Three weeks of conciliation came to an end late last night, as our S&D members, together with representatives of the Commission and Council reached an agreement on the EU’s budget for next year.
The S&D Group managed to top the Council's proposal by €1.9 billion, the majority of which will be focused on youth employment and climate. The fight is not yet over. Our Group will be even more ambitious when it comes to the next budget.
Eider Gardiázabal, S&D spokeswoman on budget, stated:
"Managing to get an increased budget for climate action and youth employment was not an easy task, given the Council's initial proposal, but we stood firm and ended up with the backing from the main political groups in the process. These have been our priorities from the beginning. These are European citizens' priorities and our goal from the start was to get proper financing for them, regardless of the length of negotiations or the opposition."
Pierre Larrouturou, S&D negotiator on the file, added:
"It seems our proposals were too progressive for some member states. Nevertheless, although we won a significant victory last night, this budget still remains largely insufficient. Our work from now on will focus on mobilising own resources so that the next budget is better equipped to tackle the real demands of the people."
Note to editors:
European Parliament negotiators have obtained reinforcements on EP priorities of €850 million (€+400 million compared to Commission Draft Budget)
· On climate related expenditures: €504,8 million and €1,3 million for the Environment Agency, and in addition a unilateral statement by the Commission to reinforce these lines in the course of the year if appropriations are available.
· On Youth priority: + €50 million on Erasmus, and + €28,3 million on YEI that could be further reinforced through a Draft Amending Budget based on the absorption rate of the programme.
· Reinforcement in favour of SMEs: + €77 million
· On culture and citizenship programmes: + €8,7 million
· On external action: + €20 million for the European Neighbourhood Instrument for Mediterranean countries and + €20 million for the Development Cooperation Instrument.
