Activities of Richard ASHWORTH related to 2015/2132(BUD)
Plenary speeches (3)
2016 budgetary procedure: joint text (debate)
2016 budgetary procedure: joint text (debate)
General budget of the European Union for 2016 - all sections (debate)
Amendments (16)
Amendment 2 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 1
Paragraph 1
1. Stresses that Parliament's reading of the 2016 budget fully reflects the political priorities adopted by an overwhelming majority in its abovementioned resolutions of 11 March 2015 on general guidelines and of 8 July 2015 on a mandate for the trilogue; recalls that those consist in observing common treaties and agreements by all Member States, in internal and external solidarity, in particular an effective tackling of the migration and refugee crisis, as well as in boosting competitiveness through employment, enterprises and entrepreneurship (the “three Es”), while fully adhering to the need for budgetary restraint and to respect the payments plan as agreed by the Commission, Council and Parliament;
Amendment 6 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 2
Paragraph 2
2. Highlights that the Union is currently facing a number of serious emergencies, notably the unprecedented migration and refugee crisis, the extent of which could not have been foreseen in the aforementioned resolution or mandate for rilogue; understands that this crisis cannot be solved by financial resources alone; is convinced nevertheless that the necessary financial resources need to be deployed in the Union budget and will probably have to be substantially increased in 2016, in order to match the political challenges and allow the Union to deliver and effectively respond to thoseis criseis, as a matter of utmost urgency and priority; considers that extraordinary times require extraordinary measures and that a strong political commitment is needed to secure fresh appropto reprioriationsse and refocus the 2016 budget for this purpose is needed;
Amendment 9 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 3
Paragraph 3
3. Notes that Parliament has, from the outset, placed a particular focus on migration and refugees in the 2016 budget; recalls its earlier statements that the handling of migration flows lies at the crossroads of observing common treaties and agreements such as the Schengen Acquis and the Dublin Regulation as well as internal and external solidarity and that external financing instruments should also be mobilised, in an integrated approach, in order to address the root causes of the problems the Union is faced with;
Amendment 12 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 5
Paragraph 5
5. Underlines, however, that those amendments should be considered alongside the Commission’s Letter of Amendment 2/2016, which is expected to include, in addition to the second relocation package, the additional measures set out in the Commission communication of 23 September 2015; stresseregrets that the Parliament fully endorses thas part of the budgetary authority doese new measures and intends to defend their financing through fresh appropriations even to a higher extent than the level proposed in its own position of the 2016 budgetot have more time to examine the suitability of the Letter of Amendment 2/2016 in alleviating problems at home and abroad; nevertheless understands the considerable time pressure that the Commission is under and, in principle, supports the Commission´s suggestions as set out in that communication and intends to support financing through fresh appropriations;
Amendment 15 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 7
Paragraph 7
7. Acknowledges that a lot more effort needs to be undertaken to address the shortcomings in the Union economy by boosting competitiveness, growth and jobs; emphasises the key role played by small and medium-sized enterprises in this regard; reinforces therefore the COSME programme by EUR 16,5 million; decides also to propose new commitments in 2016 for the continuation of the Youth Employment Initiativand recognises the role that the Union budget can play alongside measures taken at the Member State level and private sector financing by boosting competitiveness, growth and jobs; emphasises the key role played by small and medium-sized enterprises in this regard; recognises also the contribution of the Youth Employment Initiative (YEI) as a complementary measure to Member State programmes in the fight against unemployment; notes the (YEI), whose´s entire financial envelope was frontloaded in the years 2014-2015; acknowledges the significant contribution of this programme to the fight against unemployment and is determined to ensure that the necessbelieves that this political agreement should be adhered to, particularly appropriations are made available in order to prevent a funding gap in its implementation; adopts, therefore, a EUR 473,2 million increase for 2016, corresponding to the original instalment that was foreseen for the YEI on a yearly basisin light of the need to refocus the 2016 budget on areas of urgent priority, especially under Headings 3 and 4;
Amendment 18 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 8
Paragraph 8
8. Reiterates its conviction that the Union budget should not finance new initiatives to the detriment of existing Union programmes and policies and disregard political commitments already made; whil unless those programmes prove ineffectual or more effective uses of financing become available; therefore fully confirmings its political and financial support to the launching of European Fund for Strategic Investment (EFSI), and intends to deliver on the commitment that it made during the EFSI negotiations, namely to minimise to the maximum the impact on Horizon 2020 and the Connecting Europe Facility (CEF) in the frame of the annual budgetary procedure; proposes, therefore, to fully offset the cuts of thesesubsequent budgetary years, taking into account the need both two programmes - due to the provisioning of the EFSI Guarantee Fund - in 2016 (EUR 1 326 million), in order to allow them to fully accomplish the objecrespect prior political agreements and meet urgent prioritives agreed only two years ago with the adoption of their respective legal baseselsewhere in the 2016 budget;
Amendment 21 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 9
Paragraph 9
9. Stresses the importance of fully respecting the joint statement on a payment plan 2015-2016 agreed between Parliament, Council and Commission, following the shared commitment to reduce the backlog of outstanding payment claims for the 2007-2013 cohesion programmes to around EUR 2 billion by the end of 2016 and to avoid any future build-up of such an unsustainable backlog; considers, for this reason, that the frontloading of EUR 1 billion in 2016 for Greece shouldcan be financed by additional appropriations within the MFF payments' ceiling; stresses its long-standing position that payments deriving from commitments mobilised under the Flexibility Instrument are counted over and above that ceilingrequested for the 2007- 2013 cohesion policy programmes without the need to increase payment appropriations in 2016;
Amendment 24 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 10
Paragraph 10
