% of available funds (€88 billion in 2018 prices) for social inclusion.
In addition to this 25%, 3% of the funds with a European cofinancing rate of 90% will be set aside for food and basic material aid. Under the impetus of the European Parliament, 5% of the funds will go to the fight against child poverty for the most affected Member States and 12.5% for young people in countries with a high rate of young people without jobs or training (see EUROPE 12647/15).
“This important result is the fruit of the work of the European Parliament’s negotiating team and is the right response to the challenges that the pandemic has actually magnified”, the Commissioner further stressed, noting that the negotiations had been long and difficult since the initiative was presented in 2018 (see EUROPE 12030/15).
With the exception of the far-right ID group, all MEPs speaking on behalf of their political groups welcomed the link with the Youth Guarantee, including Brando Benifei (S&D, Italy), who noted that this had been an S&D demand since 2014.
A vote was scheduled for Wednesday, but as no amendments were tabled, the text was deemed adopted by the European Parliament on Tuesday, we were told. (Original version in French by Pascal Hansens)