Activities of Michael GAHLER related to 2024/0176(BUD)
Shadow opinions (1)
OPINION on the draft general budget of the European Union for the financial year 2025
Amendments (9)
Amendment 32 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 2 a (new)
Paragraph 2 a (new)
2a. 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;
Amendment 36 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 2 b (new)
Paragraph 2 b (new)
2b. Calls for additional funding for Ukraine ahead of winter, especially in the area of humanitarian aid and energy security;
Amendment 37 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 2 c (new)
Paragraph 2 c (new)
2c. 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;
Amendment 43 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 3
Paragraph 3
3. 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 not convinced that these redeployments willconcerned if there will be sufficient amount of decommitments for the latter to actually materialise to that extent;
Amendment 58 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 5
Paragraph 5
5. Notes with concern the reductions in geographic envelopes in NDICI, in particular 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;
Amendment 59 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 5 a (new)
Paragraph 5 a (new)
5a. 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;
Amendment 60 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 5 a (new)
Paragraph 5 a (new)
5a. 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;
Amendment 64 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 6
Paragraph 6
6. Believes that further targeted reinforcements are needed in areas such as the fight against disinformation, capacity development, enlargement, election observation, nuclear safety, support for civil society organisations, tackling root causes for migration and encourage private sector investments, even if this will require the use of flexibility instruments;
Amendment 99 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 8
Paragraph 8
8. Believes that the European External Action Service is structurally underfunded and should not be treated like the other institutions regarding the approach to the administrative budget; 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; underlines the EEAS shall 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 Dialogue and in-camera meetings in the Committee on Foreign Affairs;