REPORT on the Council position on the draft general budget of the European Union for the financial year 2025

MOTION FOR A EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT RESOLUTION

on the Council position on the draft general budget of the European Union for the financial year 2025 (12084/2024 - C10-0099/2024 - 2024/0176(BUD))

The European Parliament,

- having regard to Article 314 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union (TFEU),

- having regard to Article 106a of the Treaty establishing the European Atomic Energy Community,

- having regard to Article 2 of the Treaty on European Union,

- having regard to Article 8 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union, whereby 'in all its activities, the Union shall aim to eliminate inequalities and to promote equality'; whereas this applies including to all levels of the budgetary process,

- having regard to Council Decision (EU, Euratom) 2020/2053 of 14 December 2020 on the system of own resources of the European Union and repealing Decision 2014/335/EU, Euratom[1],

- having regard to Council Regulation (EU, Euratom) 2020/2093 of 17 December 2020 laying down the multiannual financial framework for the years 2021-2027[2]and to the joint declarations agreed between Parliament, the Council and the Commission in this context[3]and the related unilateral declarations[4],

- having regard to Council Regulation (EU, Euratom) 2022/2496 of 15 December 2022 amending Regulation (EU, Euratom) 2020/2093 laying down the multiannual financial framework for the years 2021 to 2027[5],

- having regard to the Council Regulation (EU, Euratom) 2024/765 amending Regulation (EU, Euratom) 2020/2093 laying down the multiannual financial framework for the years 2021 to 2027[6](MFF Revision),

- having regard to Regulation (EU, Euratom) 2024/2509 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 23 September 2024 on the financial rules applicable to the general budget of the Union (recast)[7](the 'Financial Regulation'), in particular Articles 137, 138 and 158 thereof,

- having regard to the pertinent reports and special reports of the European Court of Auditors,

- having regard to its resolution of 13 March 2024 on general guidelines for the preparation of the 2025 Budget - Section III[8],

- having regard to its resolution of 16 December 2020 on the draft Council regulation laying down the multiannual financial framework for the years 2021 to 2027[9],

- having regard to its resolution of 3 October 2023 on the proposal for a mid-term revision of the multiannual financial framework 2021-2027[10],

- having regard to its resolution of 27 February 2024 on the draft Council regulation amending Regulation (EU, Euratom) 2020/2093 laying down the multiannual financial framework for the years 2021 to 2027[11],

- having regard to its resolution of 10 May 2023 on the impact on the 2024 EU budget of increasing European Union Recovery Instrument borrowing costs[12],

- having regard to Regulation (EU, Euratom) 2020/2092 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 16 December 2020 on a general regime of conditionality for the protection of the Union budget,

- having regard to Regulation (EU) 2021/1119 establishing the framework for achieving climate neutrality and amending Regulation (EU) 2018/1999 (European Climate Law),

- having regard to the Interinstitutional Proclamation on the European Pillar of Social Rights of 13 December 2017 and its resolution of 19 January 2017 thereon,

- having regard to the EU Gender Equality Strategy 2020-2025,

- having regard to the Agreement adopted at the 21st Conference of the Parties to the UNFCCC (COP21) in Paris on 12 December 2015 (the Paris Agreement) and to the Agreement adopted at the 15th Conference of the Parties to the United Nations Biodiversity Conference on 19 December 2022 (the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework),

- having regard to the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals,

- having regard to its resolution of 25 April 2024 on Parliament's estimates of revenue and expenditure for the financial year 2025[13],

- having regard to its resolution of 15 December 2022 on upscaling the 2021-2027 multiannual financial framework: a resilient EU budget fit for new challenges[14],

- having regard to the Interinstitutional Agreement of 16 December 2020 between the European Parliament, the Council of the European Union and the European Commission on budgetary discipline, on cooperation in budgetary matters and on sound financial management, including the climate, biodiversity and gender-related provisions, as well as on new own resources, including a roadmap towards the introduction of newown resources[15],

- having regard to the draft general budget of the European Union for the 2025 financial year, which the Commission adopted on 19 June 2024 (COM(2024)120),

- having regard to the position on the draft general budget of the European Union for the 2025 financial year, which the Council adopted on 13 September 2024[16]and forwarded to Parliament on 16 September 2024 (12684/2024 - C10 0099/2024),

- having regard to Rule 96 of its Rules of Procedure,

- having regard to the opinions of the Committee on Foreign Affairs, the Committee on Agriculture and Rural Development and the Committee on Fisheries,

- having regard to the letters from the Committee on Development, the Committee on Budgetary Control, the Committee on Employment and Social Affairs, the Committee on Environment, Public Health and Food Safety, the Committee on Industry, Research and Energy, the Committee on the Internal Market and Consumer Protection, the Committee on Transport and Tourism, the Committee on Culture and Education, the Committee on Constitutional Affairs and the Committee on Women's Rights and Gender Equality,

- having regard to the report of the Committee on Budgets (A10-0008/2024),

Section III - European Commission - A people-centred EU budget 2025: Investments tailored to improving people's lives and boosting the Union's competitiveness and sustainability

1. Is adamant that, in times of geopolitical and institutional change, financial pressure, climate change and biodiversity crisis, as well as of societal challenges, a reliable, robust, flexible, investment oriented EU budget remains instrumental for the implementation of the Union's policies and is key in responding to people's increasing needs, in leaving no-one behind through the green and digital transitions, in delivering prosperity and security for people and in boosting the competitiveness and sustainability of the Union economy, in order to defend the social dimension of Union spending; reinforces, therefore, in its reading, budgetary lines that have a direct impact on improving peoples' lives and that respond to the global challenges;

2. Emphasises that Russia's illegal and unjustifiable war of aggression against Ukraine has brought further substantial economic and social consequences for people across Europe, especially the most vulnerable, in frontline countries and in Ukraine; acknowledges that a confluence of political, security, socio-economic, climate, biodiversity and environmental challenges demand a comprehensive and resolute response from the Union, including by exploiting to the fullest possible extent the prevention as well as the crisis response capacity of the EU budget; considers it crucial for the Union to be able to act swiftly and adequately in emergency situations caused by major natural disasters, linked to the worsening climate and biodiversity crisis, humanitarian emergencies or public health crises in Member States and accession countries as well as to support third countries suffering from such crises;

3. Notes with concern that while inflation has begun to subside compared to previous years' peaks, its longer-term impact on the cost of living, energy insecurity, energy poverty and food prices continues to be a burden for people across Europe, on households' purchasing power and on companies', in particular SMEs', competitiveness and productivity; stresses that, against this background, a combination of policy responses will have to be deployed to adequately address the broad range of challenges; reminds that the Union budget, in complementarity with the national budgets of the Member States and private finance should play a central role in this regard; recalls that the EU budget is an investment budget in line with Union's political priorities and programmes which generates a return on investment and growth possibilities; emphasises that more solidarity among people of Europe, as well as between Member States is needed, as well as more investments in efficient policies and programmes which improve the Union's security and competitiveness and which have a positive impact on people's lives, in particular in areas such as public health, housing and environment;

4. Highlights that the Budget 2025 procedure takes place in a context of institutional changeover where the next Commission's policy priorities, strategic focus and legislative initiatives and their budgetary implications are not yet known in any detail; stresses that most expenditure programmes of the 2021-2027 financial programming period are being executed according to plan and that the obligation to implement multiannual programmes in a reliable and predictable manner must be in line with the necessity to swiftly respond to new developments and unforeseen events and crises; highlights that, given the new institutional cycle, cooperation across the institutional settings is crucial as investments and political decisions taken today will shape the EU's agenda for the next decades and beyond;

5. Underlines that while the MFF revision represented a clear improvement on the status quo, the EU budget is still under pressure, with limited margins and flexibility, with cuts and redeployments to key programmes and with reduced ambition in important future-oriented policy areas; acknowledges that the revision has resulted in providing additional resources for Ukraine, the Western Balkans, the implementation of the new Asylum and Migration Pact, the European Defence Fund as well as moderate increases in the flexibility mechanism; regrets, however, that the revision has also resulted in cuts to flagship programmes, such as Horizon Europe and EU4Health; welcomes that the Commission has proceeded with translating the outcome of the MFF revision into the Financial Programming as well as amending budgets 2024 and the draft general budget for 2025 (the "DB");

6. Notes that the 2025 Budget will be the first full annual budgetary procedure under the revised MFF ceilings and rules; insists that the spirit and letter of the MFF revision be respected and the additional appropriations resulting from the revision be fully authorised and committed; reminds that a certain level of redeployments, in particular under headings 1 and 6 was part of the MFF revision package; stresses its firm position to not see such reductions repeated or made worse in the annual procedure;

7. Recalls its long-standing position that new policy priorities or tasks should be accompanied by fresh money and that Union institutions, bodies, decentralised agencies and the EPPO, must be properly staffed and adequately resourced to fulfil their mandate; points out that it is the responsibility of the Union to make sure that all institutions, bodies and agencies have sufficient level of cybersecurity in place; emphasises that all spending through the Union budget must be subject to parliamentary scrutiny;

8. Regrets, that, despite the MFF revision, overall ceilings and margins are still very low in the Financial Programming and the DB and stand at zero in several headings (Heading 2b, Heading 5, Heading 7); takes note with concern that the NGEU overrun costs, i.e. the needs for the EURI refinancing costs which have not yet been programmed, amount to approximately EUR 2,6 billion, twice the Commission's forecast; is aware that the Amending Letter 1/2025 will update the needs estimation for 2025; is keenly aware that identifying the sources of financing this amount, without causing undue collateral damage to essential programmes and maintaining some flexibility for unforeseen future events, constitutes the biggest challenge in the 2025 procedure;

9. Recalls that the Commission in the DB proposed a total level of appropriations, including special instruments (which are counted outside the MFF ceilings), amounting to EUR 199 716.8 million in commitment appropriations corresponding to 1.08% of GNI, and EUR 152 684.1 million in payment appropriations, corresponding to 0.83% of GNI;

10. Deplores that the Council, in its position which it calls "prudent", proposes to cut commitment appropriations by EUR 1.52 billion across the MFF headings, leaving a total of EUR 191.527 billion, and reduces payment appropriations by EUR 876 million across the MFF headings; stresses that, by applying such largely unjustified cuts across headings on programme lines to generate additional unallocated margins, the Council's reading sticks to an approach that is not fit for purpose in times of crisis; underlines that this approach is not based in the reality of current budgetary needs, as these margins are not intended for use in the annual budget 2025 at all; considers that many of the budgetary cuts from important programmes such as Erasmus are made with the sole intention of repaying the NGEU interest costs cutting precisely from funding for the next generation that is supposed to benefit the most from such programmes;

11. Emphasises its strong preference for covering a larger share of EURI borrowing costs by availabilities in the de-commitment compartment of the EURI Special Instrument over and above the MFF ceilings which would have the effect of restoring some margin within Heading 2b and creating budgetary space in the Flexibility Instrument; proposes, therefore, to cover 65% of the overrun costs in 2025 by the de-commitment compartment of the EURI special instrument;

12. Reiterates its calls on Council and Commission to apply Regulation (EU, Euratom) 2020/2092 on a general regime of conditionality for the protection of the Union budget in full; stresses in particular that compliance with the rule of law is a fundamental pre-requisite to access EU funds; stresses that systemic issues with the rule of law, such as the violation of the principle of separation of powers or recent attempts in some Member States to attack the independence of the judiciary or to dismantle the institutions to fight against corruption constitute clear risks to the financial interests of the EU and the protection of the EU Budget and calls on the Commission to allow no backsliding on achievements in the area of rule of law and safeguarding institutions;

13. Recalls that, in accordance with the Financial Regulation, when implementing the budget, Member States and the Commission must ensure compliance with the Charter of Fundamental Rights, and respect the Union's values enshrined in Article 2 TEU; underlines, in particular Articles 137, 138 and 158 of the Financial Regulation and recalls the Commission's and Member States' obligation to exclude from Union funds any persons or entities found guilty by a final judgment of terrorist offences as well as final judgements on terrorist activities, inciting, aiding, abetting or attempting to commit such offences , corruption or other serious offences;

14. Reaffirms the significance of the horizontal principles concerning climate, biodiversity and gender equality that underpin the MFF and all related EU policies, also in the context of annual budgetary procedures; calls on the Commission to fulfil its obligation under the Interinstitutional Agreement of 16 December 2020 to ensure that the agreed targets related to climate and biodiversity, as well as the obligation to respect the 'do no significant harm' principle and to promote gender equality are fully met;

15. Deplores the absence of progress in the Council and Member States on the reform of the own resources system; recalls its position on the amended Commission proposal, which endorses the introduction of new own resources; considers that the introduction of fresh genuine revenue sources, in line with the roadmap in the Interinstitutional Agreement, would serve to cover the additional budgetary burden arising from NextGenerationEU borrowing and would thereby shield the margins and flexibility mechanisms, which in turn would facilitate budgetary decision-making on unforeseen needs as well as new strategic foresight initiatives; reiterates the need to fully respect the timeline of the legally-binding roadmap for the introduction of new own resources annexed to the IIA and underlines that swift progress on new own resources is essential both for the repayment of EURI borrowing costs and for the financial robustness and implementation of the current and future MFFs; urges, furthermore, the Commission to continue the efforts to identify fresh, new and preferably genuine own resources and other revenue sources for the EU budget beyond the IIA;

16. Takes note that the climate mainstreaming target of 30% is projected to be met with 33.5% while the expenditure related to biodiversity is projected to be at 8.5% following the CAP revision so that the 10% target will not be met in 2026; welcomes the efforts for a more transparent and comprehensive reporting on the horizontal targets, and emphasises the need to carry out sufficient ex-post evaluations with a particular focus on impact;

17. Reiterates that all Union programmes, policies and activities should be implemented in a way that promotes gender equality in the delivery of their objectives; welcomes that the Commission has further developed a methodology to track gender equality-related spending in the 2021-2027 MFF, which looks at policy design and resource allocation and in particular the presentation of an ex-post gender impact assessment on a more granular level and reporting on volumes; calls for an extension of the methodology to all MFF programmes in order to demonstrate results for the 2025 budget; stresses, in this regard, the need for systematic collection and analysis of gender-disaggregated data; at the same time notes that only EUR 17.9 million have been spent in the first three years of this MFF which resulted in a direct positive impact for women;

Special Instruments and Cascade mechanism

18. Highlights that the 2025 annual budgetary procedure will be the first exercise based entirely on the MFF Revision; recalls that, according to the MFF Revision, the Flexibility Instrument has been reinforced and that a maximum allocation of EUR 1 546.1 billion to be mobilised in 2025 has been topped up by 495 million and amounts carried over from 2024; notes that the Commission proposes to use an amount of EUR 1 192.8 million under the Flexibility Instrument for the EURI cascade Step 2 but that the Council deviates from the Commission approach in several significant aspects;

19. Reiterates its position that before having recourse to the EURI special instrument, the budgetary authority is expected to examine the possibility for covering part of any shortfall within the headings and through the Flexibility and Single Margin Instruments; emphasises that this process must be objective and based on real needs and cannot be driven by any arbitrary benchmarks; intends, therefore, to ensure that all programmes are properly resourced and that the budget's flexibility and response capacity is maintained throughout the annual budgetary procedure;

20. Notes, further, that the initial 2025 availabilities for the Single Margin Instrument for Commitments (Article 11(1)(a) of the MFF regulation) stand at EUR 1 124 million and that the Commission proposes to use EUR 490.4 million for heading 7 European Public Administration; resumes that as a result, a total amount of EUR 1 468.9 million remains available for unforeseen expenditure in 2025, of which an amount of EUR 835.1 million under the Flexibility Instrument and an amount of EUR 633.8 million under the Single Margin Instrument (assuming that the neither the Flexibility Instrument, nor the SMI are still mobilised in the course of 2024);

21. Highlights that the Commission's DB estimates the EURI 'overrun' costs to amount to EUR 2,5 billion and applies a 50:50 approach to the cascade mechanism; notes that the Commission proposes, therefore, to cover an amount of EUR 1.24 billion from the budget - i.e. 50% of the cost overruns - stemming from the unallocated margin under sub-heading 2b for an amount of EUR 46.2 million and by the Flexibility Instrument for an amount of EUR 1 192.8 million, with the remaining half to be mobilised through the new EURI instrument over and above the ceiling, covered by de-commitments made since 2021; acknowledges that, therefore, under this scenario no recourse to the 'back-stop' is required;

22. Disagrees with the Council's approach to opt for what it calls "prudent" budgeting, creating artificial margins under the MFF ceilings; notes that the Council, in its position on the 2025 budget, and similar to 2024, reduces appropriations dedicated for EURI borrowing costs; points out that the Council's position to cover only around 35% of the overrun costs by the EURI Special Instrument runs counter to the 50:50 benchmark that the Council itself insisted on during the MFF negotiations; alerts that in order to finance the difference and create additional unallocated margins (mostly in H2b but also in other headings, presumably in view of using it in future years through the SMI), sizeable reductions to a number of flagship programme envelopes have been proposed that have repercussions in 2025 as well as in 2026 and 2027; stresses that the cuts in heading 2b are particularly disconcerting as the only motivation is to use the money for financing EURI to the detriment of the people-centred nature of the programmes anchored in the same heading as EURI; recalls that the most affected programmes, Horizon Europe, CEF digital and Erasmus, are well-established priorities for the European Parliament and flagship programmes of the Union; deplores that the Council targets for reductions are across several headings and even touch some programmes that were already subject to the MFF revision redeployments, such as Horizon, reduced by 400 million, or lines that were topped up in previous years, such as Erasmus+, reduced by 295 million, EU4Health or LIFE;

23. Recalls the Interinstitutional Agreement adopted as part of the 2020 MFF agreement, whereby expenditure to cover NGEU financing costs "shall aim at not reducing programmes and funds"; questions whether the Council's approach is in line with the MFF agreement on the cascade; recalls that the EURI special instrument is to be mobilised in accordance with the MFF regulation, the applicable sectoral rules and other legal obligations and taking into account priorities, prudent budgeting and sound financial management, which require in particular appropriate margins for unforeseen expenditure;

24. Restores, therefore, all the cuts proposed by Council to ensure that programmes are properly resourced and that the budget's flexibility and response capacity are maintained throughout the annual budgetary procedure; insists on the need for the Commission to provide reliable, timely and accurate information on NGEU borrowing costs and on expected Recovery and Resilience Facility disbursements throughout the budgetary procedure; recalls that Parliament is deeply concerned about the impact of the inherent uncertainty for the EURI interest line and questions the forecast from the Commission on NGEU borrowing costs; welcomes the cut-off date of the end of September for the budgeting of the EURI costs which brings more predictability to the procedure; is aware that the Amending Letter 1/2025 will update the needs estimation for 2025; is adamant to cater fully and timely for the NGEU repayment costs that will fall due in 2025;

25. Underlines, once again, that repayment of the EURI borrowing costs is a legal obligation for the Union and a non-discretionary expenditure item in the EU budget; insists on transparency in the implementation of the cascade in the annual budgetary procedure and adds a remark in the budget, showing the share of de-commitment of appropriations, other than external assigned revenue, made since the beginning of the current MFF on the budget line; proposes to finance 65% of the overrun costs by the de-commitment compartment of the EURI Special Instrument; deems the margin of EUR 46.2 million, which was programmed before the DB was submitted, to be available for reinforcing programmes under the ceiling of Heading 2b; intends to revisit the amendments linked to the cascade mechanism once the Amending Letter provides updated estimations of the actual needs for the EURI line in 2025;

Heading 1 - Single market, Innovation and Digital

26. Recalls that programmes under Heading 1 play a key role in increasing the Union's competitiveness, driving growth, economic development and job creation as well as in ensuring that the green and digital transitions leave no-one behind; recalls, in this respect, that these programmes provide the necessary support for research and innovation in key sectors such as health, food, climate, natural resources, and agriculture, boost funding for cross-border infrastructure, in particular in the transport and energy sectors, bolster the Union's investment in cutting-edge technology, thereby stimulating job creation and improve the competitiveness of the Union economy, with an emphasis on SMEs and youth entrepreneurship; underlines the importance of the EU research programmes for meeting the EU's climate objectives and calls for special support to research projects on de-carbonisation;

