2023/0264(BUD) | [ParlTrack]

Draft opinion
Paragraph 1

1. Recalls the economic, social and environmental aspects of fisheries, aquaculture and maritime affairs; stresses their vital role not only in ~~ensuring food sovereignty and resilience of food systems~~food security, but also in boosting the development of the sustainable blue economy and in contributing to the development and revitalisation of coastal areas, especially in the outermost regions; takes the view that maintaining the competitive position of the fisheries and aquaculture sectors must go hand in hand with achieving the social, environmental and economic objectives set out in the common fisheries policy (CFP) as well as in the Green Deal and subsequent strategies;

Amendment 10 #

Draft opinion
Paragraph 6

6. Urges the Commission to propose further actions to increase the global share of sustainable EU aquaculture production, which contributes to the supply of aquatic protein of high quality and with a low carbon footprint ; calls on the Commission to make full use of the financial resources available for the EMFAF in order to boost the growth of this sector’s share of global aquaculture production above its current 2 % by means of specific, acceptable and shared targets for 2030; urges Member States to earmark sufficient funding from the Recovery and Resilience Facility to support the innovation, sustainability and resilience of a sustainable EU aquaculture sector, such as algae-based feeds for fish made from microalgae that require less water and energy to produce than traditional fish feed and have a lower carbon footprint, in addition to reducing the EU dependency on fish meal imports;

Amendment 11 #

Draft opinion
Paragraph 6

6. Urges the Commission to propose further actions to increase the global share of sustainable EU aquaculture production, which contributes to the supply of aquatic protein of high quality and with a low carbon footprint ; calls on the Commission to make full use of the financial resources available for the EMFAF in order to boost the growth of this sector’s share of global aquaculture production above its current 2 % by means of specific, acceptable and shared targets for 2030; urges Member States to earmark sufficient funding from the Recovery and Resilience Facility to support the innovation, sustainability and resilience of, including against predators, of the EU aquaculture sector;

Amendment 12 #

Draft opinion
Paragraph 7

7. Recalls that, as a result of the Brexit, the EU fishing sector and in particular the small-scale sector is still experiencing considerable economic disruptions; calls on the Commission, therefore, as a matter of priority, to ~~secure commensurate compensation to offset the damage suffered by~~propose additional measures to support the sector and ~~fishing~~coastal communities; insists that Member States ~~must~~shall ensure that such ~~compensation reaches fishers~~measures are implemented as soon as possible;

Amendment 13 #

Draft opinion
Paragraph 8

8. Encourages Member States to monitor the implementation of the Brexit Adjustment Reserve (BAR) and calls on the Commission to extend the deadline ~~if necessary~~to fully cover the adjustment period until 30 of June of 2026, thereby allowing fishers to fully benefit from its resources; insists that the BAR should also be used to help the wholesale and processing sectors, which have been badly affected by this crisis;

Amendment 14 #

François-Xavier BELLAMY

Draft opinion
Paragraph 8

8. Encourages Member States to monitor the implementation of the Brexit Adjustment Reserve (BAR) and calls on the Commission to extend the deadline if necessary, thereby allowing fishers to fully benefit from its resources; insists that the BAR should also be used to help the wholesale and processing sectors, which have been badly affected by this crisis; stresses that the Brexit Adjustment Reserve should not only finance fleet cessation plans, but must contribute to investments in order to ensure the continuity of the fishing activities most affected by Brexit;

Amendment 15 #

Draft opinion
Paragraph 8

Amendment 16 #

Draft opinion
Paragraph 9

9. Insists on the need to improve scientific and technical knowledge 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;

Amendment 17 #

Draft opinion
Paragraph 9a (new)

9a. Stresses the importance of allocating more resources for mitigating climate change, its negative impacts, and preventing further biodiversity loss. Climate change has severe impacts on oceans and fisheries, hence the need for adequate funding for the protection and restoration of marine ecosystems that act as carbon sinks;

Amendment 18 #

Pierre KARLESKIND

Draft opinion
Paragraph 11

11. Pledges its support to the combat against illegal, unreported and unregulated (IUU) fishing, which aims in particular to eliminate illegally caught seafood from EU supply chains and to ensure a level playing field for European fishers; calls therefore for adequate and increased funding for the EU’s policy to combat IUU fishing worldwide, including by strengthening checks on goods at the EU’s borders or development aid and by furthering cooperation with national navies; notes that only 296 million euros of the envelope allocated to control have been used out of the 488 million foreseen by the EMFF 2014-2020, meaning that around 40 percent of the envelope has not been used; therefore calls for full use of the budget allocated to fisheries control to implement the upcoming reform Regulation (EC) No 1224/2009 on fisheries control agreed in trilogue;

