The proposal for a multiannual financial framework for 2028-2034, presented by the European Commission on 16 July (see EUROPE 13682/1, 13683/5), does not meet with the unanimous approval of civil society.
In a joint statement published on Monday 21 July (https://aeur.eu/f/hza ), a number of organisations - including the European branch of the international association of LGBTI people, ILGA-Europe - welcome the doubling of the budget of the programme for the protection of EU rights and values, CERV+, now integrated into the new AgoraEU programme, to €3.593 billion.
This would be an expression of the European Union’s renewed commitment to fundamental rights, at a time when the rule of law is increasingly under threat in some of these member states.
However, Civil Society Europe, a network of civil society organisations at EU level, has expressed a number of reservations in a statement and analysis published on Wednesday 23 July (https://aeur.eu/f/hzb ; https://aeur.eu/f/hzc ).
The increase in funding is certainly welcome, but the disappearance of operating grants, the fact that there is no place for NGOs to participate in the design or management of EU-funded programmes, and the mergers of the latter, such as that of CERV with Creative Europe, are worrying. (Original version in French by Nithya Paquiry)