27. Highlights the vital role that Horizon Europe plays in this context; recalls that the programme remains heavily over-subscribed and is therefore unable to support a large number of research projects evaluated as 'excellent'; proposes, therefore, to increase allocations for the programme by a total of EUR 242 million compared to the DB, with reinforcements for the European Research Council, Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions and Clusters 'Health', with the particular aim to reinforce the mental health research, 'Culture' 'Climate, Energy and Mobility', 'Food', EIC and 'Widening participation';

28. Proposes, moreover, to make available again EUR 180 million in research de-commitments under Article 15(3) of the Financial Regulation under Horizon Europe, EUR 60 million each in assigned revenue for the European Research Council, for Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions and for European Innovation Council;

29. Recalls that the Connecting Europe Facility (CEF) is key for the Union's overall security and for boosting investment in high-performance sustainable trans-European networks, and thereby promoting interconnectivity as well as for supporting the completion of TEN-T and the extension of corridors towards the partner countries in the Eastern Neighbourhood; in this sense, calls for more CEF Transport investments into the climate and environmentally friendly cross-border transport infrastructure, in particular with regard to rail projects and investment in clean mobility; calls, at the same time, on increasing the CEF Energy investments for deploying renewable energy, energy efficiency and other sustainable energy projects; highlights its vital importance to energy projects in Ukraine in light of the Russian war of aggression; proposes, therefore, to increase appropriations for CEF Transport by EUR 40 million above the DB in 2025 and CEF Energy by EUR 30 million above the DB in 2025;

30. Highlights the added value of the Digital Europe Programme in view the Union's digital transition, technological progress and competitiveness and proposes an increase of EUR 10 million for the budget line Artificial Intelligence and EUR 5 million above the DB for the skills strand of the programme; points out that enhancing digital skills and literacy are imperative for empowering citizens to fully participate in the knowledge economy;

31. Stresses that a well-functioning Single Market is critical for the Union's competitiveness and for enhancing access to markets for EU businesses, especially SMEs and young entrepreneurs; notes that SMEs in particular are the backbone of the European economy and that they have been hit hard by high inflation and energy prices; proposes, as a result, an increase of EUR 5 million above the DB for the SME strand of the Single Market programme, notably to support the European net-zero industry academies;

32. Further proposes a number of additional reinforcements for selected budget lines in Heading 1, among which InvestEU, the Anti-Fraud Programme, Space and Customs cooperation; commends the impact of Space Programme on the security of the Union by providing early warnings to the relevant authorities in times of crises, such as floods, through Copernicus and providing crucial navigation services to rescue and transport services through Galileo; underlines the increasing needs in investing in both Space programme strands in the future;

33. Reiterates the important role played by the decentralised agencies active under this heading; proposes to increase appropriations for the European Union Agency for Railways and for the BEREC Office in line with their identified needs and expanding mandates;

34. Reinforces Heading 1 by EUR 341 566 628 in commitment appropriations above the DB (excluding pilot projects and preparatory actions) and by EUR 984 803 912 compared to the Council reading;

Heading 2a - Economic, social and territorial cohesion

35. Underlines the key role cohesion policy plays in delivering on Union policy priorities, improving peoples' quality of life and boosting the Union economy by contributing to fair, inclusive and sustainable growth and development, promoting economic and social convergence between countries and regions, notably outermost regions, addressing regional and social inequalities, supporting the green and digital transitions, and fostering innovation and employment; reiterates that cohesion policy is not a crisis response tool and, therefore, should not be called on to make up for shortcomings in budgetary flexibility or crisis response mechanisms to the detriment of its long-term policy objectives; calls on the Commission and all Member States to accelerate implementation of cohesion policy, in parallel to the implementation of the Recovery and Resilience Facility;

36. Recalls that the execution of operational programmes in the Member States and regions should be accelerated and calls on Member States to prevent delays caused by a lack of administrative capacity at all levels of governance; wishes to allocate the remaining margin of EUR 755 965 to the budget line for Operational technical assistance, to contribute towards accelerating implementation ;

37. Reinforces Heading 2a by EUR 755 965 in commitment appropriations, i.e. by the remaining margin under the sub-ceiling, above the DB (excluding pilot projects and preparatory actions) and by EUR 889 718 compared to the Council reading;

Heading 2b - Resilience and values

38. Underlines that the expenditure programmes under Heading 2b have to share the already tight resources and margins under Heading 2b with the EURI budget line which covers the NGEU debt management and interest costs and, eventually, debt repayments, and that this has de facto prevented the Commission from proposing reinforcements where they are needed; is intent on covering these borrowing costs in a reliable and transparent manner without having to reduce programme allocations for this purpose; is convinced that, for 2025, the cascade mechanism and the newly created EURI Special Instrument make it possible that this objective can be achieved; emphasises that this is a crucial message to the beneficiaries of EU funding and the public at large;

39. Stresses, in an effort to spare the programmes under this heading from undue budgetary rigidity, that it deems the margin of EUR 46.2 million to be available for the programme top-ups in Heading 2b; wishes the equivalent amount for the EURI cascade to be covered by the de-commitment compartment of the EURI special instrument;

40. Recalls that programmes under Heading 2b play a key role in ensuring resilience and values by providing support and opportunities for young people through Erasmus+, including support to the Special Olympics World Games (SOWG) 2025, and through the European Solidarity Corps; emphasises that both programmes are required by law to put in place measures to boost participation rates among people with fewer opportunities and from disadvantaged backgrounds; calls for a readjustment of Erasmus+ grants to account for higher inflation and higher living costs; proposes to reinforce support for the Union Civil Protection Mechanism and the Citizens, Equality, Rights and Values programme, to invest in preventing cardiovascular diseases (CVD), cancer diseases, rare diseases and diseases affecting mental health, by increasing EU4Health, to invest in skills development, including through reskilling and upskilling, to ensure social security coordination in order to facilitate labour mobility and easier transfer of social security benefits and to support vulnerable communities, as well as rural, isolated, insular and mountainous areas, social dialogue, labour mobility, trade unions, and the cultural and creative sectors;

41. Is alarmed by the ever-growing impact of natural disasters; underlines that these disasters are often linked to the worsening climate change and are therefore likely to occur with greater frequency and intensity in the future; is, therefore, highly concerned about the Union's ability to respond effectively and in a timely and effective manner; wishes to protect human lives and secure livelihoods; stresses the need to invest in climate mitigation and adaptation measures, in particular in vulnerable regions; stresses, in this context, the urgent need to boost the Union's response capacity; increases, therefore, appropriations for the Union Civil Protection Mechanism by EUR 42 million above DB; calls for a prioritisation of investments that help reduce the impact of natural disasters as well as in the investments in the preventive measures, preparedness and resilience; stresses that the Union should find the resources to express solidarity by supporting the areas, citizens and companies affected by the recent devastating floods in Central and Eastern Europe in September 2024[17];

42. Underlines the importance of a stronger Health Union and enhanced protection, prevention, preparedness and response against human health hazards; highlights the vital role that the EU4Health programme plays in this respect, as well as in supporting actions to achieve universal health coverage across the Union, including access to quality sexual and reproductive health services especially considering the backlash against women's rights in several Member States ; proposes to increase the programme's appropriations by EUR 50 million above DB to strengthen health resilience and preparedness for future health crises and in support of investments in preventing cardiovascular diseases (CVD), cancer, rare diseases, diseases affecting children and supporting the actions for improving the mental health of European citizens, particularly teenagers;

43. Reiterates its unwavering support for promoting the learning mobility of young people and researchers contributing to building of a European Education Area; proposes to reinforce, against this background, the EU flagship programme Erasmus+, and the European Solidarity Corps (ESC) programme, which play a vital role in supporting learning mobility opportunities, improving people's skills and employability as well as engaging them in Europe's democratic life; emphasises that both programmes are required by law to put in place measures to boost participation rates among people with fewer opportunities and from disadvantaged backgrounds and calls for a readjustment of Erasmus+ grants to account for higher inflation and higher living costs; is committed to ensuring that Erasmus+ does not become a de facto selective programme open only to those who can afford to participate and recalls that the Commission is required to put in place financial support measures for people with fewer opportunities; proposes, therefore, an increase of EUR 70 million for Erasmus+; insists that the top-up be used to contribute in particular to the programme's over-arching aim of becoming more accessible, including by providing the necessary increased financial support per participant with fewer opportunities; proposes, moreover, a reinforcement of EUR 1 million for the ESC above DB, specifically to ensure the programme is accessible for all;

44. Underscores the continued socio-economic challenges in the cultural and creative sectors, which are often made up of small organisations and individual artists, and the key role of these sectors in fostering media literacy, combatting disinformation, and promoting and protecting media freedom and pluralism as the basis for a functioning democracy; proposes to increase financing for programmes dedicated to the conservation, restoration, and enhancement of cultural and historical sites, as well as for the promotion of regional traditions and languages and to make use of the funding available under Creative Europe to protect the Jewish heritage in Europe; increases, therefore, the financing for the various strands of the Creative Europe programme by a total of EUR 8 million above the DB;

45. Reiterates the indispensable role of the Citizens, Equality, Rights and Values programme in promoting European values and citizens' rights, in fostering active civic engagement, in building resilient societies and raising awareness on disinformation, in combatting gender-based violence, notably violence against women, girls and the LGBTQI+ community, and in supporting the key principles of democracy, the rule of law, solidarity, inclusiveness, justice, non-discrimination and equality; proposes, therefore, to increase appropriations for the programme by EUR 9 million above the DB, with reinforcements for the equality and rights, 'citizens' engagement and participation', Daphne and 'Union values' strands, the latter providing direct funding to civil society organisations working closest to the citizens at local, national and Union Level to protect and promote EU values and to counter democratic backsliding;

46. Demands an increase of the support to the Turkish-Cypriot line by EUR 1 million above DB in order to finance the Committee on Missing Persons in Cyprus and support the bi-communal Technical Committee on Cultural Heritage;

47. Deems it necessary to allocate adequate resources for the effective implementation of EU rules on social security coordination in order to facilitate labour mobility and easier transfer of social security benefits and free movement of workers in order to establish a real labour market at European level contributing to the completion of the single market by topping up the financing of the relevant line by EUR 2 million;

48. Underlines the significance of the social dimension in the Union budget and the need for effective social dialogue, proper information and training for workers' organisations, with a view to further developing and increasing the capacity and involvement of social partners; highlights the importance of the free movement of workers, coordination of social security schemes and the EaSI strand of ESF+ for labour mobility and social protection; reinforces, therefore, the financing for the relevant lines;

49. Recalls the important role played by the decentralised agencies and the European Public Prosecutor's Office (EPPO) under Heading 2b, reinforces funding and staffing levels for the Fundamental Rights Agency, for the European Institute for Gender Equality, the European Labour Authority and the European Union Agency for Criminal Justice Cooperation in line with the agencies' identified needs; underlines the importance of protecting the Union budget against fraud, corruption and other misconduct, thus reinforcing public perception on EU's capacity to protect taxpayers' money; stresses, in this regard, the central role that the EPPO plays in protecting the Union's financial interests, including with respect to the use of NextGenerationEU funds, and ensuring compliance with the rule of law; proposes, in this regard, to reinforce the EPPO in terms of financing and staff to allow the body to fulfil its duties and protect the Union's financial interests;

50. Reinforces Heading 2b overall by EUR 241 750 000 in commitment appropriations above the DB levels (excluding pilot projects and preparatory actions) and by EUR 1 050 328 669 compared to the Council reading;

Heading 3 - Natural Resources and Environment

51. Recalls that programmes under Heading 3 play a key role in bolstering support for farmers, notably the younger generation, across the Union, in particular given the farmers' discontent, the extreme weather conditions, ongoing challenges of the Russia's war of aggression against Ukraine and the critical role that agriculture plays in food security; stresses the crucial role of the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) in this regard and recalls the objectives under Article 39 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union, which include increasing agricultural productivity by promoting technical progress, optimum utilisation of the factors of productions, ensuring a reasonable standard of living for farmers, and guaranteeing food security; highlights the critical importance of LIFE, given its role in protecting biodiversity and fostering climate action and the clean energy transition;

52. Reiterates its concern about the negative impact of Russia's war of aggression against Ukraine on global food security and affordability and about farmers' ability to withstand inflationary pressure and increased input prices; emphasises the need to help new and young farmers and asks for investments on generational renewal through targeted funding programmes as well as small and medium-sized farmers with additional means and thereby ensure the sustainability of the sector and generational renewal; notes that CAP direct payments have significantly decreased in real terms due to inflation, while the administrative burden on farmers has increased; reminds that the common agricultural policy represents about 30% of the EU budget and created a legal framework with financial benefits for healthy food and more sustainable practices, by supporting all the farmers, who make efforts in this green transition beneficial for the health of citizens and for local producers; stresses the vital importance of sufficient funding for agriculture, including for the Programme of options specifically relating to remoteness and insularity (POSEI) in order to uphold the viability of agriculture in outermost regions; proposes, therefore, to increase income support to young farmers by EUR 40 million above the DB;

53. Emphasizes that farmers and rural communities are vital contributors to quality, food security, and the safeguarding of European food security, and they play a key role in the preservation of rural areas and in countering the depopulation of the most remote areas; it further underscores that they also have a strategic role in zones characterized by high seismic, hydrogeological, and drought risk, and therefore require adequate support from the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP);

54. Underscores the negative impact of droughts and other extreme, climate change induced, weather patterns on the agricultural sector; stresses the need to better address the impacts of floods, droughts and wildfires on agricultural primary production, food security and farmers' income; calls for an agricultural reserve that reflects the needs of the farmers to better cope with the climatic events; underlines the importance of the fruit and vegetables sector, of school schemes as well as promotional measures of agricultural products under the Common Agricultural Policy; calls for maintaining an inclusive and strong budget for the promotion of agricultural products as this programme is essential to increase awareness and recognition of Union quality schemes as well as the competitiveness of Union agricultural products; decides, therefore, to increase the allocation of these budget lines under the European Agricultural Guarantee Fund by a total of EUR 56 million above the DB; emphasises equally the importance of investing in the digitalisation of small and medium-sized farms and the acquisition of equipment to implement good environmental practices in farming and to contribute to environmental sustainability in Union agriculture;

55. Recalls the economic, social and environmental relevance of fisheries, aquaculture and maritime affairs and the specific economic challenges faced by the small-scale, artisanal and coastal fishing sector; stresses the strategic role of fisheries and the related sectors in this regard and expresses concern over the lack of clarity over the consequences of the Commission proposal to cut the budget of the EMFAF; insists that special attention must be devoted to the fishing fleets in order to improve safety, working conditions, energy efficiency and environmental sustainability, including renewal of the fleet;

56. Underlines the indispensable and complementary role that the LIFE programme, as EU flagship programme, plays in catalysing measures towards climate adaptation and mitigation, in delivering on the European Green Deal and achieving the Union's climate neutrality goal, in line with the Paris Agreement, by investing in nature and biodiversity, reducing emissions and increasing the use of renewable energy and creating a circular economy, protecting ecosystems and reversing the alarming trend of biodiversity loss; emphasises the role of the LIFE programme in accelerating the just transition; proposes, therefore, to increase appropriations for the programme by EUR 49 million above the DB; supports the EEA with a modest increase in funding and staff;

57. Recalls that, traditionally, an Amending Letter will complete the picture regarding available resources under the European Agricultural Guarantee Fund and that the approach to amendments can be adjusted accordingly in the course of the conciliation;

58. Reinforces Heading 3 by EUR 145 250 000 in commitment appropriations above the DB (excluding pilot projects and preparatory actions) and by EUR 149 134 000 compared to the Council reading;

Heading 4 - Migration and Border Management

59. Recalls that programmes under Heading 4 play a key role to reinforce funding for migration and effective border management in light of the migratory challenges resulting from the current geopolitical context, and to ensure necessary funding for the full accession of Romania and Bulgaria to the Schengen Area;

60. Underlines that instability in neighbouring regions, as well as poverty and underlying trends in economic development, demographic changes, but also economic reasons, continue to create migration flows towards the Union, placing significant pressure on programmes and agencies under Heading 4;

61. Stresses that the smooth and efficient implementation of the Union's migration and asylum policy by Member States is key to ensuring the security of the Union and preserving the free movement of people within the Union; insists that the Union's migration and asylum policy should be governed by the principle of solidarity and fair sharing of responsibility, including its financial implications, between the Member States as enshrined in Article 80 of the TEU, and in respect for fundamental rights, in line with Union values and international commitments;

62. Notes that additional financing is needed under the Asylum, Migration and Integration Fund (AMIF) in order to ensure appropriate and speedy implementation of the Asylum and Migration Pact; decides, therefore, to reinforce the AMIF by EUR 25 million above DB in 2025 given AMIF's positive contribution in providing immediate support to refugees;

63. Underlines the importance for Member States to comply with their commitments, including upholding the right to asylum, and ensuring effective, humane and fair management and protection of the EU's external borders, as well as effective, safe and dignified reception, integration and return and readmission procedures; underlines the need to better protect vulnerable people from smuggling and trafficking networks and address the negative effects of the instrumentalisation of migrants as part of hybrid attacks, notably by pro-Russian forces; recalls the crucial role the Asylum, Migration and Integration Fund (AMIF) and the Border Management and Visa Instrument (BMVI) play in this regard, in particular supporting Member States with reinforced border protection capabilities including physical infrastructure, buildings, equipment, systems and services required at border crossing points, as provided for in annex III of the BMVI regulation as well as meeting the requirements of reception conditions for asylum seekers and migrants; underlines that the BMVI should support the acceleration of Romania's and Bulgaria's accession to the Schengen area; proposes therefore to increase appropriations for the BMVI by EUR 35 million above DB;

64. Highlights the need for the European Border and Coast Guard Agency (Frontex) to have the requisite resources to carry out its tasks in accordance with its mandate - border control activities at the EU's external borders, assistance to national authorities on search and rescue, return operations, sharing intelligence and expertise with all EU countries as well as the neighbouring non-EU countries affected by migratory trends and cross-border crime; notes that Frontex is the biggest and fastest growing EU agency, and acknowledges that this creates challenges in terms of absorption capacity and staff recruitment; reiterates that the enhanced competences and resources allocated to the Agency must be accompanied by increased transparency and accountability as well as full respect for and protection of fundamental rights; calls on the Agency to continue to improve its efficiency and effectiveness; decides to restore the DB for the agency;

65. Proposes to reinforce the European Union Agency for the Operational Management of Large-Scale IT Systems in the Area of Freedom, Security and Justice (eu-LISA) by EUR 2 million and to reinforce staff at the European Union Agency for Asylum (EUAA) considering the Agencies' increased workload;

66. Reinforces Heading 4 overall by EUR 62 000 000 in commitment appropriations above the DB and by EUR 127 873 362 compared to the Council reading;

Heading 5 - Security and Defence

67. Recalls the highly unstable geopolitical situation and international environment around the Union giving rise to greater security and defence challenges since the beginning of Russia's war of aggression against Ukraine; considers that the Union's current budget for ensuring the security of Europeans is not equal to the challenges to be met in the short and long term; therefore supports significantly increasing financial and budgetary EU investment for European defence; calls on the European Commission to pay particular attention to the EU's external borders neighbouring Russia and frontline countries;

68. Underlines the need to top up the Internal Security Fund to ensure sufficient funding for the fight against serious and organised crime with a cross border dimension, cybercrime as well as funding to tackle terrorism and radicalisation; stresses that financial reinforcements are also crucial for combatting the rise of anti-Semitism in Europe by supporting multinational projects on best practices and enhancing exchange of information; considers a reinforcement of EUR 5 million to be justified for this purpose; restores Secure Connectivity to the level of the DB in order not to delay the advancement of a recently agreed programme;

69. Highlights in particular the importance of reinforcing the means for European cooperation in defence matters and the harmonisation of the defence sector to better respond to the unprecedented geopolitical challenges; considers that such cooperation not only makes Europe and its citizens safer but also leads to greater efficiency, potential savings and strategic autonomy; notes the importance of 'military mobility' in funding dual-use transport infrastructure, enabling Member States to rapidly concentrate military power in the context of the war and to support missions and operations under the common security and defence policy; underlines that the programme is oversubscribed and has substantial absorption capacity; decides, therefore, to increase appropriations for 'military mobility' by EUR 20 million above the DB;

70. Strongly supports EU efforts to tackle rising security threats such as the spread of disinformation, including online disinformation, fake news campaigns against the EU, terrorism, radicalisation and violent extremism within the EU and its neighbouring countries;

71. Recalls the crucial role played by decentralised agencies operating in the field of security and law enforcement, in particular with regard to the European Union Agency for Law Enforcement Cooperation (Europol) and the European Union Drugs Agency (EUDA) which have both seen their mandates expanded; proposes targeted staffing increases and financial reinforcements to allow them to properly perform their new tasks;

72. Reinforces Heading 5 overall by EUR 41 000 000 in commitment appropriations above the DB and by EUR 46 000 000 compared to the Council;

Heading 6 - Neighbourhood and the World

73. Emphasises that, and once more as a consequence of Russia's war of aggression against Ukraine, the international context has deteriorated rapidly as a result of the food, energy, humanitarian and economic crises , which have dramatically increased pressure on Heading 6; welcomes the fact that the introduction of the Ukraine Facility over the MFF ceilings and the Western Balkan Facility provides a stable basis for support for Ukraine and the Western Balkan countries and releases some pressure on the availabilities within Heading 6 and more particularly on the cushion and buffers in the NDICI envelope; reminds that the commensurate redeployments generate gaps on some other budget lines which are difficult to manage;

74. Reiterates its full support to Ukraine in the fight for its freedom and democracy; deplores the terrible impact of lives and the suffering of Ukraine People caused by unprovoked and unjustifiable Russia's war of aggression; welcomes the decision to grant the Ukraine candidate country status and insists on the need to deploy the necessary funds to support its accession process;

75. Stresses the importance of the Southern Neighbourhood line in supporting political, economic and social reforms in the region taking into consideration the increasing humanitarian needs in the region as well as other purposes of regional cooperation in providing assistance to refugees, in particular Syrian and Palestinian refugees, and in enabling support along the southern migration routes; proposes to increase appropriations for the line by EUR 60 million above the DB, including to reinforce funding for UNRWA based on EU regulations and values;

76. Underlines that the war continues to have significant effects on countries in the Eastern Neighbourhood, such as the Republic of Moldova, that have provided shelter and assistance to refugees fleeing the war and faced the knock-on effects of sky-high inflation and energy prices; stresses the need for targeted financial and technical assistance to help these countries stabilise their economies and strengthen public infrastructure amidst these pressures; underlines the importance of sustained support for candidate countries in implementing the necessary accession-related reforms and in enhancing their resilience and preventing and countering hybrid threats; decides, therefore, to increase appropriations by EUR 50 million above the DB for the Eastern Neighbourhood to address these complex challenges; proposes, furthermore, to increase accession-related support under the Instrument for Pre-Accession (IPA III) by EUR 3 million in 2025 to accelerate the reform process, enhance resilience, and ensure a smooth transition towards EU standards;

77. Proposes to place an amount of EUR 30 million in reserve that can be lifted upon an unconditional withdrawal by the Georgian Government of the controversial law on 'transparency of foreign influence' and a clear commitment that it would not propose such a law again; further emphasises the importance of ensuring that any legislative action aligns with democratic principles, transparency, and human rights, reinforcing Georgia's pathway towards European integration; underlines that the remaining funding for Georgia should be redirected as much as possible to support civil society.

