EU investment budget for 2020

Members of the European Parliament adopted, on Wednesday, in Strasbourg, their position on the 2020 EU budget, which includes allocation of 50 million euros to support farmers affected by African swine fever, including those in Romania.

According to Radio Romania Special Envoy to Strasbourg, Cristian Matei, some MEPs are satisfied with this budget, especially for the fact that one fifth of the funds will go to environmental problems or that the money for the Common Agricultural Policy remains in place. However, there are also dissatisfied MEPs who believe there are areas that would have needed more money. One such case is the management of EU external borders, through the FRONTEX agency. Another case would be the Erasmus program, which has such a resounding success. The European Union has already spent a lot of money on unforeseen issues, such as the immigrant crisis, so overall, the budget is a successful and balanced one.

Due to the fact that plenary debate on the draft budget for 2020 coincided with reactions on the drama of the Kurdish population in northeastern Syria, following the Turkish military intervention, MEPs also voted an amendment to freeze funds for Turkey, except for those that will be distributed through United Nations humanitarian agencies.

Next steps

There are now three weeks of ”conciliation” talks between the Parliament and the Council, with the aim of reaching a deal between the two institutions in time for next year's budget to be voted on by Parliament and signed by its President during the November II plenary session (25-28 November). If no agreement is reached, the European Commission must table a new draft budget.

Background

About 93% of the EU budget funds real activities on the ground in EU countries and beyond. It goes to citizens, regions, cities, farmers, researchers, students, NGOs and businesses.

The EU budget is unique. Unlike national budgets, which are used in large part for providing public services and funding social security systems, the EU budget is primarily an investment budget and, unlike national budgets, the EU Budget cannot run a deficit.

Source:RRA,EPNewsroom.Translated by Miruna Matei