Activities of Helga TRÜPEL related to 2013/2145(BUD)
Shadow reports (1)
REPORT on the Council position on the draft general budget of the European Union for the financial year 2014 PDF (562 KB) DOC (329 KB)
Amendments (25)
Amendment 1 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 1
Paragraph 1
1. Notes that 2014 will be the first year for the launch and implementation of the new multiannual programmes in the fields of education, training, youth, sport, culture, media and citizenship; welcomes the fact that for the first time, the European dimension in sport is supported by an EU programme; highlights the importance of sufficient commitment and payment appropriations to ensure the full functioning of the programmes right from the beginning of the programming period;
Amendment 4 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 2
Paragraph 2
2. Emphasises that the new programme for education, training, youth and sport is crucial for the success of the Europe 2020 strategy; recalls that in the past, there has been particularly high demand for mobility under the Erasmus scheme; stresses the importance of this programme and the Youth Employment Initiative for the employability of young people; asks therefore to pay particular attention to the level of payments for mobility and to the accountability of the organisation related to the guarantee facility from the first year on;
Amendment 5 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 2 a (new)
Paragraph 2 a (new)
2a. Is convinced that the level of appropriations in the new MFF is clearly insufficient and will result in huge payments gaps already in 2014;
Amendment 7 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 3
Paragraph 3
3. Underlines that the Creative Europe Programme has a significant role to play in supporting the cultural and creative industries, which contribute not only to cultural diversity but also to the economy; regrets that the level of commitment appropriations for this programme in the Commission Draft Budget is significantly lower than for its predecessors in 2013 and calls for an increase, moreover for the first year of the launch and implementation of the new programme; fears that the current level of commitments endangers the efficient start of the programme itself;
Amendment 9 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 4 a (new)
Paragraph 4 a (new)
4a. Deplores the fact that the Draft Budget has not taken into account the first results of trilogues for Erasmus+ and Creative Europe, the result being a very vague attribution of commitments and payments, and remarks which do not suit the shape of the debated legal basis; states the need for some new lines and a new distribution of appropriations, especially to underline the separation of fields (youth, education and training, sports and guarantee facility for Erasmus+);
Amendment 20 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 11
Paragraph 11
11. Calls, therefore, for the full mobilisation of the flexibility instrument for an amount of EUR [XXX million] in commitment appropriations to reinforce some Parliament's priorities such as Horizon 2020, COSME, Erasmus +, digital agenda, the Fund for European Aid to the Most Deprived, to provide further support for humanitarian aid in the Middle East and to grant additional assistance to Cyprus from the Structural Funds, as agreed by the Heads of States and Governments at their meeting of 27-28 June 2013;
Amendment 25 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 13
Paragraph 13
13. Deplores the cuts in payments brought by the Council, which result in a decrease of EUR 9,5 billion (9 500 million) (-6,6%) in PA as compared to the adopted budget for 2013 (including amending budgets No 1 to 5) reflecting the agreement on the MFF and endorsed by a majority of the European Parliament; reiterates the fact that despite the adoption of a lower MFF for 2014-2020 and the absolute need to keep honouring past commitments, the Council kept following blindly its past strategy to artificially cut the level of payments, without taking into consideration the real needs and relatively sparing expenditure under shared management to ensure Member States' apparent «return on investment»;
Amendment 39 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 20
Paragraph 20
20. Welcomes the adoption by the Commission of draft amending budget No 8/2013 (second tranche of draft amending budget No 2/2013), which provides for additional EUR 3,9 billion for 2013 outstanding payments and which is one of the condition to put the MFF regulation to the vote according to its resolution of 3 July 2013 on the political agreement on the Multiannual Financial Framework 2014-2020;
Amendment 40 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 21
Paragraph 21
21. RPoints out that the new MFF negotiated by the heads of State and government and endorsed by the Parliament results to a reduction of 24% (EUR - 38,7 billion) in Heading 1a compared to the initial Commission proposal; reiterates the fact that excluding the large scale infrastructure projects, the appropriations for Heading 1a included in the draft budget already resulted in a decrease by EUR 1,1 billion as compared to last year; deplores the fact that in addition, and regardless of all the recent political engagements in favour of the objectives of this heading undertaken by the Heads of State and Government, the Council decided to cut further the commitments of Heading 1a by EUR 60 million as compared to the draft budget;
Amendment 42 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 23
Paragraph 23
23. Takes the approach, therefore, to restore all lines cut by the Council in order not to further weaken this heading; takes the decision, furthermore, to increasefrontload a selected number of lines in certain priority areas, such as Horizon 2020, Erasmus +,COSME and Erasmus + which do not represent an increase as the overall amount for those programmes during the next financial perspective is not modified and to increase the digital agenda, the transport policy, the Social Dialogue, EURES and the Microfinance and Social entrepreneurship, special annual events and the quality of European statistics;
Amendment 44 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 24
Paragraph 24
24. Integrates in its reading the MFF agreement as regards the frontloading for 2014 of Horizon 2020 by EUR 212,2 million (EUR 106,1 million on European Research Council and EUR 106,1 million on Marie Skłodowska-Curie actions), COSME by EUR 31,7 million and Erasmus + by EUR 137,5 million, for an overall amount of EUR 381.4 million; which does not represent an increase as the overall amount for those programmes during the next financial perspective is not modified.