78. Proposes to reinforce funding for several budget lines under the NDICI chapter, in particular the Global Challenges thematic strand; emphasises the importance of strengthening cooperation with African countries, particularly in the areas of sustainable development and economic partnership and in line with the existing instruments of enhanced cooperation between EU Member States and African countries; stresses the importance of the People strand in reducing catastrophic food insecurity in many countries in the World and in supporting health, education, gender equality and women's and girls' empowerment; highlights that support to women and girls to access quality education significantly improves their chances to acquire the knowledge and skills to compete in the labour market, gain life skills necessary to navigate and make decisions about their own lives; highlights the need to ensure sufficient EU support to promote the protection of women's rights, sexual and reproductive health and LGBTIQ+ rights and to further reinforce the work on these aspects by civil society organisations, human rights defenders and journalists, especially in countries where these rights are under threat;

79. Shares the Council's assessment that the needs for humanitarian aid have reached new heights; considers that, given the highly challenging international context, increasing geopolitical instability, accelerating humanitarian disasters around the globe, rising extreme poverty and hunger, and the ongoing climate change-induced emergencies, humanitarian aid needs in 2025 are expected to be much higher than estimated by the Council and the Commission, not least since humanitarian aid to Ukraine will continue to be covered under Heading 6 rather than the Ukraine Facility; points out that the Union's humanitarian aid budget has relied heavily on the Emergency Aid Reserve (EAR), driving resources away from the EAR's other objectives and reducing the Union's ability to respond to emergencies; insists that the proposal with the possible mobilisations of EAR will still fall short of needs and regrets that the lack of available margin under Heading 6 does not allow for further reinforcement; proposes, therefore, to increase appropriations for humanitarian aid by EUR 120 million compared to the DB;

80. Wishes to add item lines in the new budget article for the Western Balkan Facility, following up on a previous declaration and the intention of the Council regarding a new nomenclature; proposes to create one line per beneficiary country in the region without putting into question the facility's reform incentives and intervention logic; ensures, thus, better transparency and accountability to the budget authority;

81. Calls for consistent and sustainable budgeting for all gender-related activities in the EU Defence and Security sector, in line with the EU Action Plan on Women, Peace and Security;

82. Further to strengthening the availabilities in the external policies heading, proposes to add EUR 4 million to the budget line for civilian CSDP missions and EUR 1 million to Nuclear Safety;

83. Overall, reinforces Heading 6 by EUR 256 200 000 in commitment appropriations above the DB and by EUR 234 461 645 compared to the Council reading;

Heading 7 - European Public Administration

84. Recalls that spending under Heading 7 should be set at a level that guarantees that the Union has an effective and efficient administration; considers that the Council's cuts in this heading are unjustified and would not allow the Commission to recruit suitable staff in Luxembourg and to fulfil its tasks; restores therefore the DB for the Commission administrative expenditure, including with respect to its Offices;

Pilot projects and preparatory actions (PP-PAs)

85. Recalls the importance of pilot projects and preparatory actions (PP-PAs) as tools for the formulation of political priorities and the introduction of new initiatives that have the potential to turn into standing Union activities and programmes; adopts, following a careful analysis of all the proposals submitted and taking fully into account the Commission's assessment of their compliance with legal requirements and implementability, a balanced package of PP-PAs that reflects Parliament's political priorities; calls on the Commission to swiftly implement PP-PAs and provide feedback on their performance and results delivered on the ground;

Payments

86. Underlines the need to provide a sufficient level of payment appropriations in the 2025 budget and decides, as a general rule, to reinforce payment appropriations on those lines which are amended in commitment appropriations;

Other Sections

Section I - European Parliament

87. Maintains unchanged the overall level of its budget for 2025 set at EUR 2 499 233 329, in line with its estimates of revenue and expenditure for the financial year 2025; incorporates budgetary-neutral adjustments to reflect updated information which was not available earlier this year;

88. Calls for an establishment of the Single Seat of the European Parliament;

89. Reiterates the Parliament's priorities for the forthcoming financial year, namely, focusing Parliament's budget on its core functions of co-legislator, acting as one arm of the budgetary authority, representing citizens and scrutinizing the work of other institutions and the implementation of EU legislation, as well as providing the resources for cyber-security and IT development and priority projects on engaging with citizens as well as green and accessible Parliament;

90. In line with its resolution of 25 April 2024 on its estimates of revenue and expenditure for the financial year 2025 and taking into account the answers provided by the Secretary-General of the Parliament on 2 September 2024:

(a) recalls that visitors groups in all the places of work of the Parliament represent an important tool for Members to connect with constituents and to demonstrate their parliamentary work to constituents; welcomes the fact that the Secretary-General will propose to the Quaestors to adjust the ceilings to reflect the increased costs faced by visitors groups; expects the decision on the adjustment of the ceilings to be taken as soon as possible;

(b) notes that it is planned to have 19 European Experiences opened outside Brussels by end of 2025; reiterates its calls for the establishment of Europa Experiences in all Member States as soon as possible; recalls that Europa Experiences should allow all citizens to have a better understanding of the functioning of the Union institutions;

(c) notes that Parliament is working on a building renovation plan and a comprehensive long-term building strategy to take into account new ways of working, costs, budgetary constraints and the targets and objectives of the Green Deal and 'Fit for 55' legislative package; expects the Committee on Budgets to be informed in a timely manner;

(d) looks forward to the installation of photovoltaic panels to full capacity in the PFLIMLIN and DE MADARIAGA and CHURCHILL buildings;

(e) insists on the need to increase chartered train capacity between Brussels and Strasbourg in 2025;

(f) highlights that one of the most powerful weapons against disinformation is fact-based communication regarding the Parliament's activities including outreach in the languages of linguistic minorities and communities, where appropriate; welcomes the comprehensive actions taken by the services, including the EPLOs, in that regard; expects that such activities are further strengthened, including the close cooperation with other EU institutions and security services in Member States;

(g) recalls that the Secretary-General committed to initiate discussions with the responsible governing bodies before the end of 2024 on the possibility for APAs, subject to certain conditions, to accompany Members of the European Parliament on official Parliament delegations and missions during the conciliation between the Bureau and the Committee on Budgets on Preliminary Draft Estimates of the European Parliament for 2025 last April.

91. Takes note that Article 44(2) of the Implementing Measures of the Members of the European Parliament Statute provides for the possibility to finance extra costs linked to the parliamentary assistance budgets transferring appropriations from their General Expenditure Allowance (GEA); calls on Parliament's administration to take the necessary measures to enable Members who wish to do so to use their GEA to cover the cost of APA missions; highlights that such a measure would help Members to address their increasing staffing needs while being budgetary neutral;

92. Points out that multilingualism is a fundamental principle that makes the content of deliberations in the EU institutions more accessible and transparent, and ensures that proceedings are democratic;

Other Sections (Sections IV-X)

93. Is deeply concerned with the situation of Heading 7 of the current MFF; recalls that the constraints are the results of the cuts applied by the Council to the Commission's already very low initial proposal when agreeing on the current MFF 2021-2027; regrets the Council's opposition to the Commission's proposal to increase the ceiling of Heading 7 in the MFF revision as from 2024; points to the failure to address the issue of the ceiling of Heading 7 in the MFF revision; highlights that the forecasted negative margin for 2025 presupposes the use of special instruments in Heading 7 for that purpose;

94. Condemns the Commission's horizontal approach to reduce the estimates of the institutions in order to adhere to the principle of stable staffing, and to a maximum increase of 2 % for non-salary related expenditure, despite the inflationary context and irrespective of new tasks given to the institutions by the Commission and the co-legislators; underlines the negative consequences of this approach on the work of the institutions and working conditions of their staff;

95. Highlights that the largest parts of the institutions' budgets are fixed by statutory or contractual obligations impacted by inflation; is concerned about the high cost of living and the increasing prices in Luxembourg, in particular the rising housing costs entailing difficulties for all institutions based in Luxembourg in recruiting staff; highlights the importance of the housing allowance as a temporary solution to this challenge; rejects the Council's horizontal approach to cut the appropriations for the housing allowances in these institutions;

96. Rejects the Council decision to reduce the estimates of the Commission, of the Court of Justice and of the European Court of Auditors by an additional amount in order to compensate for the housing allowance in the Parliament budget; is of the opinion that inviting the Parliament to reconsider its position on the allowance in its own budget by reducing the estimates of the other institutions by the corresponding amount is against the gentlemen's agreement;

97. Highlights the need for the institutions to have sufficient staff in order to fulfil their mandate; welcomes the continuous efforts made by the institutions to redeploy staff and find additional efficiency gains but recognises the limits of this approach over the years; stresses the inevitability of reinforcing the amount of staff when necessary in order for the institutions to fulfil their mandates;

98. In line with the gentlemen's agreement, does not modify the Council's reading concerning the Council and the European Council;

99. Increases, for the following duly justified cases, the level of appropriations or staff above the DB in order to give the institutions enough resources to perform adequately, efficiently and effectively the growing number of tasks from their mandate and to be equipped for the upcoming challenges, in particular as regards cyber-security; proposes therefore to:

(a) restore the level of appropriations in line with the estimates of the Court of Justice of the European Union and the European Ombudsman, by increasing the level of appropriations above the DB for budgetary lines that cover cyber-security and operational needs;

(b) restore the level of appropriations partially in line with the estimates of the European Court of Auditors, the European Economic and Social Committee, the European Committee of the Regions, the European Data Protection Supervisor and the European External Action Service by increasing the appropriations above the DB for budgetary lines covering building security, particularly in delegations, cyber-security and operational needs;

(c) increase the establishment plans above the DB with the corresponding appropriations in line with the institutions' requests for the Court of Justice of the European Union and the European Data Protection Supervisor and European Data Protection Board and partially in line with the institutions' requests for the European Economic and Social Committee and the European Committee of the Regions, to enable them to face increasing workload and cyber-security challenges.

o

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100. Instructs its President to forward this resolution, together with the amendments to the draft general budget, to the Council, the Commission, the other institutions and bodies concerned and the national parliaments.

ANNEX: ENTITIES OR PERSONSFROM WHOM THE RAPPORTEURS HAVE RECEIVED INPUT

ENTITIES OR PERSONS
FROM WHOM VICTOR NEGRESCU (RAPPORTEUR) HAS RECEIVED INPUT

Pursuant to Article 8 of Annex I to the Rules of Procedure, the rapporteur declares that he has received input from the following entities or persons in the preparation of the report, prior to the adoption thereof in committee:

The list above is drawn up under the exclusive responsibility of the rapporteur.

Where natural persons are identified in the list by their name, by their function or by both, the rapporteur declares that he has submitted to the concerned natural persons the European Parliament's Data Protection Notice No 484 (https://www.europarl.europa.eu/data-protect/index.do), which sets out the conditions applicable to the processing of their personal data and the rights linked to that processing.

ENTITIES OR PERSONS
FROM WHOM NICLAS HERBST (RAPPORTEUR) HAS RECEIVED INPUT

Pursuant to Article 8 of Annex I to the Rules of Procedure, the rapporteur declares that he has received input from the following entities or persons in the preparation of the report, prior to the adoption thereof in committee:

The list above is drawn up under the exclusive responsibility of the rapporteur.

Where natural persons are identified in the list by their name, by their function or by both, the rapporteur declares that he has submitted to the concerned natural persons the European Parliament's Data Protection Notice No 484 (https://www.europarl.europa.eu/data-protect/index.do), which sets out the conditions applicable to the processing of their personal data and the rights linked to that processing.

OPINION OF THE COMMITTEE ON FOREIGN AFFAIRS(1.10.2024)

for the Committee on Budgets

on the draft general budget of the European Union for the financial year 2025

(2024/0176(BUD))

Rapporteur for opinion: Hilde Vautmans

OPINION

The Committee on Foreign Affairs calls on the Committee on Budgets, as the committee responsible, to incorporate the following into its motion for a resolution:

A. whereas the growing instability and the rise of unprecedented challenges in the immediate European neighbourhood and the international environment increases the demands on the Union to act with a budget fit for that purpose and to significantly strengthen its security and defence capabilities, while avoiding duplication with NATO structures;

B. whereas that sufficient funding is key to the EU's credibility as a stronger, more assertive, and more strategic actor on the world stage;

C. whereas the Union and its Member States have contributed approximately EUR 95 billion in financial, humanitarian, refugee and military assistance to Ukraine, as of July 2024, to support it in the context of Russia's war of aggression, including approximately EUR 32 billion of military aid with a further EUR 21 billion reportedly to be allocated until 2025; whereas the Union must continue to provide long-term support to Ukraine in its struggle for independence and self-defence against Russia's war of aggression and take all necessary actions, including from a budgetary standpoint, for as long as it takes to secure Ukraine's victory;

D. whereas the efficiency of the EU's actions worldwide is subjected to ensuring the highest level of coordination and coherence in the EU's external action, particularly by ascertaining the HR/VP leading role as a bridge builder between the CFSP and EU external relations; whereas coordination among the Commission and the EEAS should be strengthened, particularly due to the lack of operational budget of the EEAS, including by guaranteeing full compliance of Article 3.2 and 9 of the EEAS Decision;

E. whereas the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA) acts as the backbone of the humanitarian response in Gaza and provides stability to the region through the provision of essential services amid increasing needs;

1. Calls on the Member States to double the budget allocated to the development of capabilities under the Common Security and Defence Policy in order to make cooperation in defence at the EU level the rule to ensure the safety of its citizens, and maintain stability both within Europe and globally, including bolstering cybersecurity defences to counter cyber-attacks on critical infrastructure, businesses, and governmental institutions, which is vital for safeguarding both the economy and citizen safety, while ensuring that the Union can respond quickly and efficiently to crises;

2. Points out that the unprecedented challenges in the global environment, peace and geopolitical instability, along with the threats the EU is facing must be met by a substantial EU reaction, matched by appropriate and sufficient budgetary means for the EU to protect itself and the citizens and live up to the geopolitical challenges; welcomes the revision of the Multiannual Financial Framework (MFF) earlier this year which led to an increase in Heading 6; is, however, concerned about the significant increase of budgetary allocations dedicated to the external dimension of migration; in this context, urges the Commission to increase transparency and ensure full human rights compliance with regards to this funding, including through the use of monitoring and application of human rights conditionality;

3. Welcomes the adoption of two new instruments, namely the Ukraine Facility and the Western Balkans Facility, which will provide additional targeted support to Ukraine and the six Western Balkans countries; against this background, warns that the growing costs of Ukraine's sustainable reconstruction and recovery will tremendously transcend the EUR 50 billion budget of the Facility, especially as Russia continues escalating its destruction of Ukraine, particularly targeting residential areas and the country's natural environment; expresses concern about the growing humanitarian needs in Ukraine over the course of 2024 and calls for sustained sufficient EU funding for both emergency and long-term humanitarian aid in Ukraine; calls for additional funding for Ukraine ahead of the winter, especially in the area of humanitarian aid and energy security; urges Hungary to lift its blockade of the European Peace Facility funding for Ukraine, including the agreed reimbursement for Member States for military assistance already delivered;

4. Welcomes the decision to grant Ukraine and the Republic of Moldova candidate country status and insists on the need to deploy the necessary funds to support their accession process; stresses that the allocation for the Instrument for Pre-accession Assistance (IPA III) and pertinent budget lines under the NDICI - Global Europe in 2025 should catalyse the cooperation with Moldova as well as with Georgia in line with the agreement on the MFF revision;

5. Calls for greater support for independent media fighting Russian disinformation and propaganda, in particular media in the national languages of the Eastern Partnership countries, Russian-language media inside and outside Russia, as well as media in the Western Balkans and in the African countries where the Wagner Group is active;

6. Is particularly concerned about the approach taken in the MFF revision to only have a net increase of Heading 6 of EUR 3,1 billion whereas the other EUR 4,5 billion shall be covered through redeployments within this heading; is concerned if there will be sufficient amounts of decommitments for the latter to actually materialise; highlights that sufficient funding is key to the Union's credibility as a stronger, more assertive, and more strategic actor on the world stage;

7. Notes that the Commission presented a budget proposal of EUR 16 258 million, close to MFF ceiling in Heading 6 with a remaining available margin of EUR 44,8 million; notes furthermore that Council increased the budget for humanitarian aid by EUR 30 million, believes however that this amount will not be sufficient to be able to respond to both emerging and ongoing crises; recalls that the Parliament from the outset considered the MFF ceiling in Heading 6 as insufficient given the geopolitical necessities;

8. Regrets that, with the exception of the Southern Neighbourhood, the Commission and the Council foresee reductions in commitments for all geographic envelopes under NDICI; in this context, notes with concern the reductions for the Neighbourhood East in NDICI which is underfunded by EUR 150 million for the remainder of this MFF; considers it therefore necessary for the 2025 Union budget to increase this budget line by EUR 50 million; emphasizes that additional support related to emerging threats should not come at the expense of ongoing and long-term geopolitical challenges worldwide, particularly in Africa, Latin America and the Caribbean; highlights that a well-funded NDICI is essential for the Union to be seen as a trustworthy partner and counteract the influence of other global powers; furthermore reminds that against a backdrop of increasing violations of human rights and democratic values across the world, as well as the weakening of protection of democratic institutions and the shrinking space for civil societies, the Union needs to count on a strong budget for the NDICI;

9. Underlines that in the context of the current dynamic geopolitical circumstances, and growing global instability, one of the European priorities is safeguarding the EU external borders; therefore, a consistent and reliable budget of Frontex is of utmost importance to adequately address the need for a comprehensive management of the EU borders;

10. Believes that further targeted reinforcements are needed in areas such as digital diplomacy and cybersecurity, the fight against foreign interference and disinformation, capacity development, enlargement, election observation, nuclear safety, social and environmental challenges, support for civil society organisations and human rights defenders, addressing root causes for migration and encouraging private sector investments; calls, in this regard, for the use of flexibility instruments such as the Single Margin Instrument;

11. Considers that resources and tools for digital diplomacy and the use of Artificial Intelligence in the EU's External Action and security and defence should be further strengthened; stresses that in a moment of rapid technological advancements and geopolitical competition, the EU's leadership in these areas is crucial for its relevance and resilience; highlights that it is crucial to explore new ways on how to collaborate with third countries in this regard and create platforms for the transfer of knowledge and for co-creation;

12. Stresses that, against the backdrop of the war in Ukraine, Russia is conducting sophisticated fake news campaigns in vulnerable countries, including some that are in the throes of elections, and exploiting digital platforms to foment hatred of the EU; points to the Republic of Moldova, which is a key country for Europe's security, as being a pertinent example of this; considers that the margin left available of EUR 44.8 million could serve to address the need to combat disinformation campaigns in the Eastern Neighbourhood.