Amendment 19 #

Draft opinion
Paragraph 14

14. Stresses that generational renewal ~~is one of~~and job diversification are among the European fishing sector’s priorities; invites Member States to draw on the EMFAF to finance programmes specifically designed to help young people to take up careers in fisheries or in the sustainable blue economy sector, to make the sector more diverse and to encourage people from underrepresented groups, particularly women, to join the sector; calls, in this regard, on the Commission to support the mobilisation of budgetary resources to improve the working conditions on board fishing vessels and to implement projects to support the creation of an association of young European fishers s;

Amendment 2 #

Draft opinion
Paragraph 1

1. Recalls the economic, social and environmental aspects of fisheries, aquaculture and maritime affairs; stresses their vital role not only in ensuring food sovereignty and resilience of marine ecosystems and food systems but also in boosting the development of ~~the~~a sustainable blue economy that develops within ecological limits and in contributing to the development and revitalisation of coastal areas, especially in the outermost regions; takes the view that maintaining the competitive position of the fisheries and aquaculture sectors must go hand in hand with achieving the social, environmental and economic objectives set out in the common fisheries policy (CFP) as well as in the Green Deal and subsequent strategies;

Amendment 20 #

Draft opinion
Paragraph 14

14., Stresses that generational renewal is one of the European fishing sector’s priorities; invites Member States to draw on the EMFAF to finance programmes specifically designed to help young people to take up careers in fisheries, to make the sector more diverse and to encourage people from underrepresented groups, particularly women, to join the sector; calls, in this regard, on the Commission to support the mobilisation of budgetary resources to adapt and improve the working conditions on board fishing vessels and to implement projects to support the creation of an association of young European fishers;

Amendment 21 #

François-Xavier BELLAMY

Draft opinion
Paragraph 15

15. Reiterates the need to provide substantial support for disadvantaged coastal areas and European outermost regions;. Calls for the European 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.

Amendment 3 #

Draft opinion
Paragraph 2

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 EU fishing activities and the livelihoods of fishers, especially in the Black Sea;

Amendment 4 #

Draft opinion
Paragraph 3

3. Stresses that Russia’s military aggression has led to significant disruptions in trade flows and an increase in energy prices, which has hit small-scale fisheries particularly hard, requiring the use of European Maritime, Fisheries and Aquaculture Fund (EMFAF) crisis measures; to mitigate the effects of inflation for fishers, producers and consumers;

Amendment 5 #

Draft opinion
Paragraph 4

4. Calls on the Commission to promote synergies between Member States’ services and local actors, including fishers, to properly tackle the challenges related to competition for maritime space with a view to ensuring the harmonious coexistence of different maritime activities, without driving out especially fishing activities;

Amendment 6 #

Draft opinion
Paragraph 5

5. Insists that special attention must be devoted to the renewal of ~~small-scale~~ fishing fleets in order to improve safety, on-board living conditions, energy efficiency and environmental sustainability while ensuring the social and economic resilience of the communities that depend on them; reiterates that fleet renewal can contribute to making the fishery sector more attractive and sustainable and must not be confused with fleet expansion or increased fishing capacity;

Amendment 7 #

Draft opinion
Paragraph 5

5. Insists that special attention must be devoted to ~~the renewal of~~ small-scale fishing fleets, in order to improve safety and on-board living conditions, energy efficiency and environmental sustainability while ensuring the social and economic resilience of the communities that depend on them; reiterates that ~~fleet renewal~~this can contribute to making the fishery sector more attractive and sustainable, and must not be confused with fleet expansion or increased fishing capacity;

Amendment 8 #

Draft opinion
Paragraph 5

5. Insists that special attention must be devoted to the renewal of small-scale fishing fleets, in order to improve safety and on-board living conditions, energy efficiency and environmental sustainability while ensuring the social and economic resilience of the communities that depend on them; reiterates that fleet renewal can contribute to making the fishery sector more attractive and sustainable, and must not be confused with fleet expansion or, increased fishing capacity; or ability to catch fish;

Amendment 9 #

Draft opinion
Paragraph 6

6. Urges the Commission to propose further actions to increase the global share of sustainable EU aquaculture production, which contributes to the supply of aquatic protein of high quality and with a low carbon footprint ; calls on the Member States and Commission to make full use of the financial resources available for the EMFAF in order to ~~boost the growth of~~sustainably boost this sector’s share of global aquaculture production above its current 2 % by means of specific, acceptable and shared targets for 2030; urges Member States to earmark sufficient funding from the Recovery and Resilience Facility to support the innovation, sustainability and resilience of EU aquaculture sector;

source: 750.188

2023/07/18 ENVI 23 amendments...

