8 Written explanations of Clotilde ARMAND

. – I support a EU-long term budget that will not sacrifice funds which provides support for infrastructures in the Eastern part of Europe. I believe that new priorities should not be funded at the expense of traditional programmes that promote territorial and economic convergence in the EU.

Due to the dramatic outbreak of coronavirus, the number of flight passengers in the EU has drastically fallen. While the quarantine measures are fully reasonable, the unilateral closure of borders by some EU Member States led to the disruption of air carriers’ services. Operating empty flights is both costly and environmentally damaging. At the same time, according to the pre-existing common rules for the allocation of slots at Community airports, air carriers had to use the allocated slots at least 80% of the time over the scheduling period. Otherwise, under-used slots would be reallocated to other carriers (known as the ‘use it or lose it’ rule). Therefore, I voted in favour of the suspension of EU rules on airport slot allocation to mitigate the impact of the crisis and provide legal certainty to air carriers. With an amendment proposed by Renew Europe and a number of other Groups, the suspension of the rule was determined for the period from 1 March 2020 until 24 October 2020, instead of 30 June 2020 initially proposed by the Commission. This period can be extended by the Commission by means of delegated acts in case of necessity.

Coronavirus Response Investment Initiative sets out specific measures to mobilise investments in the health care systems of the Member States and in other sectors of their economies in response to the COVID-19 outbreak. The investment will reach more than EUR 37 billion after the operational programmes are modified at Member States level. The unspent cohesion policy pre-financing for the year 2019 can now be redirected to Corona-relevant health expenditure, such as hospital equipment, inhalators and masks, support to SMEs working capital and short-term employment schemes. In case of Romania, the Commission estimates that total investment will amount to EUR 3.079 billion.I voted in favour of this initiative and I would like to see further flexibility measures, such as flexibility of transfers between regions within the same Member State. Some countries, such as Romania lack critical infrastructure to address public health crises or environmental emergencies. To find a remedy for that, I hope that the Commission in agreement with the state would use its own instruments, such as the EIB tools, to deliver on these projects using the allocated structural funds.

The new Regulation amends the existing EU Solidarity Fund rules, extending the eligibility for receiving help beyond the natural disasters to include major public health emergency, such as COVID-19 that we currently face. Under the new Regulation, major public health emergency is understood as an event entailing a public financial burden of more than EUR 1.5 billion or more than 0.3% of Member State GNI. The amount of the advanced payments is increased from 10% to 25%, which shall not exceed EUR 100 million, while previously the limit was set to EUR 30 million. I fully support these new measures which include rapid assistance in case of a major public health emergency, as well as prevention, monitoring or control of the spread of diseases, combating severe risks to public health and mitigating their negative impact. Romania benefited from the Solidarity Fund 8 times since 2005 to repair the damages of the floods and draughts, it received EUR 127.2 million of aid under this Fund, and now again it can rely on EU’s help to mitigate the effects of Coronavirus thanks to the decision of the EU legislators to broaden the scope of the fund.

As the shadow rapporteur for EU budget for the financial year 2020, I supported this proposal of the European Commission to amend the budget and to release EUR 115 million for co-financing measures to combat COVID-19 (repatriation of stranded citizens and protective equipment through joint procurement). The package includes other essential measures, such as an additional EUR 3.6 million for the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC), the EU institution coordinating a common European Roadmap of healthcare measures and contributing to the research of vaccine against COVID-19. Also, EUR 3.3 million are dedicated to the European Public Prosecutor’s Office, the new EU body that will protect EU finances against corruption and fraud, an issue particularly relevant at the time of the coronavirus, when the health sector is specifically exposed to bribery, counterfeit and other risk factors, such as the concentration of power, derogation of rights and large amounts of money being infused into the economy to alleviate the crisis.

The crisis called upon the EU institutions to mobilise as many unspent resources as possible and channel them into the healthcare sector and into initiatives that support the economy. As the shadow rapporteur for the EU budget 2020, I am glad that we managed to reactivate an additional EUR 3 billion, of which EUR 2.7 billion has been earmarked for emergency aid and EUR 300 million for the RescEU medical equipment reserve. This will enable the Commission to get emergency aid on behalf of the Member States and distribute medical equipment such as masks and respirators. This will finance our urgent needs, for example, with regard to transporting medical equipment and patients in cross-border regions, and it will support the construction of mobile field hospitals. I welcome such measures, as they strengthen our resilience to public health crisis and build a pathway to a permanent crisis-management mechanism so that we can rely on EU coordination in any future shocks.

. ‒ The exceptional needs of our local economies demand exceptional flexibilities in the use of European funds. I voted in favour of the new rules on use of the European Structural and Investments (ESI) Funds which reflect the proposals of the Renew Europe Group to the Commission. After certain flexibilities approved on 26 March 2020 allowing the transfer of money between the priorities of the same fund, now we have achieved flexibility for transfers of resources available in 2020 between the ERDF, the ESF and the Cohesion Fund. In addition, now the funds can be transferred among the regions and the measures for programming, auditing and reporting are simplified. A 100% EU co-financing rate for the accounting year 2020-2021 is authorised.Increased flexibility allows each Member State to address more efficiently their specific needs, which requires however specific monitoring of spending. It is essential therefore that the Commission follows the recommendations of the European Court of Auditors on ESI funds and better analyses administrative practices at national level.

I supported the resolution, which calls for recovery bonds to make sure that the EU budget works as a guarantee for businesses most severely hit by the coronavirus crisis. This resolution will force the Commission to revise its budgetary proposals for the next financial period 2021-2027 and integrate the priorities of our citizens. Our next financial framework must have an increased budget to support Europe’s weakened economies and to guarantee European added value in crucial sectors, like critical infrastructure and the healthcare sector.With this resolution, we called for more flexibility and simplicity in the use of European funds and for help for the most hard-hit sectors, such as transport and tourism. We must allow frontier workers to continue crossing borders and guarantee that green lanes work perfectly for the delivery of medical products.Finally, we underlined that only in the spirit of solidarity will we be able to overcome this crisis. Indeed, the new ‘Marshall Plan’ for Europe must leave behind the East-West and North-South divide, and focus on prosperity, resilience, growth and justice for all EU Member States equally.