13. Urges a review of EU financial assistance to countries which support and do not condemn Russia's war of aggression against Ukraine, which do not respect their international obligations, including obligations to the International Criminal Court, and which help Russia to evade EU sanctions;

14. Urges the HR/VP and the Commission to team up in order to double the funding for peacebuilding, conflict prevention, mediation and reconciliation;

15. Stresses the need to increase allocations for military mobility in 2025 budget;

16. Highlights the importance of an increase in funding for additional permanent staff for including and streamlining the fight against malicious interference and disinformation and an effective institutional set-up within the EU such as for the implementation of those structures identified in the recently adopted INGE report, including a dedicated EEAS Strat Com Far East team, a Commission taskforce and a European Centre for Interference Threats and Information Integrity;

17. Insists that "green diplomacy" and the green transition, as one of the EU's priorities, should be enhanced towards third countries through the EU's External Action; stresses the need to explore new ways and resources on how to collaborate with third countries in this regard; highlights its crucial role in the respect for international obligations and multilateralism;

18. Recognises that is still necessary to increase the financial support of the EU to UNRWA in 2025, due to the agency's critical financial situation that jeopardizes its ability to fulfil its important role effectively; reiterates the importance of providing assistance to UNRWA as a central component of the EU's strategy to promote security, stability, and development in the Middle East and its crucial and irreplaceable role in alleviating human suffering in Gaza; calls therefore for an increase of EUR 60 million in the EU's financial support to UNRWA in 2025, provided it is disbursed in a transparent and controlled way, to ensure the continuation of vital services provided to millions of Palestinian refugees; welcomes the new commitments made by UNRWA to the European Commission in March 2024 to strengthen neutrality and oversight in light of the allegations that employees might have participated in the October 2023 terrorist attacks in Israel; stresses, however, that the UN-commissioned "Colonna Report" highlights that UNRWA has already established numerous mechanisms and procedures to ensure neutrality; notes that additional measures might be needed in the future;

19. Stresses the need to sufficiently and consistently fund the implementation of the principles of the EU's Gender Equality Strategy 2020-2025, including promoting women's empowerment and gender equality in international partnerships, in dialogues with third countries and in the EU's trade policy;

20. Emphasises that the protection and promotion of human rights globally is at the core of the EU's external action; in this context, reiterates the need for increased funding dedicated to supporting human rights worldwide, especially where there is a closure of civic spaces and with a particular focus on the protection of human rights defenders and journalists at risk;

21. Believes that the support of third countries in the fight against climate change needs to be substantially increased as a matter of urgency; stresses that the 2025 Union budget should be aligned with the Union's ambitions of making the Union climate neutral by 2050 at the latest, as well as with the Union's international commitments, and should significantly contribute to the implementation of the European Green Deal; stresses the need to ensure consistency between climate and biodiversity funding and calls on the Commission to publish the amounts and shares of expenditure that will contribute to both targets per programme when presenting the draft budget; highlights the urgent need to ensure the respect of the 'Do No Significant Harm' principle through the entire budget and to take necessary corrective measures if and when needed without undue delay;

22. Stresses that the European External Action Service is structurally underfunded and should not be subjected to the same constraints as the other institutions regarding the approach to the administrative budget; highlights the increasing responsibilities tasked to the EEAS by EU institutions; notes that the requirements for an institution with 145 diplomatic missions and offices around the world is fundamentally different to institutions operating at a single location; acknowledges that the lack of action to rectify the current budgetary situation of the EEAS can severely impact the EU's External Action and in its relations with third countries; furthermore underlines the need for the EEAS to develop and implement targeted recruitment procedures, in particular taking into account currently underrepresented groups in terms of geographical balance, gender and minorities; underlines that the additional funding should be coupled with increased information sharing between the EEAS and EP, including during NDICI-Global Europe High Level Geopolitical Dialogues and in-camera meetings in the Committee on Foreign Affairs;

23. Stresses that, ahead of increasing geopolitical challenges and crisis worldwide, the EU needs to count with the necessary first-hand information on global issues occurring outside its borders; calls, in this regard, for strengthening the EU INTCEN, the EEAS Crisis Response Center and the SatCen by enhancing its staff and financial resources, as well as capabilities;

24. Notes that increases in external action spending need to be accompanied by a strengthened monitoring and anti-corruption framework; calls on the Commission, following recommendations from the European Court of Auditors, to make external action spending more standardised and transparent;

25. Emphasises the need for coherence, accountability and efficiency of financing the EU external action; calls for increased transparency and democratic scrutiny of EFIs' funding through strategic steering by the Parliament and an enhanced geopolitical dialogue between the Parliament and the Commission;

26. Insists on the budgetary increase for CFSP actions and other appropriate conflict and crisis response instruments in order to fully match EU's activities and capabilities with current challenges and conflicts worldwide;

27. Highlights that given the increasing cyber threats/attacks from third countries and proxies, the EEAS needs to count with strong IT systems and security protocols that ensure a robust protection of the information and "intelligence" that EU Delegations and HQ deal with;

28. Calls to guarantee that EU Delegations count with a focal point on conflict prevention and resolution, as well as peace building; ensure that EU Delegations, and particularly the abovementioned focal points, provide constant ground information to the EU conflict Early Warning System, the EU INTCEN and the EEAS Crisis Response Center;

29. Stresses the need to allocate the necessary resources to the Strategic Communication and Foresight division of the EEAS given the necessity for the EU to increase its investment in public and cultural diplomacy and communication efforts;

30. Strongly believes that a considerable reinforcement of humanitarian aid, accompanied by clear objectives in terms of the rule of law and governance, is needed for the Union to be able to respond to both emerging and ongoing crises and to meet the unprecedented global humanitarian needs, exacerbated by the war in Ukraine and its global economic repercussions, particularly in terms of food insecurity;

31. Calls on the Commission to improve the consistency, efficiency and transparency of pre-accession assistance, clearly reflecting the priorities in the fundamental areas in the allocation of IPA III funding; calls, in particular, for the introduction of stricter and more enforceable accountability with regard to spending and for improvement of the overall cycle of disbursement, implementation and scrutiny of pre-accession funding, applying strict conditionality, including in the implementation of the Economic and Investment Plan and the new Growth Plan for the Western Balkans; recalls that the EU's support and assistance to the enlargement countries must be modulated or even suspended in the case of significant regression or persistent lack of progress in the area of the "fundamentals", notably in the fields of the rule of law and fundamental rights; stresses the need to prioritise the alignment of accession countries with the EU's common foreign and security policy and consider any funding in this light in order to ensure that this funding is fully in line with the EU's strategic goals and interests;

32. Considers that there should be sufficient appropriations for the Turkish Cypriot Community budget line for the purpose of contributing decisively to the continuation and intensification of the mission of the Committee on Missing Persons in Cyprus, and of supporting the bicommunal Technical Committee on Cultural Heritage;

33. Underlines the need for specific child trackers in relation to the EU Budget and expenditures, as to capture the extent to which the upcoming budget, as well as future ones, concretely work for current and future generations of children;

34. Stresses that the EU should prioritise investment in training border officials and police on child rights-based procedures and should support child-sensitive critical services such as protection, education, and health.

INFORMATION ON ADOPTION BY COMMITTEE ASKED FOR OPINION

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OPINION OF THE COMMITTEE ON AGRICULTURE AND RURAL DEVELOPMENT(9.9.2024)

for the Committee on Budgets

General budget of the European Union for the financial year 2025 - all sections

(2024/0176(BUD))

Rapporteur for opinion: Daniel Buda

OPINION

The Committee on Agriculture and Rural Development calls on the Committee on Budgets, as the committee responsible, to incorporate the following suggestions into its motion for a resolution:

1. Takes note of the EUR 53,75 billion in commitments and EUR 51,12 billion in payment for agriculture; regrets the decrease compared to 2024 and calls for a budget increase and strategic implementation considering the climate, environmental and political challenges the agricultural sector and rural communities will face in 2025 such as the impact of imports from third countries without mirror clauses, the increasingly higher input prices, extreme adverse weather events, as well as the frequent damage caused by animal diseases; stresses that a budget increase is justified as farmers are key actors in the fight against climate change; recalls that the long-term resilience of farming has been undermined by cumulative inflationary pressure in agricultural inputs, fuelled notably by the successive consequences of the COVID-19 pandemic and the war in Ukraine;

2. Recalls the objectives under Article 39 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union, which include increasing agricultural productivity by promoting technical progress, ensuring a fair standard of living for farmers, and guaranteeing food security;

3. Considers that it is appropriate that the aforementioned objectives of the Union primary law are explicitly and prominently featured in the introduction to Heading 3 in the General Introduction of the 2025 budget;

4. Notes that spending under the common agricultural policy (CAP) significantly exceeds the climate and biodiversity mainstreaming targets and requests that this surplus be used to allocate funds that directly contribute to the primary objectives of the CAP;

5. Recalls that farmers and rural communities are key actors in the provision of high quality affordable food and the preservation of rural areas, especially their economic attractiveness; highlights the role that agriculture plays in achieving the Union objectives of food security, sustainable growth, social inclusion, as well as adaptation and mitigation of climate change, while helping to diversify agricultural production, preserve biodiversity and develop local economies; stresses that the 2025 Union budget should be aligned with the Union's international commitments;

6. Emphasises that people living in rural areas, including farmers, have particular mental health challenges associated with the risk of disconnection and lack of access to mental health services, with suicide rates among farmers being 20 % higher than the national average in some Member States; therefore calls for mental health supports for farmers to be specifically integrated into Union agricultural policies through the provision of long-term funding;

7. Deplores the ongoing negative cascade effects Russia's war against Ukraine has on agriculture and all farmers in the Union, especially those in Member States bordering Ukraine, such as high input prices, inflation or market disturbances and difficulties in monetising agri-food products; calls on the Commission and Member States to adjust their funding accordingly; emphasises the urgent need for additional better-funded instruments for crisis management and for concrete measures to deal with market disturbances; recalls that while ongoing support for Ukraine is crucial when securing global food security, the competitiveness of farms in the Union should not be threatened; welcomes the application by the Commission of safeguard measures for commodities such as sugar, eggs, oats and groats;

8. Underscores that the 2 % deflator of the multiannual financial framework (MFF) does not compensate for the loss of value linked to inflation; notes that direct payments have significantly decreased in real terms due to inflation, while the administrative burden on farmers has increased due to the accumulation of restrictions, obligations and bureaucracy; highlights in that regard the fact that the CAP budget in the 2021-27 MFF is already lower, in real terms, than in the previous planning period; stresses that the preparations for the next MFF should address all these shortcomings;

9. Regrets that the same 2 % deflator has not been applied by the Commission to the budget allocations of the programmes of options specifically relating to remoteness and insularity (POSEI); stresses the vital importance of the POSEI scheme for maintaining agricultural activity and for the provision of food and agricultural products in the outermost regions; regrets that the levels of support offered by that scheme have not been revised to provide them with the necessary financial resources, which is exacerbated by the fact that their appropriations have not been adjusted in line with inflation, resulting in substantial losses in real terms; calls on the Commission to increase the amount allocated to the POSEI funds to cover for the increase of production costs and inflation of the last few years, and thus uphold the viability of agriculture in outermost regions;

10. Deplores the EAGF budget cut in the MFF mid-term review of EUR 440 million for the next three years; regrets in particular the cuts to the promotion of agricultural products and suggests that any availability identified under the EAGF sub-ceiling at the time of the Amending Letter could be used to mitigate such cuts by reinforcing the elements that had to be cut or severely restricted, in particular promotion "multi" programmes and technical support for the implementation of the CAP as these programmes increase awareness and recognition of Union quality schemes as well as the competitiveness of Union agricultural products by clearly easing Union producers' access to third-country markets, especially for high quality and high value products; calls for maintaining an inclusive and strong promotion policy budget, at least at the level of 2024, to ensure that the policy continues to support all agricultural sectors, guarantee the competitiveness of agriculture and our food sovereignty and allow the creation of new international markets for Union agricultural products; stresses the growing interest in promotion programmes in 2024, which has seen an increase in project submissions; would like to see more resources allocated to the promotion of Union agri-food products and food education initiatives, with special reference to programs aimed at young citizens for increased fruit and vegetables consumption, reaffirming the importance of the Union's school fruit, vegetables and milk scheme, in that regard, invites the Member States to make full use of that scheme; calls for a substantial CAP budget increase in the next MFF to ensure food security, stability and a fair income for farmers;

11. Welcomes the recent CAP simplification package and notes it has no budgetary impact; underlines that the simplification measures should serve as a basis for the next CAP reform; acknowledges the importance of the continuation of this package until the end of the current programming period and for additional measures and resources to address the causes of farmers' discontent across the Union with a focus on strengthening their position in the agri-food value chain; recalls in that context that farmers are structurally in a vulnerable position in the value chain and underlines that the improvement of their position is an essential condition to increase farmers' incomes and to help them face climate change consequences, in particular regarding its mitigation and adaptation; calls for an increase in the budget for investments in the distribution networks of agricultural producers in order to tackle the issue of speculation in agricultural products as well as for a revision of Directive (EU) 2019/633 of the European Parliament and of the Council[18]to ensure that farmers receive their fair share of the final price paid by the consumer for food; highlights the need to support farmers in implementing new obligations linked, among others, to biodiversity and climate actions, including specific funding and properly financed advisory services;

12. Underlines that young farmers have the potential to be a driving force in sustainable farming; calls therefore for the strengthening of support measures and a higher budget for young and new farmers, including female entrepreneurs, and for the improvement of their access to land and credit, as well as the facilitation of knowledge transfer from older people to the younger generation in order to increase the confidence of young people to start the farming profession; welcomes in that regard that the Commission has prioritised increasing access to land for young farmers in the upcoming CAP reform as gaining access to land is one of the main obstacles for young people attempting to enter the agricultural sector; calls for the reduction of bureaucratic measures in accessing Union funds to ensure generational renewal; recalls the importance of providing young farmers with access to quality training opportunities and asks for a greater involvement of women through aimed funding programmes as well as legal and political measures to increase their access to the profession;

13. Recalls the importance of EAFRD funding in rural areas, not only for farmers, but for other rural actors supportive of farmers; recalls that a strong budget for those actions is also needed in 2025; highlights the central role played by community-led local development initiatives in keeping and restoring living and thriving local rural economies, and the need to keep a sufficient level of funding for the LEADER programme; calls on Member States to make full use of LEADER's capacities;

14. Notes the amount of EUR 450 million for the agricultural reserve and recalls that EUR 516,5 million was necessary in 2024; calls on the Commission to allocate adequate and consistent funding for the agricultural reserve to mitigate the economic impact of climate change on farms and safeguard food security and autonomy, while ensuring that direct payments are not affected and exploring the possibility of mobilising funds outside the CAP, as well as allowing the use of margins to finance that reserve; highlights that the agricultural reserve was only deployed for the first time in 2022 and has become since then a more widely used tool; insists on Parliament's role in the use of the reserve and calls on the Commission to follow objective and transparent criteria in the allocation of the funds;

15. Stresses the need for a fair distribution of CAP support among and within Member States;

16. Stresses the need for a fair distribution of CAP support to ensure that its funding is distributed in a fair manner between small, medium and big enterprises since smaller and medium-sized farms are more vulnerable to market fluctuations, crises and inflation;

17. Calls for an increase in the Horizon Europe research budget for agriculture; emphasises the vital role of innovation for more competitive and sustainable agriculture, as well as the importance of digital transformation in agriculture and rural areas to allow for more precise, efficient and sustainable agricultural systems in the Union, as well as to increase the attractiveness of employment in agriculture and rural communities for younger generations and boost tourism; draws attention to the importance of funding for research and development of biotechnology technologies in the light of the upcoming regulations, such as new genome editing techniques, thus securing Union's leading position in agricultural innovation and its global long-term competitiveness, while contributing to the Union's objective of strategic autonomy, as recognised in the political guidelines for the next Commission; underlines the need to invest in precision farming solutions, such as robotics, smart water systems or drones that can boost farms competitiveness and productivity, without forgetting integrated pest management in order to optimise productivity while reducing inputs, costs and emissions; stresses that farmers need to be involved in the research and recalls the significance of ensuring that research results reach farm level and are translated into accessible farm advisory services; underlines the role of stronger agricultural knowledge and innovation systems (AKIS), as well as the Farm Sustainability Data Network (FSDN) to encourage innovation projects and to diffuse their use;

18. Stresses the need to find long-term support measures to reduce the impact of climate change while better addressing, via adequate funding and specialised instruments for farmers, the impact of floods, droughts and wildfires as well as other climate-related hazards on primary production, food security and farmers' income, that are key for the resilience of the farming sector; points out the inconsistency between the Commission goals to protect large carnivores while concomitantly supporting extensive grazing of livestock; recalls that sufficient funding, via a designated fund, should be made available to Member States in order to enable farmers to protect their livestock and adequately compensate them for their losses caused by wildlife and large carnivores;

19. Stresses that the management and availability of water resources is fundamental to the competitiveness of Union agriculture; highlights the importance of water management structures and their use by farmers to ease their access to water; underlines that access to Union funds for water storage facilities remain difficult although they can help farmers to have access to water in dry periods, increase productivity and yields; emphasises that these infrastructures are multi-purpose and are essential to support farmers but also perform other functions such as water reserves to fight wildfires, tourism, biodiversity reservoirs or reservoirs of drinking water, especially for large agglomerations; calls for the removal of Union and national legal and administrative barriers, in particular those of the CAP, that prevent access to public funds for the construction of those infrastructures; encourages the creation of public-private partnerships for the development of such infrastructure in the Union; stresses the strategic role of farmers and rural communities in areas characterised by high seismic and hydrogeological risk that need specific support from the CAP, as well as small islands; recalls that increasing water resilience and adaptive capacity and supporting measures is necessary to mitigate the threat of climate change to farming systems; calls for an adequately funded Union plan for water use, reuse, storage and smart sharing as well as to safeguard water quality;

20. Calls for appropriate investments to facilitate the transition to more sustainable farming practices through innovation and investment, without reducing Union agricultural production and while avoiding a situation where farmers from the Union face unfair competition from imports that do not meet Union standards; recalls that free trade agreements can represent a major challenge for farmers from the Union in that regard, should they not meet those standards and calls for the inclusion of concrete mirror clauses and financial provisions in the Union budget to provide necessary support to Union farmers facing expected loss of competitiveness from the potential future implementation of trade agreements; underlines the need to ensure a level playing field between Union and third-country producers;

21. Insists that any revenue to the Union budget deriving from any assigned revenues or repayments of irregularities from agriculture should remain under the agriculture component of Heading 3;

22. Asks the Commission that any environmental fund in the future shall not involve financial resources shifted from the CAP;

23. Calls on Member States to provide more support to the cooperative sector, especially by promoting and incentivising the establishment and development of agri-cooperatives;

24. Notes with concern that the production costs of agricultural goods are increasingly often higher than the selling price;

25. Stresses that enough funding should be made available to support Member States to efficiently tackle transmissible animal diseases such as the avian flu or the African swine fever;

26. Encourages Member States to develop agricultural credit guarantee instruments to enable farmers, agricultural associations and small and medium-sized enterprises to obtain easier access to secure, consistent and predictable working capital;

27. Stresses that food accessibility and farmers' incomes are still major concerns and calls on the Commission to take them into account in the future;

28. Calls on the Commission and the Member States to focus on projects that promote and enhance the safeguarding of existing jobs in the agricultural sector and the creation of quality jobs with full rights, stable and fair pay and decent working conditions including health and safety at work, as well as effectively and decisively combating poverty and social exclusion in rural areas.

