In a crucial vote in Plenary today, Socialists and Democrats will lead a majority of 5 political groups in pushing for the 2021 budget to be fit enough to tackle EU challenges in the first year after the COVID-19 pandemic. Progressive priorities were successfully included in the 2021 guidelines.
Eider Gardiazabal, S&D coordinator on budget, said:
“The budget for 2021 has to be a recovery budget for the challenges ahead following the pandemic, and for that a new system of own resources will be of the outmost importance. The guidelines adopted today will pave the way to the most climate-friendly EU budget to effectively address the COVID-19 crisis.
“The 2021 budget is the first of the post-pandemic multiannual financial framework. It must be bold and ambitious so that it can set the tone for the following years. Our Group has successfully managed to place the European Green Deal and the Recovery Plan at the heart of the report and to secure key socialist priorities such as research and innovation, youth, education, culture, cohesion, social inclusion, migration, sustainable and inclusive growth and jobs and development and humanitarian aid.”
Pierre Larrouturou, general EP rapporteur and S&D spokesman on the 2021 budget, added:
“In order to prevent the COVID-19 crisis from leading to a severe economic and social crisis, the European Parliament will do everything possible to obtain the most ambitious budget for 2021.
“We have very clear priorities: protecting existing jobs, in the economy as a whole but also with targeted schemes for tourism and other sectors particularly affected by the crisis and creating new jobs, in particular through massive investment in the fight against climate change.
“This is the first time in the European Parliament’s history that 5 different political groups support the budget guidelines. Parliament is showing unprecedented unity and proving that, when we take the time to debate, we can reach an ambitious agreement. If the Parliament did it, why won’t the Heads of State and government do it?
“The first line of the report adopted today reminds us of the climate emergency. The European Parliament is going to do everything it can to ensure that Europe gives itself the means to win the climate battle by creating as many jobs as possible on all its territories, asking notably for a the climate mainstreaming spending level of 30% as from 2021 (compared to an average of 20% for the current 2014-2020 MFF).”
Note to editors:
In the agreed guidelines, the European Parliament recalls that it will be able to block the budget negotiations if no substantial progress is made on new own resources - funding that will strengthen the EU budget without asking more from member states' budgets.
