The European Parliament’s Committee on Budgets decided on Tuesday 28 September to reverse the EU Council’s €1.4 billion cuts to the EU budget for 2022 and to increase funding levels for many programmes and policies that are contributing to the post-pandemic economic recovery.
The increases in appropriations concern Horizon Europe (+€305 million compared to the European Commission’s draft budget plan), the Connecting Europe Facility (+€207 million), and the LIFE environment and climate action programme (+€171 million).
Other increases concern Erasmus+ (+€137 million) and the ‘European Child Guarantee’, for which €700 million was added. EU4Health is also getting a boost (+€80 million).
Members of the Committee on Budgets reinforced funding for humanitarian aid by 20% and boosted the Asylum, Migration and Integration Fund, particularly in view of the situation in Afghanistan. They also supported the Covax initiative for equitable global access to Covid-19 vaccines. In the field of security and defence, MEPs increased the relevant budget lines by more than €80 million.
The budget figures as adopted in committee will be available shortly, and MEPs will vote on 11 October on the report by Karlo Ressler (EPP, Croatia), which accompanies the budget amendments. The Parliament will adopt its position during the plenary session of 18-22 October.
The European Commission had proposed a draft budget plan for 2022 of €167.8 billion in commitment appropriations and €169.4 billion in payment appropriations (not including the amounts under the Brexit adjustment reserve). The EU Council had counted on €167.6 billion in commitments and €169.9 billion in payment appropriations, including €1.3 billion in 2022 for the Brexit adjustment reserve.
Frontex. The Committee on Budgets decided, by adopting a compromise amendment (https://bit.ly/3kN97Vx ), to put €90 million of the Frontex agency’s operating budget in reserve (the EU Council had proposed to put €45 million in reserve). The funds would be released under the following conditions: the recruitment of 20 fundamental rights officers and three suitably qualified executive directors, the establishment of a reporting mechanism for serious incidents at the EU’s external borders, and the creation of an operational fundamental rights monitoring system (see EUROPE 12799/16). (Original version in French by Lionel Changeur)