ANNEX: ENTITIES OR PERSONS
FROM WHOM THE RAPPORTEUR HAS RECEIVED INPUT

Pursuant to Article 8 of Annex I to the Rules of Procedure, the rapporteur for the opinion received input from the following entities or persons in the preparation of the opinion, prior to the adoption thereof in committee:

The list above is drawn up under the exclusive responsibility of the rapporteur for the opinion.

Where natural persons are identified in the list by their name, by their function or by both, the rapporteur for the opinion declares that he has submitted to the concerned natural persons the European Parliament's Data Protection Notice No 484 (https://www.europarl.europa.eu/data-protect/index.do), which sets out the conditions applicable to the processing of their personal data and the rights linked to that processing.

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OPINION OF THE COMMITTEE ON FISHERIES(6.9.2024)

for the Committee on Budgets

on General budget of the European Union for the financial year 2025 - all sections

(2024/0176(BUD))

Rapporteur for opinion: Carmen Crespo Díaz

OPINION

The Committee on Fisheries calls on the Committee on Budgets, as the committee responsible, to incorporate the following into its motion for a resolution:

1. Recalls the economic, social and environmental relevance of fisheries, aquaculture and maritime affairs; stresses the strategic role of the Common Fisheries Policy (CFP) not only in ensuring food security and resilience of marine ecosystems and food systems but also in boosting the development of a sustainable and equitableblue economy that develops within ecological limits and upholding the competitiveness of Union fisheries and aquaculture sectors;

2. Recalls the effects on the food supply chain, fuel costs and price volatility caused by Russia's military aggression against Ukraine, as well as its impacts on Union fishing activities and the livelihoods of fishers, especially in the Black Sea;

3. Stresses that Russia's military aggression has led to significant disruptions in trade flows, increased price volatility and an increase in energy prices, which has impacted Union fishing activities and the livelihoods of fishers, especially small-scale fisheries, requiring the use of European Maritime, Fisheries and Aquaculture Fund (EMFAF) crisis measures to mitigate the effects of inflation for fishers, producers and consumers;

4. Highlights that Black Sea fishers, their fishing activities and livelihoods are additionally impacted by drifting sea mines as a result of the Russian aggression in Ukraine;

5. Deplores the Russian military aggression towards Ukraine and expresses our full support to Ukraine; expresses concern over the lack of clarity over the consequences of the Commission proposal (2024/0060(COD)) to cut the budget of the EMFAF by 105.000.000 EUR, cuts which could impact the funding of scientific advice, data collection, fisheries control and the contributions to Advisory Councils and Regional Fisheries Management Organisations and therefore encourages the Commission to present an analysis of the clear consequences of this cut and potential other options to ensure proper funding for EU fisheries related actions;

6. Recalls that, sustainable management of fishing resources have to be based on the most updated scientific advice, that are directly dependent on accurate fishing data collection, including recreational fisheries, and fisheries control, and without them the sustainability of fisheries management are put in cause;

7. Insists that special attention must be devoted to the fishing fleets in order to improve safety, working conditions, energy efficiency and environmental sustainability, including renewal of the fleet, in particular of small scale fishing fleet segment, while not excluding vessels above 24 metres in length from funding; reiterates that this can contribute to make the fishing sector more attractive for the younger generations and must not be confused with fleet expansion or increased fishing capacity or ability to catch fish;

8. Urges the Commission to propose actions to increase the global share of sustainable EU aquaculture production that does not impact the food security in third countries, which contributes to the supply of aquatic protein of high quality and with a low carbon footprint; calls on the Member States and the Commission to make full use of the financial resources available for the EMFAF in order to sustainably boost the growth of this sector;

9. Recalls that fish is rich in protein and therefore has strategic value and is essential for food security; points out capture fisheries are among the lowest impact systems for the production of animal protein;

10. Recalls that, as a result of Brexit, the Union fishing sector is still experiencing considerable economic disruptions especially with regard to the unilateral institution of fishing restricted areas in UK waters, as well as with Norway; calls on the Commission, therefore, as a matter of priority, to secure commensurate compensation to offset the damage suffered by the sector and fishing communities, in particular after the end of transitional period in June 2026;

11. Insists on the need to improve scientific and technical knowledge, including marine social science, in order to ensure the development and use of the most reliable research-based solutions; reiterates the importance of guaranteeing sufficient financial resources for Member States' and European scientific entities so that they can collect, manage, analyse, use and exchange fisheries sector data and invest in research on innovative, and more selective fishing techniques with technology-openness;

12. Reiterates the need for an ecosystem based approach which covers actions tackling all pressures on marine resources, including proper management of seals and cormorants;

13. Notes that the Black Sea, which has been for decades subject to pressures from manmade activities, has been significantly affected by military activities stemming from the Russian aggression; notes that the primary impacts of the war on coastal and marine ecosystems, including chemical pollution, loud noise, physical damage to habitats from shelling and fortifications, and curtailment of conservation activities directly affect also the territorial waters of the EU Member States, including the area of the Danube Delta, an unparalleled biodiversity hotspot; calls for funding for data collection on the affected ecosystems and populations of species, and for mitigation and corrective and restoration measures where possible;

14. Highlights the alarming situation of the Baltic Sea where historical overfishing together with long term pollution has created the collapse and near collapse of several stocks; confirms the pressing need for further action to fully implement an ecosystem based approach, including actions aiming at securing biodiverse and healthy marine ecosystems; points out the need for further research and data gathering as well as proper implementation of fisheries rules such as the Control Regulation and the need for proper funding in this regard;

15. Draws attention to the international dimension of the CFP and its economic, social and environmental benefits; calls on the Commission to devote adequate resources to ocean governance; stresses the importance of international cooperation, secure participation of stakeholders as well as facilitate local cooperation with actors in third countries, transparency, traceability and a level playing field for delivering on the Union's commitments;

16. Pledges its support to the fight against illegal, unreported and unregulated (IUU) fishing; calls therefore for adequate and increased funding for Union policies fighting IUU fishing worldwide, including by strengthening checks on goods at Union borders, targeted development aid and by fostering cooperation with third-countries but also among Member States;

17. Calls on the Commission to adequately fund measures aiming to effectively make the Union fleet more fuel efficient and less dependent on fossil fuels; further calls on the Commission to fund research on adapting zero-emission propulsion systems for fishing vessels, such as e-fuels, wind and electric propulsion, having in account different gear types to be used, with a realistic time schedule;)

18. Encourages Member States to allocate funds from the Recovery and Resilience Facility to support innovation for the decarbonisation of the fishing industry and to finance training programmes contributing to a more skilled workforce while boosting generation renewal;

19. Underlines the role of the European Fisheries Control Agency (EFCA) in ensuring a level playing field for the Union fleet, and especially in discouraging and curbing IUU fishing in European waters and also at a global level; considers that the adoption of the new Control Regulation (EU 2023/2842) implies an important increase in EFCA's tasks and responsibilities; recognises that the progressive implementation of the new control measures will need some activities in the form of pilot projects and additional budgetary support; calls on the Commission to provide adequate funds to EFCA to tackle the new tasks and activities, including participation to the tripartite working arrangement between the EFCA, the European Maritime Security Agency (EMSA) and the European Border and Coast Guard Agency (Frontex) considering EFCA's contribution to the new EU Maritime Security Strategy (EUMSS);

20. Stresses that generational renewal, including diversifying the profession and gender mainstreaming, is one of the European fishing sector's priorities; calls, in this regard, on the Commission to support the mobilisation of budgetary resources to help young people to take up careers in fisheries and the wider sustainable blue economy sector, to make the sector more diverse and to encourage women to join it; further invites the Commission to support the creation of an association of young European fishers;

21. Reiterates the need to provide substantial support for disadvantaged coastal areas and European outermost regions; calls for the Commission to allow financial support for fleet renewal in the European outermost regions by ending the ban on State aid for vessel replacements; recalls that, contrary to the provisions of the EMFAF, this objective has not received any European funding in any region;

22. Stresses the need to provide financial support for the definition of the Marine Protected Areas (MPA) in the outermost regions, in line with the goal of the UN to preserve 30 % of our oceans by 2030, especially for the compensation of potential losses of the affected fishers, and monitoring and management programmes of the regional authorities;

23. Reiterates the need to initiate more effective measures to eliminate barriers for Producer Organisations to fully deliver on their missions by addressing the difficulties for small-scale fisheries Producer Organisations regarding differential treatment by national administrations, be it in terms of Producer Organisation recognition, day-to-day financing, administrative support or eligibility of measures;

24. Reiterates the need to re-establish the POSEI-Fisheries in the Outermost Regions, lost in 2014 with its integration into the European Maritime and Fisheries Fund, in line with the Amaro report on the "Assessment of the new communication of the European Commission on Outermost Regions 2022/2147(INI)".

ANNEX: ENTITIES OR PERSONS
FROM WHOM THE RAPPORTEUR HAS RECEIVED INPUT

The Chair in her capacity as rapporteur for opinion declares under her exclusive responsibility that she did not receive input from any entity or person to be mentioned in this Annex pursuant to Article 8 of Annex I to the Rules of Procedure.

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LETTER OF THE COMMITTEE ON DEVELOPMENT(14.10.2024)

Mr Johan Van Overtveldt

Chair

Committee on Budgets

BRUSSELS

Subject: Opinion on the 2025 Budget (2024/0176(BUD))

Dear Mr Chair,

Under the procedure referred to above, the Committee on Development has been asked to submit an opinion to your committee. At its meeting of 23 July 2024, the committee decided to send the opinion in the form of a letter.

The Committee on Development considered the matter at its meeting of 10 October 2024. At that meeting[19], it decided to call on the Committee on Budgets, as the committee responsible, to incorporate the following suggestions into its motion for a resolution.

Yours sincerely,

Barry Andrews

OPINION

A. whereas in a context of geopolitical and economic instability and increasing inequalities, the EU must strengthen and expand its international partnerships and act as a reliable and credible ally in development cooperation and foster dialogue, stability and peace in developing countries as well as in its neighbourhood;

B. whereas global humanitarian needs in 2025 will continue to intensify due to climate change, increasingly protracted conflicts, record levels of global displacement and economic shocks; whereas according to OCHA 308 million people are projected to need humanitarian assistance by the end of 2024 and the EU must stand ready to prevent entirely avoidable human suffering; whereas additional efforts are needed to broaden the donor base for humanitarian action, in order to address the humanitarian funding gap;

C. whereas the scale of the current global food and nutrition insecurity crisis is unprecedented, with levels significantly higher than pre-COVID-19 pandemic figures, and undernutrition responsible for nearly half of all deaths in children under the age of five; whereas, in particular, the already existing acute food insecurity and malnutrition in the Global South have increased since the start of Russia's war of aggression against Ukraine; whereas the humanitarian needs in Ukraine remain immense;

D. whereas low-income countries in Africa and around the world are increasingly crippled by debt and unable to invest in basic services;

E. whereas in its conclusions on EU development aid targets on June 24, the Council underlines human development as a central element in EU external action and international partnership;

1. Notes that the mid-term revision of the multiannual financial framework (MFF) as regards Heading 6, Neighbourhood and the world, for the period 2024-2027 resulted in reinforcements to the benefit of the Southern Neighbourhood, the Western Balkans and for migration-related cooperation;

2. Underscores that providing additional resources to new priorities under Heading 6 should not go to the detriment of EU's partnerships with developing countries; points out that the EU has a key role in taking forward the Agenda 2030 and the SDG commitments; reiterates its concern that the EU is losing influence and visibility to other geopolitical competitors;

3. Recalls that continuous and stable EU financial support to developing countries in key areas such as fundamental rights and freedoms, Civil Society Organizations, climate change, food and nutrition security and humanitarian aid are vital for the EU's ongoing commitments to the Agenda 2030, Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and its role as a credible player in global development;

4. Points out that only with a balanced and coherent set of policies, supported by ambitious and predictable funding, accompanied with a more efficient development cooperation based on equal responsibilities and partnerships, can the EU effectively provide coherent responses and support to developing countries in tackling their immediate and long-term structural challenges;

5. Underlines the urgent need of addressing climate change in developing and especially least developed countries and express its concerned that it will have multiplying negative effects leading to more humanitarian crises, e.g. through increasing conflicts and wars;

6. Supports the approach proposed by the Commission to apply pro rata cuts on all operational lines of NDICI-GE and IPA III as the most workable way to dealing with the fallout of the MFF revision, which allows equitably distributing the burden of cuts while maintaining the capacity to plan financial programming for the rest of the MFF especially where the need is the greatest, such as countries in situations of fragility and conflict in line with the commitments set out in the NDICI-GE Regulation;

7. Points out that the Neighbourhood, Development and International Cooperation Instrument - Global Europe (NDICI-GE) Regulation states in Recital 26, that 'the financial envelopes envisaged for the Neighbourhood and Sub Saharan Africa geographic programmes should only be increased, given the particular priority the Union gives to these regions'; recalls that Article 6, paragraph 2 (a) of the NDICI-GE introduced a reinforced protection for the financial envelopes of the Neighbourhood and Sub-Saharan Africa by setting minimum "at least" amounts for these two regions; urges the Commission and the budgetary authority to respect the balance between the financial envelopes for the two regions and reminds that the minimum amounts should be attained by the end of 2027 - by the end of the MFF;

8. Recalls the target for biodiversity spending of 10% for the years 2026 and 2027 and the target for climate spending of 30% in the current MFF as well as the need to fulfil its global financial commitments under the UN framework;

9. Reiterates that, without prejudice to unforeseen circumstances, the commitment within the NDICI-GE to dedicate an indicative 10 % of its financial envelope to actions supporting the management and governance of migration and forced displacement within the objectives of the Instrument should be respected; notes, however, that already 14 % of the funds committed in 2021-2022 contributed to the migration spending target; expects, therefore, regular substantial updates on the migration spending; recalls that the NDICI-GE states in Recital 51 that the 10% target should also include actions to address the root causes of irregular migration and forced displacement when they directly target specific challenges related to migration and forced displacement;

10. Recalls that Article 30 of the NDICI -GE must be respected in full and in particular the provision that decommitments return to the budget line of origin; reiterates the principles that the NDICI-GE took over with the budgetisation of the European Development Fund in terms of flexibility, carryovers as well as predictability;

11. Notes with concern that Heading 6 margin is already substantially consumed for 2025, leaving a total of EUR 44,8 million, and that only 17% of the NDICI-GE Cushion - EUR 1,597 million - is available until 2027 for unforeseen circumstances and challenges;

12. Notes that the reinforcement and split of the SEAR (Solidarity and Emergency Aid Reserve) through the MFF does not automatically constitute more availabilities for the Humanitarian aid instrument (HUMA); urges the Commission to reserve the 584 million available in EAR for 2025 for reinforcements of HUMA and recalls that the reinforcements from SEAR to HUMA in 2022 amounted to EUR 539 million and in 2023 to 579 million;

13. In the light of intensifying global humanitarian needs, requests a top-up of HUMA to establish a solid baseline for predictable and principled humanitarian aid; recalls that humanitarian needs in Ukraine will not be covered by the Ukraine Facility and that multiple other conflicts are also expected to require significant resources; requests therefore an increase of EUR 200 million, on top of the Commission Statement of Estimates, to the HUMA budget line; is extremely alarmed by the deepening food insecurity in developing countries, exacerbated by Russia's war of aggression against Ukraine; reiterates that operations supported from EU humanitarian funding needs to respect humanitarian principles of humanity, impartiality, neutrality, and independence; calls on the Commission to support partner countries in enhancing food security;

14. Recalls that DG ECHO humanitarian aid budget in 2022 and 2023 reached an average of EUR 2,4 billion after several reinforcements and that growing needs are expected for 2025; recalls that UN figures as of June 2024 ([20]) show that global humanitarian appeals are only 19% funded, leaving a record gap of EUR 36 billion, with the humanitarian system struggling to meet even a fraction of the demands ([21]); underlines the need to increase and broaden the resources for humanitarian action, including the private sector as well as other stakeholders; stresses also the need to enhance the effectiveness and efficiency of the humanitarian framework and to strengthen efforts to reduce humanitarian needs.

ANNEX: ENTITIES OR PERSONS
FROM WHOM THE RAPPORTEUR HAS RECEIVED INPUT

The rapporteur for the opinion declares under his exclusive responsibility that he did not receive input from any entity or person to be mentioned in this Annex pursuant to Article 8 of Annex I to the Rules of Procedure.

LETTER OF THE COMMITTEE ON BUDGETARY CONTROL(4.9.2024)

Mr Johan Van Overtveldt

Chair

Committee on Budgets

BRUSSELS

Subject: Opinion on General budget of the European Union for the financial year 2025 - all sections (2024/0176(BUD))

Dear Mr Chair,

Under the procedure referred to above, the Committee on Budgetary Control has been asked to submit an opinion to your committee. At its meeting of 24 July 2024, the Committee decided to send the opinion in the form of a letter.

The EP Reform 2024 emphasised, inter alia, that the budgetary and discharge procedures are linked, and that results of the discharge procedure should naturally feed back into the budgetary procedure, and vice-versa. In that context, the CONT Committee considers that the resolutions of the discharge procedure for 2022, adopted in Plenary in April 2024, contain a number of observations and recommendations that the discharge authority wishes to provide to the budgetary authority.

The Committee on Budgetary Control considered the matter at its meeting of 4 September 2024. At that meeting, it decided to call on the Committee on Budgets, as the committee responsible, to incorporate the following suggestions into its motion for a resolution.

This opinion should be read in conjunction with the Budgetary Amendment(s) tabled by the Committee on Budgetary Control.

Yours sincerely,

Niclas Herbst José Cepeda

Chair of the CONT Committee Rapporteur

SUGGESTIONS

1. Underlines that the Union's financial interests are to be protected in accordance with the general principles embedded in the Union Treaties, in particular the values in Article 2 of the Treaty on European Union (TEU), and with the principle of sound financial management enshrined in Article 317 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union (TFEU) and in Regulation (EU, Euratom) 2018/1046 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 18 July 2018 on the financial rules applicable to the general budget of the Union (the Financial Regulation);

2. Notes that as the necessary digitalisation of the management, control and audit of the EU Budget unfolds, cybersecurity threats increasingly pose new and significant risks, such as cyberattacks on EU Institutions, and fraud and other financial crimes affecting the financial interests of the Union; recalls the tasks assigned to the European Union Agency for Cybersecurity (ENISA) in relation to the Cybersecurity Act, aiming to promote a high common level of cybersecurity across the Union; calls on the Commission to allocate EU Budget funds efficiently to strengthen cybersecurity infrastructure, research and development while ensuring that cybersecurity investments are impactful and contribute to the overall protection of the Union's financial interests;

3. Emphasises the major importance of the Rule of Law Conditionality Mechanism for the protection of the Union budget; calls on the Commission to make full use of the tools available to address the clear risk of a serious breach of Union values and to promptly invoke the Conditionality Regulation when breaches of the Rule of Law risk impacting the Union's financial interests; supports the blocking of Union funds as long as the conditions are not entirely fulfilled and not giving in to blackmail; urges the Commission to guarantee a unitary, comprehensive and integrated approach across different funds and legislative instruments;

4. Notes with concern that the total outstanding commitments, which represent future debts if not decommitted, reached an all-time high; calls on the Commission to provide sufficient measures to protect the Union budget from the different risks identified, in particular the RAL and the increasing debt;

5. Notes that as a result of the mid-term MFF Review the budget for technical assistance has been touched by redeployments, recalls that the risk scoring tool ARACHNE, that plays a central role in detection of risks for the protection of the financial interests of the Union, is funded through the Cohesion policy's budget for technical assistance; further notes that development of ARACHNE Corporate is funded through budget for information systems made available under heading 7; calls on the budget authority to make sure that neither the redeployments under technical assistance, nor the changes in funding the development and future operation of ARACHNE Corporate affect the availability of this essential risk scoring tool for authorities in the various management modes the system is deployed in;

6. Underlines the importance to make the use of IT tools such as EDES and ARACHNE mandatory and systematic for all Union funds including shared management and ensure better use of new technology in order to increase controls and protect the Union budget against fraud and misuse of funds in the context of the concluded revision of the Financial Regulation; and calls on the Commission to grant the Court, OLAF and the EPPO access to a single integrated IT system for data-mining and risk-scoring provided by the Commission, in the terms agreed in the recast of the Financial Regulation;

7. Considers that the European Public Prosecutor's Office, in its short existence, has become an indispensable part of the EU anti-fraud architecture; considers that the activities of the EPPO do in itself not only contribute to the protection of the EU's financial interests, but also have the potential to recover amounts of the EU budget that were not used for its intended purpose due to criminal activities; considers that amounts resulting from seizing and confiscating measures adopted by the European Delegated Prosecutors in the Member States could, after deduction of costs incurred by the Member States' authorities to implement these measures, flow back into the EU Budget, in line with Article 38 of Regulation (EU) 2017/1939; considers that the potential revenue resulting from seizing and confiscating measures (estimated to be EUR 100 million based on the 2023 EPPO Annual Report) should be accounted for in the EU Budget as non-assigned revenue; calls on the Commission to make the necessary arrangements with the relevant national authorities to allow these amounts to enter into the EU Budget;

8. Notes the amount assigned to the EPPO in the 2025 draft budget of EUR 77.368.186 in commitment and payment appropriations; further notes the EPPO's estimate that a minimum of EUR 86 million is needed to meet its mandatory competence; notes that in addition, the EPPO's IT autonomy programme, estimated to cost could cost EUR 2,98 million, is not covered in the budgeted amount for 2025; considers therefore that an increase in the EPPOs budget of EUR 12 million is justified, as reflected in budgetary amendment 1; considers that this amount can be covered by future inflows to the EU Budget resulting from the seizing and confiscating measures adopted by the European Public Delegated Prosecutors.