Amendment 45 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 25
Paragraph 25
25. EndorseRegrets also the corresponding back- loading of EUR 381.4 million, in line with the MFF agreement and the Commission's Letter of amendment No.1/2014, whereby ITER is reduced by EUR 212,2 million and CEF-Energy by EUR 169,2 million, the latter cut being already included in the draft budget, albeit originally intended for a different purpose; recalls also the extremely low cost-effectiveness of the ITER project, which is highly costly, but will only produce results, if at all, in 2050 and therefore calls for putting an end to this unsustainable programme;
Amendment 46 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 26
Paragraph 26
26. Considers that some areas should be subject to targeted cuts (such as ITER, nuclear-related investment, unsustainable programmes and subsidies) and/or to the putting in reserve of commitments, namely the communication on Economic and Monetary Union on the one hand (EUR -2 million), and the financial reporting and auditing on the other hand (reserve pending an agreement on the relevant Union programme);
Amendment 48 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 30
Paragraph 30
30. Notes that as a result of its reading, a margin of [EUR X million] remains under Heading 1no margin remains under Heading 1a and that the Flexibility instrument should be mobilizsed to finance Parliament's priorities especially for the future oriented programmes such as Horizon 2020, COSME, Erasmus + and the digital agenda;
Amendment 49 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 31 a (new)
Paragraph 31 a (new)
31a. Fears that due to the new MFF it will be impossible to reimburse Member States entirely for their Structural funds related expenditures in 2014; deplores that the Council seems to completely ignore this problem;
Amendment 53 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 35 a (new)
Paragraph 35 a (new)
35a. Welcomes the Commission's ambition to play a stronger role in the preparation and implementation of programmes under the European Structural and Investment Funds; demands in particular that the requirements for the involvement of local and regional actors as well as civil society organisations are met to increase ownership of the policy and reach Union targets in the field of climate change and poverty reduction; calls on the Member States to take full advantage of available instruments and methodologies such as climate change tracking to increase the visibility of their efforts;
Amendment 59 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 40 a (new)
Paragraph 40 a (new)
40a. Deplores the cuts made as a consequence of the new MFF to rural development;
Amendment 60 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 41 a (new)
Paragraph 41 a (new)
41a. Increases the appropriations foreseen for rural development by reducing direct payments, in order to compensate partially the cuts made by the new MFF;
Amendment 61 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 41 b (new)
Paragraph 41 b (new)
Amendment 62 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 41 c (new)
Paragraph 41 c (new)
41c. Considers export refunds to be trade distorting and in contradiction to the EU development goals; supports therefore their complete elimination;
Amendment 64 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 43 a (new)
Paragraph 43 a (new)
43a. Regrets that due to the new MFF, important EU programmes in the field of asylum and migration, citizenship and fundamental rights have been strongly cut;
Amendment 69 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 48 a (new)
Paragraph 48 a (new)
48a. Regrets that due to the new MFF, the ability of the Union to pursue its foreign policy objectives has been strongly reduced; believes in particular that cuts made to development aid will now make it impossible for the Union to make its fair contribution to the achievement of the Millenium Development Goals;
Amendment 93 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 80 a (new)
Paragraph 80 a (new)
80a. Believes that in the medium term the Members' statute, which generates important costs due to the change of legislature, should be opened for revision in order to limit certain of these costs;
Amendment 107 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 95 a (new)
Paragraph 95 a (new)
95a. Requests an assessment on the voluntary approach chosen by the Joint Working Group to limit business flights ;
Amendment 108 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 95 b (new)
Paragraph 95 b (new)
95b. Considers the appropriations reserved for Parliament's vehicles to be extraordinarily high (more than EUR 6 million/year); requests that less expensive modalities for managing Parliament's car park are analysed;