On Thursday 1 June, MEPs adopted the European Commission’s proposal on the Act in Support of Ammunition Production unchanged (446 votes in favour, 67 against and 112 abstentions).
None of the 42 amendments tabled by the S&D, Greens/EFA or The Left groups were adopted.
During the debate on 8 May, MEPs had expressed concern about the possibility of transferring cohesion funds to the Act (see EUROPE 13178/4), but the amendments on the subject, voted as a block, were rejected by 242 votes in favour, 362 against and 17 abstentions. The S&D, The Left and Greens/EFA groups voted in favour of these amendments - which they had tabled - while the EPP, Renew Europe and ECR groups voted against them. The ID group was divided between supporters and opponents of the amendments.
Similarly, amendments opposing a possible extension of working hours to facilitate production were also rejected, with the same divisions between the groups.
In order to speed up the decision-making process - the Commission hopes for an agreement before the summer - the Parliament used an urgency procedure (see EUROPE 13178/4). At its July plenary session, it hopes to vote on the text that would have been the subject of a compromise with the Council of the EU, which will probably begin discussing its position on the Act at the level of the Member States’ ambassadors to the EU (Coreper) next week.
The Commission presented its Act in Support of Ammunition Production on 3 May (see EUROPE 13174/1) with a budget of €500 million. (Original version in French by Camille-Cerise Gessant)