ANNEX: ENTITIES OR PERSONS
FROM WHOM THE RAPPORTEUR HAS RECEIVED INPUT

The rapporteur for the opinion declares under his exclusive responsibility that he did not receive input from any entity or person to be mentioned in this Annex pursuant to Article 8 of Annex I to the Rules of Procedure.

LETTER OF THE COMMITTEE ON EMPLOYMENT AND SOCIAL AFFAIRS(5.9.2024)

Mr Johan Van Overtveldt

Chair

Committee on Budgets

BRUSSELS

Subject: Opinion on the general budget of the European Union for the financial year 2025 - all sections (2024/0176(BUD))

Dear Mr Chair,

Under the procedure referred to above, the Committee on Employment and Social Affairs has been asked to submit an opinion to your committee. At its meeting on 23 July 2024, the EMPL Committee decided to send the opinion in the form of a letter. The Committee on Employment and Social Affairs considered the matter at its meeting on 4 September 2024 and adopted its opinion in the form of a letter, drawn-up under the lead of the EMPL rapporteur for opinion Romana TOMC, at that meeting[22]. It decided to call on the Committee on Budgets, as the committee responsible, to incorporate the following suggestions into its motion for a resolution.

Yours sincerely,

Li Andersson

OPINION

1. The EMPL Committee stresses the existing challenges faced by people in Europe, notably increasing cost of livings, inflation in particular high energy, food and housing prices, resulting in growing vulnerabilities, widening social and economic inequalities, and escalating and aggravating poverty as well as the climate and biodiversity crisis and in particular the direct effect of extreme weather events, that are negatively affecting the EU's socio-economic landscape and the working and living conditions as well as the health and wellbeing of people living in Europe thereby threatening sustainable growth and employment. The Committee highlights that this context together with the green and digital transitions and the demographic change will require a robust and commensurate budgetary response in 2025, and therefore, expresses its concern about the very limited margins and remaining flexibilities available in the Draft Budget and calls for mobilising adequate resources for the EU employment and social policies ensuring that the implementation of the European Pillar of Social Rights (EPSR) Action Plan and achievement of the Porto Declaration targets is prioritised.

2. The EMPL Committee believes that in order to overcome these challenges it is essential to increase salaries and promote fair and decent wages and combat poverty at work.

3. The EMPL Committee recalls the EPSR, the EPSR Action Plan of 4 March 2021, including the EU 2030 headline targets for jobs, skills and poverty reduction, the Porto Declaration of 8 May 2021 on social affairs adopted by the Members of the European Council, the Tripartite Declaration for a Thriving European Social Dialogue, and the La Hulpe Declaration on the Future of the European Pillar of Social Rights.

4. Furthermore, the EMPL committee recalls that the EPSR Action Plan aims for the EU to achieve specific targets by 2030, including having at least 78% of individuals aged 20 to 64 in employment, ensuring at least 60% of all adults participate in training annually, and reducing the number of people at risk of poverty or social exclusion by at least 15 million, including 5 million children. However, even achieving these targets is becoming increasingly challenging in the context of projected increases in poverty and unemployment unless specific efforts and support are dedicated to alleviating the current pressure on social protection systems and mitigating the social impact of the crisis, as well as to giving support to refugees and ensuring decent living conditions for all, with access to quality essential services such as health, education and housing.

5. The EMPL Committee points out that the European Social Fund + (ESF+) is one of the key drivers for strengthening the social dimension of the Union and thus, expresses a particular concern with the reduction of the directly managed part of the ESF+ as a result of the Multiannual Financial Framework (MFF) revision, reducing the availabilities and opportunities for further action in line with a sufficiently funded ESF+ in light of the steep increase in cost of living and its impacts on workers and their families. The Committee highlights also the essential role of the European Globalisation Adjustment Fund for Displaced Workers (EGF), and calls for Member States to make better use of the reduced funding available, as well as the Recovery and Resilience Facility (RRF) and Repower EU chapters, the Just Transition Fund (JTF), chapter 5 of the NZIA, the ERDF and the InvestEU programme.

6. The EMPL Committee stresses the importance of the Employment and Social Innovation strand (EaSI) of the ESF+ for investment in social innovation and for stimulating labour mobility and regrets the significant cut to this budget line by the Council. The Committee insists that this budget line is restored to the figure proposed by the Commission in its draft budget.

7. The EMPL Committee expresses concern about unemployment rates in the EU, while we see labour shortages in several sectors, and it urges Member States and the Commission to prioritise combating youth and people with disabilities' unemployment as well as providing training to combat skills shortages in the labour market, leveraging existing EU initiatives. The Committee recognises the pivotal role of vocational education and training (VET) and paid traineeships in young people's transition to employment, and stresses the importance of investing in their quality including decent working conditions and attractiveness through the ESF+ and in a reinforced Youth Guarantee.

8. The EMPL Committee stresses the importance of policies and measures to support the labour market transition and the need to strengthen the competitiveness of our economies in the context of the green and digital transitions. It highlights the role of the Just Transition Fund in supporting workers, the RRF and cohesion policy and their importance for addressing the social aspects of the transition, in particular creation of national social infrastructure and support to jobseekers, including up- and reskilling while ensuring a safety net for those left behind and calls to accelerate their implementation.

9. The EMPL Committee considers mental health at work as another major issue of social policy. The pandemic has accelerated new realities and new forms of work brought by digitalisation, including artificial intelligence (AI), job precariousness and insecurity, algorithmic management and an 'always on' culture, that bring both opportunities and challenges to the labour market and work-life balance. In this perspective, the Committee welcomes the Commission's initiative to launch a comprehensive approach to mental health, as well as, the Council Conclusions on mental health and precarious work and the commitment to regulate the right to disconnect.

10. The EMPL Committee considers crucial to combat workforce exclusion as a consequence of longer periods of sick leave caused by serious non-communicable diseases like cancer, cardiovascular diseases, diabetes, chronic respiratory diseases, mental health and neurological disorders, as well as, rheumatic and musculoskeletal diseases. It calls therefore for initiatives focusing on the adaptation of workplace, flexible working conditions and strategies to support workers' return after longer absence.

11. The EMPL Committee underlines that the right to work and employment is a fundamental right enshrined in Article 27 of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (UN CRPD). It notes, however, that at EU level, only 50.6 % of persons with disabilities are employed, compared to 74.8 % of persons without disabilities. The Committee calls, therefore, for the establishment of a Disability Employment and Skills Guarantee in order to boost the participation of persons with disabilities in the open labour market.

12. The EMPL Committee considers that investment in lifelong learning, vocational education and training, reskilling and upskilling is essential to support workers through the green and digital transition and to enhance the Union's sustainable competitiveness and resilience including against external shocks. The committee also considers that the Strategic Technologies for Europe Platform (STEP) and the launch of the Net-Zero Industry Academies under the NZIA are important components of the European strategy to bolster investments in critical and emerging technologies and to address labour shortages and skills needs.

13. The EMPL Committee highlights the key role that the Academies will play in disseminating knowledge and skills on net-zero technologies that can enhance the Union's competitiveness and its global position in net-zero industries.

14. The EMPL Committee recalls the commitment of the Union to promote the role of social partners and to facilitate social dialogue, in line with Article 152 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union and emphasises the need to ensure adequate support for social dialogue and for the capacity of social partners, as well as, the need to guarantee adequate support for information and training measures for trade unions, including in accession countries. It therefore opposes the reduction compared to the previous years for these budget lines in the 2025 budget.

15. The EMPL Committee stands for family-policies and social policies and enhanced funding to help children to get a better life and ensure work-life balance to all workers. The Committee acknowledges the critical role of family and child benefits, in particular for vulnerable households, as part of fair and inclusive social protection systems, which need to be adapted to the variety of family arrangements and provide timely access to social protection and adequate support for all according to Member States' practices. Therefore, given the rising child poverty rates, the Committee reiterates its calls to urgently increase the funding of the European Child Guarantee and the need to create a dedicated budget. The Committee further recalls its position that all Member States should use at least 5 % of the ESF+ resources under shared-management to targeted actions to combat child poverty and support the implementation of the Child Guarantee, as well as, make full use of other existing funding possibilities under the EU budget, such as ReactEU and the RRF to eradicate child poverty. It emphasises the importance of the European Child Guarantee for the safeguard of essential rights and key services.

16. The EMPL Committee underlines that the EU faces demographic challenges with an ageing population due to low fertility rates and extended life expectancies. In addition, it welcomes the European Care Strategy and calls for its adequate funding in budget 2025. The Committee calls for further initiatives to support formal and informal carers, their working conditions as well as their work-life balance. However, the Committee calls for strong policy responses to address the societal impacts of demographic change.

17. The EMPL Committee stresses that women face heightened under- and unemployment and social risks. Achieving the employment target from the Porto Declaration requires ambitious national goals to include women in the workforce. The Committee calls for the mainstreaming of a gender responsive budget to better align policies and activities that promote the equal participation, as well as equal pay, equal pension and equal treatment of women in the labour market.

18. The EMPL Committee welcomes that the Commission has further developed a methodology to track gender equality-related spending in the 2021-2027 MFF, which looks at policy design and resource allocation and in particular the presentation of an ex-post gender impact assessment on a more granular level and reporting on volumes. The Committee regrets that the first results of this tracking show the inadequacy of the EU spending in this regard, with only EUR 19 million of the EU budget having a direct positive impact for women and calls on the Commission to assess holistically gender impact and facilitate that all the relevant data is available for the tracking.

19. The EMPL Committee calls on the Commission to provide a more detailed tracking methodology for expenditure on Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) within the EU's social budget based on the principles of the European Pillar of Social Rights and to present a Social Scoreboard and well-being indicators to measure the overall impact of different EU instruments.

20. The EMPL Committee stresses that the European Instrument for Temporary Support to Mitigate Unemployment Risks in an Emergency (SURE) has proved to be successful in fighting unemployment as a consequence of the COVID-19 pandemic and further calls on the Commission to build on the SURE instrument to support national schemes to protect employment and preserve workers' incomes that can be activated temporarily when a part of the EU experiences an economic shock.

21. The EMPL Committee insists on the importance of investing in social inclusion and in measures, in particular for people in vulnerable situations, as well as deprived and disadvantaged groups. It repeats its call for an overarching anti-poverty strategy. It stresses that this strategy should include new and additional initiatives to tackle poverty and achieve the 2030 poverty target. It also reminds the EU of its commitment to eradicate homelessness by 2030 and stresses the importance of improving the standard of living of all people living in the EU, as well as addressing social gaps in living and working conditions through social investment, including adequate social services and essential services, quality healthcare and well-functioning public health systems with sufficient healthcare personnel. In this respect, the Committee insists that the rules governing the use of Union spending and funds must ensure and enhance compliance with the highest social rights and democratic principles, be aligned with EU social commitments and objectives, and the fundamental rights of workers. It recalls the obligation of compliance with the Charter of Fundamental Rights of the EU as per the ESF+ Regulation and Common Provision Regulation and calls for provisions allowing public money only for those employers respecting workers' rights and applicable working conditions.

22. The EMPL Committee expresses concern about the deteriorating situation of access to affordable housing across the EU. In this regard, it welcomes the commitment of the Commission's President to present a European Affordable Housing Plan, which will include support for and investments in the creation of additional affordable housing. It urges the Commission to proceed with housing as one of its foremost priorities. It also urges Member States to fully utilise the cohesion policy funds available for investments in affordable housing.

23. The EMPL Committee recalls the essential work carried out by the five EU agencies active in the social and employment policy areas, namely the European Labour Authority (ELA), the European Foundation for Living and Working Conditions (Eurofound), the European Agency for Safety and Health at Work (EU-OSHA), the European Centre for the Development of Vocational Training (CEDEFOP) and the European Training Foundation (ETF). It considers that these agencies must be properly staffed and adequately resourced, while taking into account inflation, so that they can fulfil their mandate, achieve their objectives and perform their evolving tasks. The Committee calls on the Commission to ensure the expertise of the agencies is used where EU funds can be spent more efficiently compared to alternative solutions. This includes access to programmes such as Horizon Europe for the agencies that have a clear research profile while strictly avoiding double financing of their regular activities.

24. The EMPL Committee reiterates its previous call to support ELA's call for transforming 15 seconded national expert posts into temporary agent posts and for two additional contractual agent posts - without budget impact, with a view to be able to attract and retain the necessary staff resources to fulfil its tasks and to bring the share of SNEs on ELA's staff closer to the standard situation of other EU agencies.

25. The EMPL Committee recalls that pilot projects (PPs) and preparatory actions (PAs) are essential to test new policy initiatives in the fields of employment and social inclusion. It recalls however that their assessment is anchored in the interinstitutional agreement and repeats its call on the Commission to evaluate PP/PA proposals impartially on the basis of a legal and financial assessment in a way that reflects the merit of the proposals. It expresses its repeated disappointment over the quality of assessments of the proposals in the recent years and urges the Commission to intensify the dialogue with the Parliament on how innovative ideas could become eligible and to provide detailed, clearer and more transparent feedback and explanations of its assessments. It also recalls that the implementation of an adopted PP/PA must remain faithful to the adopted proposal.

ANNEX: ENTITIES OR PERSONS
FROM WHOM THE RAPPORTEUR HAS RECEIVED INPUT

The rapporteur for the opinion declares under her exclusive responsibility that she did not receive input from any entity or person to be mentioned in this Annex pursuant to Article 8 of Annex I to the Rules of Procedure.

LETTER OF THE COMMITTEE ON THE ENVIRONMENT, PUBLIC HEALTH AND FOOD SAFETY(12.9.2024)

Mr Johan Van Overtveldt

Chair

Committee on Budgets

BRUSSELS

Subject: Opinion on the general budget of the European Union for the financial year 2025- all sections (2024/0176(BUD))

Dear Chair,

The Coordinators of the Committee on the Environment, Public Health and Food Safety (ENVI) decided on 24 July 2024 that ENVI would provide an opinion on the general budget of the European Union for the financial year 2025 - all sections (2024/0176(BUD))) in the form of a letter. Therefore, as both ENVI Chair and Standing Rapporteur for the Budget, let me provide you with ENVI's contribution in the form of resolution paragraphs, which was adopted by ENVI at its meeting[23]of 12 September 2024 and which I kindly request will be taken into account by your committee:

- underlines that the 2025 Union budget incorporates the impacts of the mid-term revision of the expenditure ceilings in the multiannual financial framework (MFF) which took place in February 2024, addressing the various challenges facing the Union including the imminent climate and environmental emergency, Russia's war of aggression against Ukraine, migratory pressures and their root causes, responding to the crisis in the Middle East and reinforcing our capacity to respond to natural disasters;

- calls to ensure the necessary human and financial resources for the fast implementation of the legislation adopted in the last legislative cycle in the areas of climate, environment, food safety and health, and focusing on a range of key priorities, such as climate mitigation and adaptation, biodiversity, just transition and circular economy;

- stresses the importance of strengthening the Union's role on the international stage by increasing the funding for the Union's actions ensuring environment protection and tackling climate change globally;

- reminds that the European Green Deal is a growth strategy and that its implementation policies should complement, support and enhance the Union's competitiveness through the appropriate funding;

- recalls that over the course of the 2021-2027 period, the EU is set to spend at least 30% of its budget on climate-relevant objectives; welcomes the fact that the 2025 draft budget outperforms this objective, with 33,5% dedicated to climate mainstreaming;

- recalls that biodiversity should be mainstreamed in EU programmes to allocate at least 7,5% of annual spending to biodiversity objectives in 2024 and 10% in both 2026 and 2027; regrets that these objectives will not be met, since biodiversity mainstreaming amounts to 7,3% of the budget in 2024, and to 7,8% in 2026 and 7,9% in 2027; therefore, calls the Commission and other involved actors to ensure that remedial measures are put rapidly in place to reach the biodiversity mainstreaming targets; notes the importance of Common Agriculture Policy (CAP) for reaching biodiversity objectives;

- notes that the commitments under the Environmental and Climate Action policy cluster in Heading 3 'Natural Resources and Environment' are planned to decrease by EUR 7,1 million, while the payments will increase by EUR 28,3 million between 2024 and 2025; considers, given the Union objective of climate neutrality by 2050 at the latest, that the budget devoted to this cluster should be increased;

- reminds that the Recovery and Resilience Facility (RRF) was designed to support a sustainable recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic and build resilience against future shocks, notably by supporting the green and digital transition; consequently, Member States are called to devote at least 37 % of their total expenditure to investments and reforms in support of climate objectives;

- emphasises the need to allocate sufficient funding for each individual budget line that contributes to the achievement of the green transition, with a particular focus on sustainability, climate change and biodiversity conservation, such as attention to bees and pollinators' protection and their role as indicators for healthy ecosystems;

- stresses the need to allocate sufficient funding to the LIFE programme, which supports the protection of nature and biodiversity, the protection and quality improvement of the Union's air and water, and the transition towards an energy efficient, renewable energy-based, circular, climate neutral and climate resilient economy;

- underlines the importance of the financial means in the Just Transition Fund to support those regions and sectors that are most affected by the Union's transition away from fossil fuels;

- welcomes the approach of the Commission to start the preparatory activities of the new Social Climate Fund (SCF), established to mitigate the social impacts on vulnerable groups in the Union arising from the extension of the EU Emissions Trading System (EU ETS) to buildings, road transport and additional types of fuels; underlines the need to monitor the proper implementation of national social climate plans and the national ETS 2 revenue and calls on the Commission to assess whether these are sufficient to fully mitigate the economic impact of ETS 2 on these households and whether stronger protections are needed to prevent increased costs from disproportionately affecting those who are least able to afford them; notes that part of the revenues from the auctioning of emission allowances in ETS2 will supply the SCF;

- welcomes the allocation of funding for the set-up of the Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism (CBAM) that addresses the risk of carbon leakage, ensuring that domestic production and imports are subject to similar levels of carbon pricing, and encourages producers in third countries to adopt decarbonisation technologies;

- strongly regrets the redeployment from the EU4Health programme of 1 billion EUR over the 2025-2027 period, which is a decrease of almost 20% in the total budget, agreed during the MFF mid-term revision, which includes a reallocation EUR 189 million in 2025 to other budget lines and threatens the programme's ability to achieve its critical objectives; calls on the Commission, Member States and other involved actors to find practical modalities to compensate this cut to ensure that the goal of the fund of building stronger, more resilient and more accessible health systems can be achieved and increase the EU4Health's funding via different channels, such as through the Flexibility Instrument; furthermore, in the context of the next MFF, strongly advocates a significant increase in funding for healthcare; stresses the need to also allocate sufficient funding for the European Health Data Space (EHDS) to ensure its proper implementation;

- calls, furthermore, for an increase in the budget for the Health Cluster under HorizonEU to support medical research and development in critical areas where market failures exist such as addressing antimicrobial resistance (AMR), and strengthening Europe's research and development capabilities to tackle emerging, re-emerging, neglected, and rare diseases; stresses that it is imperative to protect health budget lines for the remainder of the MFF by reversing the proposed cuts;

- regrets the cuts of EUR 37 million (commitments) and EUR 154,9 million (payments) in the budget lines for the Union Civil Protection Mechanism (RescEU), especially considering the need to ensure appropriate financing for this instrument in tackling ever worsening extreme weather conditions and the consequential natural disasters such as, inter alia floods and wild fires in the Union; urges that increased funding be allocated for the relevant budget lines;

- welcomes the increase of resources to the European agencies under ENVI's remit, such as the European Environment Agency (EEA), the European Chemicals Agency (ECHA), the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) and the European Medicines Agency (EMA) as a mean to ensure that they can fully carry out their important functions in European policymaking in response to the challenges the Union has been facing; stresses the need for sufficient funding in the long term to enable their proper and effective functioning;

- deplores the cuts made by the Council on various lines affecting actions falling under the ENVI Committee remit, such as cluster "Health", ECHA, support expenditures for the EU4Health and LIFE programmes as well as lines regarding nature and biodiversity, circular economy and quality of life, climate change mitigation and adaptation, and clean energy transition; and

- reiterates the importance of ensuring an enhanced EU own resources system which is capable of meeting the challenges and contributing to the Union's health, environment and climate goals.