10. Restores allNotes cuts proposed by Council to the DB (EUR 563,6 million in commitments and EUR 1 421,8 million in payments); fails to understandacknowledges the reasoning behind the proposed cuts, for example those to Horizon 2020 and CEF, two programmes already affected by redeploy with respect to the political agreements to EFSI, and to development and neighbourhood policiesfinance the EFSI Guarantee Fund; considers that a revision of these cuts may be required in certain budget lines under Headings 3 and 4, especially in light of recent events; contestapproves, in any event, Council’s declared intention to target budget lines with a low execution rate or absorption capacity, as this is not substantiated by the actual implementation figures and ignores the varying implementation patterns of certain programmesa significant step towards ensuring that the Union budget provides value for money;
Amendment 26 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 11
Paragraph 11
11. Concludes that, for the purpose of adequately financing these pressing needs, with migratory pressures a priority and considering the very tight MFF margins in 2016, all budget lines with low implementation rates or with little Union added value must contribute in the significant levels of redeployment needed to meet these needs and means available in the MFF Regulation in terms of flexibility, including the full mobilisation of the Flexibility Instrument, will need to be deployshould only be deployed when these budget lines have been exhausted; expects that the Council will share this approach and that an agreement will easily be reached in conciliation, allowing the Union to rise to the occasion and effectively respond to the challenges ahead;
Amendment 36 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 15
Paragraph 15
15. In line with its priorities for 2016, Employment, Enterprises, Entrepreneurship, and after careful assessment of their absorption capacity so far, decides to propose, in addition to the full compensation of the EFSI-related cuts forDespite the need to refocus priorities for 2016, emphasises the importance of Employment, Enterprises, Entrepreneurship in contributing to the jobs and growth objective; therefore welcomes the roll-out of EFSI in the next budgetary year, whilst acknowledging the adverse impact to Horizon 2020, and CEF, some selective increases abo budget lines in the short-term; neve rthe level of the DB for COSME, Horizon 2020, EaSI and Erasmus+ programmess wishes to see a continued emphasis on job-creating and growth- promoting budget lines in subsequent Union budgets;
Amendment 64 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 29
Paragraph 29
29. Decides, in light of the current, exceptional flows of migrants and refugees to concentrate its reinforcements on strengthening the AMIF; strongly supportesses the importance of supporting refugees close to their home countries, of helping Member States to implement the Schengen Acquis and the Dublin Regulation and of facilitating asylum procedures in the EU Member States; looks in this context critically at the second EUR 780 million package on the relocation of 120 000 persons; nevertheless decides to incorporate it in its reading, and to align the first relocation package with the second one by adding EUR 20 million to finance transport costs (EUR 500 per migrant to Italy and Greece); approves an additional increase of EUR 79 million for general reinforcements of the AMIF; finally decides to reinforce the agencies with migration-related tasks for a total of EUR 26 million;
Amendment 70 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 31
Paragraph 31
31. DeplorAcknowledges that the Council deDB for 2016 under Heading 3 increases commitment appropriations by over EUR 25,100 million and payment appropriations by EUR 33,600 million compared to the DB; believes that these reductions jeopardise the proper implementation of programmes and actions under Heading 3; recalls in this context that though some of the proposed cuts may seem minor, one needs to keep in mind the relatively small size of several important and valuable programmes, making them particularly vulnerable to cuts; decides therefore to restore the level of the DB; notes that the Council decreased commitment appropriations by EUR 25,1 million and payment appropriations by EUR 33,6 million compared to the DB; believes that any reductions under Heading 3 must target programmes with poor absorption and implementation rates, and particularly those which are not related to the current migrant and refugee crisis;
Amendment 73 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 35
Paragraph 35
35. Points to the fact that, of all headings,Acknowledges that Heading 4 bears the biggest cuts by the Council both in commitments (- EUR 163,4 million) and in payments (- EUR 450,4 million); notes with surpriseevertheless notes that commitments remain over EUR 300 million higher than in 2015 and payments remain over EUR 1,5 billion higher than in 2015; notes that the European Neighbourhood Instrument (notably poverty and security in the Mediterranean countries), the Development Cooperation Instrument (including the migration and asylum thematic objective) and the Instrument for Pre-accession Assistance (despite candidate countries hosting a considerable number of migrants and refugees or being located on major migration routes) are among the most affected; underlines that this approach is in blatant contradiction to the statements of the Council and the European Councilmay be subject to change given recent developments and the unprecedented scale onf the migration agenda, on thend refugee crisis and on cooperation with countries of origin and transit;
Amendment 83 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 46
Paragraph 46
46. Considers, therefore, that any further cuts proposed by the Council wcould endanger the proper functioning of the agencies and would not allow them to fulfil the tasks they have been assigned by the legislative authority;
Amendment 85 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 48
Paragraph 48
48. Decides furthermore to increase the 2016 budget appropriations for the three financial supervisory agencies due to their additional tasks and increased workload; invites the Commission to submit by 2017 a proposal for a fee-based financing concept replacing completely the current contributions from member states, as a means of securing the European authorities’ independence from their national member authorities;
Amendment 117 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 94
Paragraph 94
94. IRemains convinced that the Union budget can contribute to addressing effectively not only the consequences but also the root causes of the crises that the Union is currently facshould focus on areas where the most added value can be gained from supranational action, while respecting the rights and responsibilities of Member States; calls upon all parties to deliver a budget based on Union added value and budgetary restraingt; takes the view, however, that unforeseen events with an Union- wide dimension should be tackled by pooling efforts and putting additional means at Union level rather than by calling past commitments into question or reverting to the illusion of purely national solutions; stresses, therefore, that flexibility provisions are there to enable such a joint and speedy response and should be used to the full in order to make up for the tight constraints of the MFF ceilingsrioritising areas of urgent need;