I have sent a similar letter to Mr Victor Negrescu, general rapporteur for the 2025 budget.

Yours sincerely,

Antonio Decaro

ANNEX: entities or persons

from whom the rapporteur for the OPINION has received input

The Chair in his capacity as rapporteur for the opinion declares underhis exclusive responsibility that he did not receive input from any entity or person to be mentioned in this Annex pursuant to Article 8 of Annex I to the Rules of Procedure.

LETTER OF THE COMMITTEE ON INDUSTRY, RESEARCH AND ENERGY(12.9.2024)

Mr Johan Van Overtveldt

Chair

Committee on Budgets

BRUSSELS

Subject: Opinion on the form of a letter on the general budget of the European Union for the financial year 2025-all sections (2024/0176(BUD))

Dear Mr Chair,

Under the procedure referred to above, the Committee on Industry, Research and Energy has been asked to submit an opinion to your committee. At its coordinators meeting of 24 July 2024, the committee decided to send the opinion in the form of a letter.

The Committee on Industry, Research and Energy considered the matter at its meeting of 12 September 2024. At that meeting, it decided to call on the Committee on Budgets, as the committee responsible, to incorporate the following suggestions into its motion for a resolution.

Yours sincerely,

Borys Budka Christian Ehler

Chair Rapporteur

SUGGESTIONS

1. Recalls the ITRE committee opinion on the guidelines for the 2025 EU budget, and calls for an ambitious budget that focuses on strengthening Europe's competitiveness in the global economy, supporting the open strategic autonomy of the Union and reducing dependencies on unreliable non-EU countries in key industrial sectors; fully supports the twin digital and green transition and the pathway to climate neutrality by 2050 as set out in the European Green Deal; calls for sufficient and reliable resources for the ramp up of renewable energy sources, reinforcement of electricity grids and boosting interconnections of the EU energy market in order to ensure the secure supply of affordable energy security and the achievement of our climate and energy targets; stresses that providing sufficient funding to implement all EU programmes set up under the MFF will be paramount in achieving these goals in the fields of industrial, digital and energy policy; emphasises the need to provide strong funding to Ukraine as it continues to suffer from the Russian war of aggression, and with a view to its post-war reconstruction and EU integration;

2. Strongly rejects the approach taken by the Council in its position (17 July 2024) on the Commission's draft EU budget for 2025 and its focus on cutting funds for strategic EU programmes; believes these latest cost cutting attempts directly contradict the Strategic Agenda 2024-2029 and the Political Guidelines for the new Commission, which has to implement the 2025 Union budget; maintains that the Council position does not reflect the growing challenges facing Europe from an economic, social, environmental and geopolitical perspective, and is dismayed that the proposed cuts focus once again on Heading 1 of the MFF (Single Market, Innovation and Digital), which is the part of the EU budget most crucial to Europe's global competitiveness, the twin digital and green transition and our road to climate neutrality;

3. Opposes the Council position to further reduce funding for EU Research and Innovation (R&I) by 450 million Euros in commitments, with the bulk of the proposed reductions (400 million Euros) hitting the budget for Horizon Europe; reminds that the Strategic Agenda sets out the objective to "close our growth, productivity and innovation gaps with international partners and main competitors" through "a significant collective investment effort, mobilising both public and private funding" and that the conclusions of the April 2024 Special European Council meeting included a commitment to increase "investment in research and development to meet the 3% GDP expenditure target" as part of the new European competitiveness deal; notes that even with the originally agreed budget for Horizon Europe, the Union is not reaching the level of contribution needed to achieve the 3% expenditure target; notes that the Political Guidelines for the new Commission include a commitment to "increase our research spending"; believes therefore that these proposed cuts will not only do serious long term damage to Europe's R&I capacity, they also undermine the credibility of the Union's research policy ambitions, may contribute to brain drain of leading European researchers and will slow down the EU in the global race for scientific and technological leadership; is convinced that much greater investment in research and innovation is necessary for Europe to advance its technological leadership in those sectors most impacted by the green and digital transitions; finds that the proposed cuts are particularly incomprehensible now as they come on top of a reduction of 2.1 billion euros in funding for Horizon Europe concentrated in the last three years of the current MFF, as agreed by the Council during its recent revision of the MFF; reminds of the importance of allocating sufficient resources to support the priorities covered by the STEP in order to boost investment in critical technologies in Europe; believes the Parliament should take the opposite approach and support an increase in European R&I, through a judicious reallocation of decommitments and the remaining margins under the EU budget to ensure a higher level of funding than was proposed in the Commission's draft budget for 2025; restates its fervent believe that any decommitments stemming from the research programmes should directly be reused in the research programme and believes that the use of research decommitments for the interest payments through the EURI Instrument is not acceptable.

4. Firmly opposes the Council position to reduce funding for European Strategic Investments by over 147 million euros in commitments, most notably a drastic and completely unjustifiable reduction of 110 Million Euros for the Connecting Europe Facility - Digital, which represents an almost 50% cut to this programme and is following a historically low budget for this programme in 2024; reminds that the Strategic Agenda outlines the need for "cutting-edge digital infrastructure" and the Political Guidelines identify the need for "cutting-edge digital infrastructure" to make the Data Union work, including the urgent need for the rollout of Gigabit infrastructure networks to enable more innovative services for citizens, businesses and public sector in order to respond to the demand for faster, more reliable, data-intense connectivity; concludes therefore that through this cut, the Council is wilfully undermining the future of Europe; further underlines its objection against the proposed reduction of almost 7 million euros to the Digital Europe programme, and the proposed reduction of over 30 million Euros for InvestEU; reminds that the Strategic Agenda sets out the need for "a significant collective investment effort, mobilising both public and private funding" in order to bolster competitiveness; in this regard believes that the Parliament should as a minimum support restoring these budget lines to the levels originally proposed in the Commission's draft budget for 2025;

5. Strongly opposes the Council position to reduce funding for the EU Single Market by over 10 million euros, including cuts of 5.5 million euros to the Single Market programme (including SMEs) and close to 5 million euros of cuts in funding for the related decentralised agencies; likewise opposes the proposed reduction of close to 35 million Euros in funding for the EU Space Programme, overwhelmingly focused on drastic cuts to the crucial Union Secure Connectivity programme; believes that the Parliament should as a minimum support restoring these budget lines to the levels originally proposed in the Commission's draft budget for 2025;

6. Highlights that the proposed cuts by the Council will also negatively affect our horizontal spending target on climate, given that these programmes and in particularly Horizon Europe contribute more than most other parts of the Union budget to this target;

7. Calls on the European Commission and the Council to provide adequate funding and staff for all Union agencies and bodies in the policy areas of industry, research, space, energy and cybersecurity, in the light of new regulatory obligations, increasing workloads and operation costs, including those arising from need to ensure the high level of cybersecurity protection invites the Commission to thoroughly consider new regulatory obligations and increased workloads following from legislation in its distribution of resources and staff across its services.

8. Firmly condemns the continued lack of progress and the absence of concrete new ideas on how to develop EU 'own resources', which would make the annual EU budget less reliant on contributions from Member States and in a position to repay the common borrowing agreed for NGEU; highlights with grave concern that this lack of progress comes, again, at the expense of research investments considering that in the MFF revision it was agreed to use research decommitments as first source to fund any uncovered interest payments related to the RRF;

9. Requests the Commission to step up its work to simplify Union Programmes from the perspective of the final users, aiming to lower the administrative complexity of applying for and managing Union funds; believes simplifications should be supported by clear evidence of the benefits they will have for the final users of Union funds; underlines that simplifications are about better and smarter ways of working, while maintaining all standards agreed to in the Interinstitutional Agreement on Budgetary Matters as well as the Financial Regulation for the implementation of the Union budget is necessary.

ANNEX: ENTITIES OR PERSONS
FROM WHOM THE RAPPORTEUR HAS RECEIVED INPUT

The rapporteur declares under his exclusive responsibility that he did not receive input from any entity or person to be mentioned in this Annex pursuant to Article 8 of Annex I to the Rules of Procedure.

LETTER OF THE COMMITTEE ON THE INTERNAL MARKET AND CONSUMER PROTECTION(05.09.2024)

Mr Johan Van Overtveldt

Chair

Committee on Budgets

BRUSSELS

Subject: Opinion on the General budget of the European Union for the financial year 2025 - all sections 2024/0176(BUD)

Dear Chair,

Under the procedure referred to above, the Committee on the Internal Market and Consumer Protection has been asked to submit an opinion to your committee. At its meeting of 24 January 2024, the committee decided to send the opinion in the form of a letter. It considered the matter at its meeting of 5 September 2024 and adopted the opinion at that meeting[24].

Yours sincerely,

Anna Cavazzini

IMCO Chair

SUGGESTIONS

The Committee on the Internal Market and Consumer Protection calls on the Committee on Budget, as the committee responsible, to take into account the following suggestions into its motion for a resolution:

1. Understands the need for restructuring the MFF in order to match the modified budgetary needs due to the post-pandemic situation, high inflation and the Russian invasion of Ukraine, but underlines at the same time the needs to strengthen EU competitiveness by deepening and making the Single Market more resilient, therefore adequate financing of the Single Market programmes is necessary, as it plays a key role in the economic recovery process and achieving the EU's consumer protection, digital and sustainability objectives;

2. Expresses hope that the newly elected college of Commissioners will support the further development of the Single Market in sectors like services, electronic communications and digital market economy; calls for concrete initiatives and actions to boost cross-border trade in services, dismantle unjustified barriers to their free movement, reduce unjustified administrative burdens for companies, and ensure adequate implementation, compliance and enforcement of existing legislation;

3. Sees big potential in the current reform of the Union Customs Code and establishing EU Customs Authority; underlines that effective simplification of customs procedures and proper enforcement of customs systems are essential for combating fraud, counterfeiting and transnational crime, driving competition, ensuring compliance with EU law and protecting consumers; reiterates the importance of an adequate and effective level of commitment appropriations to allow the modernisation of the customs union and development of electronic and more automated customs systems in the interest of greater efficiency for EU companies and streamlined protection of consumers;

4. Reiterates its call for sufficient funding and staffing necessary to ensure that the enforcement of Digital Markets Act (DMA) is efficient and adequate, guaranteeing that market investigations on gatekeepers' compliance are done in time to maintain a fair and open digital markets for businesses and consumers;

5. Notes the proposal to allocate appropriations for the Digital Services Act (DSA) in 2025, sourced from supervisory fees charged to Very Large Online Platforms and Search Engines, ensuring robust EU-wide implementation and enforcement;

6. Highlights the importance of allocating an adequate budget for the implementation of the EU AI Act in 2025; stresses that the level of funding budgeted in 2025 should support the timely establishment of the European Artificial Intelligence Office, the AI Board, the AI Advisory Panel, and the AI Scientific Panel, including the recruitment of around 50 FTEs;

7. Welcomes the increased allocation of resources for ensuring a high level of consumer protection and product safety and in market surveillance, recalls that allocating adequate resources to tackle the increasing number of illegal and non-compliant products on the market is crucial in order to effectively protect consumers and avoid the distortion of competition;

8. Believes that additional efforts are needed to support Member States in the digitalisation of the public sector, especially for procedures that affect businesses and consumers, enabling them to conduct administrative procedures online;

9. Underlines the need to allocate resources to ensure the access to internet and digitisation for all EU citizens, especially the elderly and those living in rural areas; although much progress has been made, it is necessary to end the digital gap and ensure equality of conditions for all citizens;

10. Recalls that the Single Market Programme aims at supporting actions to support the wider uptake of strategic public procurement, including improved access for SMEs and freelancers to public procurement; notes that the adoption of best practices in public procurement for projects funded by the EU could help to avoid frequent errors and ensure proper implementation of investments;

11. Highlights the need for EU-funding to help ensuring greater compliance of economic operators with rules set at EU-level when placing a product or a service on the market; calls in this regard for increased budget to finance development of EU capacities, such as Union testing facilities as well as action to support greater cooperation and synergy between EU-level and national market surveillance authorities to ensure that products sold both online and offline are safe, and that consumer trust is ensured, in particular for cross-border purchases and for those categories of products at risk; asks the Commission to ensure sufficient funding in that respect.

ANNEX: ENTITIES OR PERSONS
FROM WHOM THE RAPPORTEUR HAS RECEIVED INPUT

The Chair declares under her exclusive responsibility that she did not receive input from any entity or person to be mentioned in this Annex pursuant to Article 8 of Annex I to the Rules of Procedure.

LETTER OF THE COMMITTEE ON TRANSPORT AND TOURISM(05.09.2024)

Mr Johan Van Overtveldt

Chair

Committee on Budgets

BRUSSELS

Subject: Opinion on General budget of the European Union for the financial year 2025 - all sections (2024/0176(BUD))

Dear Chair,

Under the procedure referred to above, the Committee on Transport and Tourism has been asked to submit an opinion to your committee. At its meeting of 24 July 2024, the committee decided to send the opinion in the form of a letter.

The Committee on Transport and Tourism considered the matter at its meeting of 4 September 2024. At that meeting[25], it decided to submit the opinion set out below to the Committee on Budgets, as the committee responsible.

Yours sincerely,

(signed) Elissavet Vozemberg-Vrionidi

OPINION

A. Whereas the Connecting Europe Facility for Transport (CEF-T) is the main European instrument for strategic investment in infrastructure development along the TEN-T network that enables the improvement and modernisation of the EU network of roads, railways, inland waterways, maritime routes, urban nodes, ports, airports and terminals as well as transformation thereof into an interconnected, safe, smart and sustainable European transport system; whereas the recently concluded revision of the Regulation on TEN-T guidelines[26]confirmed the obligation to finalise the core network by 2030, the extended core network by 2040 and the comprehensive network by 2050;

B. Whereas the new geopolitical situation brought about by Russia's illegal and unjustified war against Ukraine highlighted the importance of a well-connected military mobility network with shorter reaction times as well as secure, sustainable, and resilient transport infrastructure and capabilities;

C. Whereas the EU-Ukraine Solidarity Lanes are laying the ground for the longer-term connectivity between the EU and Ukraine and will be fundamental to Ukraine's reconstruction and integration into the Single Market; whereas CEF has been instrumental to the funding of the critical border needs and taking initial steps toward the integration of Ukraine's and Moldova's transport systems into the EU's TEN-T network; whereas significant progress has also been made in transitioning to the European standard gauge, contributing to the creation of an interoperable EU railway system;

D. Whereas the ongoing crisis in the Red Sea has disrupted the global maritime transport network, underscoring the critical importance of ensuring resilient and sustainable maritime supply chains for the Union, in alignment with the objectives of the European Maritime Space as established under the revised TEN-T guidelines;

E. Whereas, despite the repeated calls of the European Parliament[27], membership of Bulgaria and Romania in the Schengen area remains limited to the air and sea routes; whereas staying outside of the Schengen's land borders affects commuters, transport companies and tourism operators, disrupting the free flow of people, goods and services across the EU and ultimately hampering smooth functioning of the Single Market;

F. Whereas most new legislation applying to the transport sector implies additional responsibilities for the Union transport agencies, which indicates that appropriate funding thereof should match this growing level of their responsibility, but should not come at the expense of the CEF-T envelope; whereas ensuring adequate budget for the transport-related joint undertakings as driving forces behind innovation and development in the field of transport is equally important;

G. Whereas the Commission's 2021 Industrial Strategy identified tourism as one of the main industrial ecosystems in the EU; whereas tourism was among the sectors hit hardest by several successive crises, including COVID-19 and the war in Ukraine; whereas it is heavily affected by the climate change; whereas addressing these challenges requires a coordinated approach at the EU level and appropriate funding;

1. Calls for an increase to CEF-T funding, notably in view of the cuts from the previous years as well as the rise in construction and raw material prices, which could ultimately augment the foreseen budget of projects; points out the substantial investment needs for the construction, maintenance and upgrading of infrastructure, for increased cross-border transport capacity for a sustainable and resilient air and maritime transport network, and for their efficient use to eliminate bottlenecks and missing links, to support the objective of transport decarbonisation and to provide high quality services to citizens as well as to businesses; in this context, draws particular attention to the funding required for the deployment of alternative fuels supply infrastructure, such as publicly accessible electric recharging pools, biofuels, and hydrogen refuelling stations across the EU's main transport corridors and hubs;

2. Calls for sufficient resources to reduce regional disparities by supporting the completion of the TEN-T network in the countries benefiting from the Cohesion Fund; calls for an increase to Just Transition Fund (JTF), which invests in safe, sustainable and resilient transport infrastructure in the most affected - sparsely populated and rural, environmentally vulnerable and disadvantaged - areas, contributing to the promotion of affordable and accessible, smart and sustainable mobility services as well as the up- and reskilling of workers in the transport sector;

3. Insists that, following the drastic, more than four-fold reduction of the military mobility budget compared to EUR 6,5 bln. initially foreseen for the whole period of MFF 2021-2027, it is crucial to restore it at least on the basis of the Commission's original proposal which has received full support from European Parliament; stresses that the Russian aggression demonstrates the need to upgrade the dual use transport infrastructure along the Europe's military mobility network, adapting, where necessary, parts of the TEN-T infrastructure to a dual use in order to address both civilian and defence needs, paying particular attention to the itineraries needed for short-notice and large-scale movements of military forces;

4. Stresses the importance of the projects aiming for a greater capacity along the EU-Ukraine Solidarity Lanes, which include improvements of the rail, road transport and inland waterways infrastructure between Ukraine, Moldova and the EU, such as works to increase capacity on rail border crossings, new road sections as well as studies and work to integrate the Ukrainian railways into the EU rail system;

5. Recalls that Bulgaria and Romania have continuously acted as key contributors to the internal security of the Schengen area; stresses that their partial accession to the Schengen area negatively affects not only freedom of movement but also the objectives of the EU transport policy and draws particular attention to the economic losses experienced by the two countries as a result of increased transport costs and delays as well as reduced trade and tourism;

6. Recalls that the EU Aviation Safety Agency (EASA) is a major force behind the efforts to support the resilience and future evolution of the aviation sector, and to guarantee a high level of safe and sustainable air transport; therefore, regrets the decrease in the budgetary allocations for EASA and calls to provide adequate funding to the Agency in view of its new responsibilities, particularly stemming from its role under the ReFuelEU Aviation regulation[28]and the recently agreed reform of the Single European Sky;

7. Notes that the European Maritime Safety Agency (EMSA) already performs functions that are not covered by its current budget; stresses the importance of ensuring the continuous enhancement of the THETIS-MRV system; recalls the expected upgrading of the Agency's role and tasks in the relevant fields of response to marine pollution caused by ships, and the possibility of including spills from gas and oil installations; reminds of pending interinstitutional negotiations on the new EMSA regulation aiming to strengthen the Agency's role in serving EU maritime interests for a safe, secure, sustainable and competitive maritime sector; in this context, calls to provide EMSA with additional resources that are commensurate to its mandate;

8. Deplores that at the time when the EU is set on increasing the share of passenger and freight rail transport, with concrete targets for 2030 under its Sustainable and Smart Mobility Strategy, the budget of the EU Agency for Railways (ERA) remains unacceptably low; recalls the number of severe rail accidents in the past years and the manifest absence of an adequate incident reporting framework in the EU; notes that the Agency requires adequate resources at the height of its tasks, including its strengthened oversight role in shifting passenger and cargo transport from road to rail, removing cross-border bottlenecks and inefficiencies, deploying European Rail Traffic Management System (ERTMS) and supporting TEN-T completion objectives, especially along cross-border sections; in view of the above, calls for a significant increase to the Agency's budget to enable better monitoring and enforcement of safety requirements and ensure that the upcoming regulatory obligations defined in the Commission proposal for the rail capacity regulation[29]are met;

9. Reiterates that the Clean Aviation Joint Undertaking (CAJU) is central to the successful and timely deployment of globally competitive new aircraft with disruptive performance gains for increased sustainability of aviation; welcomes the increase in the budgetary allocation to CAJU, however, calls for an additional increase in view of its needs related to the preparation for the flight demonstration phase and bringing its research closer to the market;

10. Stresses that the establishment of SESAR 3 Joint Undertaking under the Horizon Europe programme recognised the importance of air traffic management in building smarter, safer and more sustainable aviation; recalls that SESAR 3 JU is expected to contribute to strengthening the competitiveness of Europe's aviation industry and the establishment of European airspace as the most efficient and environmentally friendly sky in the world; therefore, asks for an increase to ensure the continuity of this ambitious work;

11. Recalls that the Europe's Rail Joint Undertaking (EU-Rail) is at the core of transforming the European rail system into a high capacity integrated network and achievement of the Single European Rail Area, which facilitates a shift of passenger and cargo transport from road to rail; calls for a significant increase to support a fast transition to a more efficient and sustainable European rail system, integrated into the wider mobility system;

12. Recalls, as reported in the recently approved TEN-T Guidelines, the importance to finance a masterplan for the development of a European high-speed network to connect EU Capitals and major cities;

13. Reminds that hydrogen technologies and systems, particularly those based on renewable energy, have been identified by the Commission as a strategic value chain for Europe; stresses that the Clean Hydrogen Joint Undertaking is key to reinforcing competitiveness of the EU clean hydrogen value chain, in particular with a view to accelerating the market entry of innovative competitive clean solutions, which could primarily be used in hard-to-abate transport modes such as aviation and maritime; cautions against any decreases that could undermine strengthening strategic value chains for a future-ready EU transport;

14. Reiterates the long-lasting and regular call by the European Parliamentto include a dedicated budget line for sustainable tourism in MFF 2021-2027 and beyond; stresses the need to support the recovery and modernisation of the sector in the context of the green and digital transition in order for tourism to become more sustainable and resilient; is convinced that this requires a coordinated response at the EU level, reflecting the importance of the tourism sector to the EU economy and workforce, backed by adequate budgetary means.

ANNEX: ENTITIES OR PERSONS
FROM WHOM THE RAPPORTEUR HAS RECEIVED INPUT

The rapporteur for the opinion declares under his exclusive responsibility that he did not receive input from any entity or person to be mentioned in this Annex pursuant to Article 8 of Annex I to the Rules of Procedure.

LETTER OF THE COMMITTEE ON CULTURE AND EDUCATION(3.10.2024)

Mr Johan Van Overtveldt

Chair

Committee on Budgets

BRUSSELS

Subject: Opinion on the draft general budget of the European Union for the financial year 2025 - all sections (COM(2024)0300 - C10-00482/2024 - 2024/0176 (BUD))

Dear Chair,

Under the procedure referred to above, the Committee on Culture and Education has been asked to submit an opinion to your committee. At its meeting of 23 July 2024, the committee decided to send the opinion in the form of a letter. They considered the matter and endorsed the opinion by written procedure on 12 September 2024.

The Committee on Culture and Education has adopted the following position on 3 October 2024[30]and I call on the Committee on Budgets, as the responsible committee, to incorporate the following suggestions into its motion for a resolution.

Yours sincerely,

Nela Riehl

OPINION

1. Strongly opposes Council's cuts in the 2025 budget, particularly to the Erasmus+ programme, one of the most successful Union programmes that strategically invests in young people's future;

2. Decides therefore to increase budget lines of Erasmus+ (+ EUR 58 million), Creative Europe (+ EUR 48 million) and the European Solidarity Corps (ESC) (+ EUR 5 million);

3. Highlights the need to support the cultural and creative sectors and industries, journalists and media professionals and the educational sector to manage multiple crises, including the Russian war of aggression against Ukraine and inflation;

4. Underlines the role of Erasmus+ and ESC in encouraging young people to engage in Europe's democratic life; support young people involved in volunteering and solidarity actions; stresses the need to reinforce the level of operating grants for youth organisations, support citizenship education and to accommodate increasing oversubscription in ESC;

5. Highlights leading initiatives in Erasmus+ that contribute to build a European Education Area through mobility and cooperation in education and learning; stresses necessary efforts to widen participation and to meet inclusivity, green, digitalisation and mobility targets;

6. Emphasises the need to support sport under Erasmus+ to promote its role in improving physical and mental health and social inclusion, and to fight discrimination;

7. Strongly opposes any possible attempts to decrease funding for the Erasmus+ programme by the Commission at the end of the current Multiannual Financial Framework;

8. Highlights that Creative Europe, the only EU Programme directly supporting the cultural and creative sector and industries, needs a significant reinforcement of all its strands given the sectors' continued efforts to recover after the pandemic;

9. Calls for a significant reinforcement of the Culture Strand, which is highly over-subscribed, including the long overdue additional funding for the European Capitals of Cultures (ECOC) (Prize of EUR 1.5 million for the last 15 years) and for the necessary resources to align the strand with the priorities and the EU Work Plan for Culture 2023-2026;

10. Recalls that the Media strand accompanies the implementation of the AVMSD and of the recently adopted EMFA, the latter was not foreseen when the MFF line was originally calculated;

11. Underlines the need to support the audiovisual sector and European media talents by promoting their diversity and supporting their economic sustainability and fair remuneration in the digital environment;

12. Reiterates the need to support editorial and news media, including journalists that are confronted by structural and technological changes, resulting in rampant disinformation and expanding news deserts;

13. Recalls the importance of the citizens' engagement strand in CERV, in particular as regards town twinning and remembrance activities.

ANNEX: ENTITIES OR PERSONS
FROM WHOM THE RAPPORTEUR HAS RECEIVED INPUT

The rapporteur for the opinion declares under her exclusive responsibility that she did not receive input from any entity or person to be mentioned in this Annex pursuant to Article 8 of Annex I to the Rules of Procedure.

LETTER OF THE COMMITTEE ON CONSTITUTIONAL AFFAIRS(4.9.2024)

Mr Johan Van Overtveldt

Chair

Committee on Budgets

BRUSSELS

Subject: Opinion on the draft general budget of the European Union for the financial year 2025 - all sections (2024/0176(BUD))

Dear Mr Chair,

Under the procedure referred to above, the Committee on Constitutional Affairs has been asked to submit an opinion to your committee. At its meeting of 4 September 2024, the committee decided to send the opinion in the form of a letter.

The Committee on Constitutional Affairs considered the matter at its meeting of 4 September 2024. At that meeting[31], it decided to submit the opinion set out below to the Committee on Budgets, as the committee responsible.

Yours sincerely,

Sven Simon

OPINION

A. Whereas 2025 will be the post European election year and the start of the new legislative term of the EU institutions;

1. Notes that no increase in funding was proposed for 'Commission Representations', nor for the 'Communication services for citizens'; suggests a 5% increase of the commitment and payments appropriations for both of these budgetary lines as compared to the 2024 levels; deems this increase necessary for the purpose of encouraging proactive dialogues and enhancing citizens´ participation, especially the youth on EU matters in the Member States at the beginning of the new legislature, and developing communication activities to fight disinformation and misinformation;

2. Highlights that, following the conclusions of the European Council the challenge of future EU enlargement cannot be met without increasing the EU budget with additional own resources; calls for the start of discussions of the relevant financial reforms in 2025 in parallel with the ongoing accession negotiations ensuring that the EU budget is fit for the future and that European responses are given to European challenges;

3. Points that the EU budget for 2025 should provide the necessary resources for the implementation of the pending Treaty changes procedure;

4. Urges the Committee on Budgets to incorporate the above mentioned budget lines augmentations in its position, as they serve the purpose of delivering concrete results and quality communication to citizens.

ANNEX: ENTITIES OR PERSONS
FROM WHOM THE RAPPORTEUR HAS RECEIVED INPUT

The Chair in his capacity as rapporteur for opinion declares under his exclusive responsibility that he did not receive input from any entity or person to be mentioned in this Annex pursuant to Article 8 of Annex I to the Rules of Procedure.

LETTER OF THE COMMITTEE ON WOMEN'S RIGHTS AND GENDER EQUALITY(5.9.2024)

Mr Johan Van Overtveldt

Chair

Committee on Budgets

BRUSSELS

Subject: Opinion on General budget of the European Union for the financial year 2025 - all sections (2024/0176(BUD))

Dear Mr Chair,

Under the procedure referred to above, the Committee on Women's Rights and Gender Equality has been asked to submit an opinion to your committee. At its meeting of 24 July 2024, the committee decided to send the opinion in the form of a letter.

The Committee on Women's Rights and Gender Equality considered the matter at its meeting of 5 September 2024. At that meeting[32], it decided to submit the opinion set out below to the Committee on Budgets, as the committee responsible.

Yours sincerely,

Lina Gálvez

Opinion

A. whereas gender equality is a core value of the Union enshrined in Article 2 of the Treaty on European Union; whereas Article 8 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European states that 'in all its activities, the Union shall aim to eliminate inequalities and to promote equality', thus establishing the principle of gender mainstreaming, which stipulates that the gender equality perspective must be integrated across all policies and programmes, including all levels of the budgetary process; whereas budgets are never gender neutral and therefore need to be established with the clear objective of anti-discrimination and the goal of reaching all individuals and their specific needs;

B. whereas Parliament has repeatedly called for sufficient funding for the European Institute for Gender Equality (EIGE), Daphne Strand, Equality and Rights Strand of the Citizens, Equality, Rights and Values (CERV) programme, CSOs under the NDICI programme, EU4Health programme, ESF+ Employment and Social Innovation (EaSI) strand; whereas Parliament has repeatedly also called for applying gender mainstreaming in the main European Funds such as Horizon Europe, CAP, Cohesion Funds and NGEU;

1. Underlines that a gender perspective should be fully integrated in the budgetary process; calls for implementation of gender budgeting and the inclusion of gender related objectives in the Union programmes as well as for identification of relevant budget lines, effective monitoring of the Union budget's contribution to gender equality and a gender-sensitive review of programmes and spending, in order to make necessary adjustments in the following MFF period; reiterates its calls for the need to accelerate progress in gender equality, including through the promotion of budgets and funds that advance gender equality, as well as for greater investment in gender statistics; underlines that this is crucial for the Union that is facing crises and conflict, and backlashes against women's rights and gender equality; stresses that gender equality must be a priority in the budgetary procedure, ensuring fair opportunities for all;

2. Reiterates the need to further develop the EU Commission gender tracking methodology, which should identify actions with a gender impact in some EU programmes, but also track the overall funding volume dedicated to gender equality in the EU budget; recalls that 20% of interventions are classified in the 2025 Budget as having an uncertain relevance to gender equality (score 0*) and 69% with no relevance (score 0); calls for the collection, reporting and evaluation of comparable gender-disaggregated data to facilitate gender impact assessments in Union policy areas;

3. Highlights the worrying and increasing backlash against gender equality and women's rights and the importance of EU instruments including the NDICI to combat this situation; calls for ambitious and specific budget allocations for preventing and combating gender-based violence within Daphne; calls on the Commission to increase budget allocation to civil society organisations that promote women's rights in Europe and beyond, including sexual and reproductive health and rights; reminds the requirement to allocate at least 40% of the funds dedicated to the Equality, Rights and Gender Equality strand and to the Daphne strand to activities to prevent and combat all forms of gender-based violence at all levels, and at least 15% to activities promoting women's full enjoyment of rights, gender equality, including work-life balance, women's empowerment and gender mainstreaming;

4. Calls on the Commission to increase budget allocation to civil society organisations that promote women's rights, LGBTIQ+ rights, gender equality, sexual and reproductive health and rights (SRHR); stresses that sexual and reproductive health and rights are fundamental rights and highlights the continued importance to fund organisations working in the field, such as those that facilitate cross-border cooperation between organisations providing safe and legal abortions; highlights the importance of innovation in the distribution of funds and an increase in re-granting initiatives to improve access to funds for smaller grassroots organisations, especially local feminist organisations, in order to guarantee the best impact on women's rights and gender equality; highlights that it is necessary to allocate sufficient budget to measures to combat LGBTI-phobia, such as telephone lines for counselling and attention;

5. Calls on the Commission to also increase budget allocation to civil society organisations that promote social justice in Europe and beyond, including in conflict areas; highlights the importance of reinforcing civil society organisations via the NDICI programme; underlines the role of those organisations in offering expertise and support to those affected by conflict-based gender-based violence and sexual violence; acknowledges the 77% of NDICI actions that contributed to gender equality in 2022, and reiterates its expectation that the Gender Action Plan III agreed goal of 85% will be reached;[33]

6. Recalls the important role played by EIGE in understanding and addressing the extent and causes of gender inequality affecting women in all their diversity in the Union, especially in the context of the backlash against women's rights and conflict-related, economic and health crises and having in mind intersectionality; recalls that EIGE has experienced persistent issues with understaffing, which were further aggravated through the sharp increase in requests for technical assistance as a result of the prioritisation of gender mainstreaming in all Union policies and initiatives in the EU Gender Equality Strategy 2020-2025; stresses its calls for EIGE to be granted the budget and staff allocations, including an increase in contract agents, required to handle the significant increase in workload;

7. Recalls that one in three women in the Union has been affected by gender-based violence, at an estimated economic cost of EUR 290 billion per year; calls for additional ongoing funding of the Equality and Rights Strand of the CERV programme and the Daphne programme to combat all forms of gender-based violence in the Union, including in the framework of the effective implementation of the Council of Europe Convention on preventing and combating violence and sexual abuse against women, girls and other forms of domestic violence and the Directive combatting violence against women and domestic violence; calls for special attention to women facing intersectional discrimination, such as LBTIQ women, racialized women, migrant women and women with disabilities;

8. Stresses the importance of using European Structural and Investment Funds such as the European Social Fund Plus (ESF+) to promote gender equality, women's employment and access to the labour market, universal childcare and long-term care facilities, particularly in the light of the Union's 13% average hourly gender pay gap; considers that the delivery of care depends on well financed and properly functioning public services and social protection systems; highlights the fact that economic inequality and social stagnation are inextricably linked with intersectional discrimination; salutes the objective of using at least 30% of cohesion policy investments to support direct gender equality measures and gender mainstreaming; notes however that some Member States are lagging significantly behind in their use of cohesion funds for gender equality;[34]underlines the need for budgetary allocations to support women's entrepreneurship, women-led SMEs, encourage access to women business angels/venture capitalists and to fight women's poverty which is higher than males' and has increased following the Covid pandemic;

9. Condemns that women remain under-represented in leadership and decision-making positions, while being overrepresented in low-paid sectors such as care and service work as well as in informal economy and in sectors with higher precarious conditions; stresses the need to reinforce budgetary allocations, in order to address systemic challenges to labour market participation, including tackling the gender care gap, stereotypes, norms, roles and traditions and improving access to high quality care facilities and working conditions in the care sector;

10. Calls for budgetary allocations under the EU4Health programme for research into gender specific conditions such as menopause, infertility issues, endometriosis and fibroids and gender-affirming care, with an intersectional perspective, the provision of universal healthcare, along with the provision of cross-border services to ensure the provision of free, safe and legal abortion and other sexual and reproductive health services to women in all their diversity; stresses that women in the EU, including migrant women must enjoy equal access to goods and services, including medical, through the provision of access to mobile healthcare, where appropriate;

11. Stresses that SRHR are fundamental rights and a precondition of gender equality and must be placed at the heart of health policy, considering the backlash against women's rights and access to safe and legal abortion; stresses the need to reinforce budgetary allocations that support universal respect for and access to SRHR, including access to free, safe and legal abortion in health public service, and demands the allocation of resources for sexual and reproductive health under the EU4Health Programme in particular, to ensure universal access to SRHR, as well as free access to contraceptive methods, and ensuring essential care and medicines for voluntary family planning, specifically covering, inter alia, the issues of reproduction, preparation for childbirth, maternal and neonatal health and fertility treatments; deplores the Italian Government's use of RRF-related legislation to plant anti-choice activists in family planning centres[35], and insists that no Union funds should be dispersed to any government or organisation that contravenes SRHR;

12. Recognises the vital work done by the Gender Advisors and the Gender Focal-Points within civilian Common Security and Defence Policy (CSDP) missions; reiterates its call for dedicated funding for gender-related actions within all CSDP missions, in line with the EU Action Plan on Women, Peace and Security;[36]

13. Calls on the Commission to examine the core mission of those to whom Union funds are granted and to withhold funding from actors who seek to use Union funds for the purposes of backsliding human rights, promoting homophobic, racist, anti-migrant and anti-trans sentiments, attacks on rainbow families, restricting access to abortion and generally contributing to the degradation of women's rights and gender equality.

ANNEX: entities or persons

from whom the rapporteur for the OPINION has received input

The Chair in her capacity as rapporteur declares under her exclusive responsibility that she did not receive input from any entity or person to be mentioned in this Annex pursuant to Article 8 of Annex I to the Rules of Procedure.

ANNEX: ENTITIES OR PERSONS
FROM WHOM THE RAPPORTEUR HAS RECEIVED INPUT

The rapporteur for the opinion declares under her exclusive responsibility that she did not receive input from any entity or person to be mentioned in this Annex pursuant to Article 8 of Annex I to the Rules of Procedure.

JOINT STATEMENT

Dates for the budgetary procedure and modalities for the
functioning of the Conciliation Committee in 2024

A. In accordance with Part A of the annex to the interinstitutional agreement between the European Parliament, the Council and the Commission on budgetary discipline, on cooperation in budgetary matters and on sound financial management, as well as on new own resources, including a roadmap towards the introduction of new own resources, the European Parliament, the Council and the Commission agree on the following key dates for the 2025 budgetary procedure:

1. The Commission will endeavour to present the Statement of Estimates 2025 by early June;

2. A trilogue will be called on 25 July (in the morning), after the adoption of the Council's position;

3. The Council will endeavour to adopt its position and transmit it to the European Parliament at the end of week 37, in order to facilitate a timely agreement with the European Parliament;

4. The European Parliament's Committee on Budgets will endeavour to vote on amendments to the Council's position by the end of week 41 (early October);

5. A trilogue will be called on 17 October (in the morning), before the reading of the European Parliament;

6. The European Parliament's Plenary will vote on its reading in week 43 (Plenary session of 21-24 October);

7. The Conciliation period will start on 29 October. In agreement with the provisions of Article 314(4)(c) TFEU, the time available for conciliation will expire on 18 November 2024;

8. The Conciliation Committee will meet on 5 November (in the morning), hosted by the European Parliament and on 15 November hosted by the Council (and may resume as appropriate); the sessions of the Conciliation Committee will be prepared by trilogue(s). A trilogue is scheduled on 5 November (in the morning). Additional trilogue(s) may be called during the 21-day conciliation period, including on 12 November hosted by the Council.

B. The modalities for the functioning of the Conciliation Committee are set out in Part E of the annex to the above-mentioned interinstitutional agreement.

INFORMATION ON ADOPTION IN COMMITTEE RESPONSIBLE

FINAL VOTE BY ROLL CALL IN COMMITTEE RESPONSIBLE

Key to symbols:

+ : in favour

- : against

0 : abstention