Amendment 1 #

Draft opinion
Paragraph 1 a (new)

1a. Stresses that despite being faced with the unprecedented circumstances of Russia’s unprovoked and unjustified war of aggression against Ukraine, the COVID-19 pandemic and natural disasters, the Union responded decisively and promptly, deploying the Union budget as one of the key tools;

Amendment 10 #

Draft opinion
Paragraph 8

8. Stresses the need for continuous efforts towards the achievement of climate and biodiversity mainstreaming targets laid down in the Interinstitutional Agreement of 16 December 2020 in the Union budget and the European Union Recovery Instrument expenditures and calls for increased efforts in the 2024 Union budget to achieve these levels of spending; deplores that the Commission has not yet published the methodology for ex-ante tagging expenditure contributing to halting and reversing biodiversity loss; underlines that further efforts must be made within the 2024 Union budget to ensure that biodiversity spending target set for the years 2026 and 2027 are met; highlights that the biodiversity financing gap over the period from 2021 to 2030 is around EUR 18,69 billion per year1 and should be remedied as soon as possible; calls on the Commission to carefully take into account the conclusions of Special Report 09/2022 of the European Court of Auditors on 'Climate spending in the 2014-2020 EU budget' as well as the performance audit from November 2022; _________________ 1 https://op.europa.eu/en/publication- detail/-/publication/793eb6ec-dbd6-11ec- a534-01aa75ed71a1/language-en/format- PDF/source-258471562

Amendment 11 #

Draft opinion
Paragraph 8 a (new)

8a. Takes note of the Commission estimates based on the ex-ante methodology that the total climate financing in the Union budget will reach EUR 58 134 million, representing a share of 31,9 %; looks forward to the Commission presenting in 2023 a methodology for tracking climate related expenditure which are effect-based (looking at CO2 impact) as a complement to the intention-based methodology (using Union climate coefficients); calls for further work to differentiate between climate mitigation and adaptation, as set out in the Interinstitutional Agreement;

Amendment 12 #

Draft opinion
Paragraph 8 b (new)

8b. 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;

Amendment 13 #

Draft opinion
Paragraph 8 c (new)

8c. Welcomes that the Commission has further developed a methodology to track gender equality-related spending in the 2021-2027 Multiannual Financial Framework, 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 on the Commission to assess holistically gender impact and facilitate that all the relevant data is available for the tracking;

Amendment 14 #

Draft opinion
Paragraph 9

9. Welcomes the agreements reached 9. by the co-legislators on a significant portion of the files of the ‘Fit for 55 package’; calls on the Commission and Member States to maintain and build on the momentum and achievements for the complete implementation of the package; welcomes the review of the Union pharmaceutical legislation; recalls that the Union needs to adress medicine shortages and supply chain bottle necks; recalls that Union health systems are overburdened from the pandemic years; calls for increased public investment to adress unmet medical needs in the Union and development of next generation antibiotics;

Amendment 15 #

Draft opinion
Paragraph 10

10. RUnderlines the importance of the continued support of the Union budget for the Union agencies whose role is increasing in these times of unprecedented circumstances; recalls that in order to properly comply with new actions foreseen under the adopted and upcoming proposals, the Union agencies under the remit of the Committee on the Environment, Public Health and Food Safety (EEA , ECHA , EMA, ECDC and EFSA) must be adequately funded and staffed; stresses that the deterioration of the staff levels of the Union agencies could jeopardise, among others, the achievement of the European Green Deal or the successful management of public health risks;

Amendment 16 #

Draft opinion
Paragraph 10

10. Recalls that in order to properly comply with new actions foreseen under the adopted and upcoming proposals, the Union agencies under the remit of the Committee on the Environment, Public Health and Food Safety (EEA , ECHA , EMA, ECDC and EFSA) must be adequately funded and staffed; stresses that the deterioration of the staff levels of the Union agencies could jeopardise, among others, the achievement of the European Green Deal or the successful management of public health risks and the creation of European Health Union underpinned by the European Health Data Space;

Amendment 17 #

Draft opinion
Paragraph 11

11. Recalls the need to have an annual budget consistent with the implementation of the 2030 Biodiversity Strategy, of the Farm to Fork Strategy, of the Circular Economy Action Plan, of the Chemical Strategy for Sustainability and of a Zero- pollution Action Plan in the 2024 Union budget; in this line calls to increase the budgetary support for the new LIFE programme and the Just Transition Fund and all other programmes that support and protect nature conservation, and to ensure that nature restoration measures are financed with additional budgetary resources without using any funding from the CAP, the CFP or other agricultural and fisheries funding streams;

Amendment 18 #

Draft opinion
Paragraph 12

12. Stresses the importance of strengthening the sustainability and resilience of health systems whilst reducing disparities in equal and equitable access to health care and medication; stresses that health related expenditure should follow the ‘One Health’ and ‘Health in all policies’ approaches; recognises the importance of Union programmes, in providing investment and support to prevent health crises and strengthen the resilience of healthcare systems and infrastructure; stresses the necessity to continue the Union’s fight against cancer aligned with the Beating Cancer Plan and by ensuring adequate funding, with a strong focus on actions delivering tangible results for citizens; calls for further action and funding to address issues related to Antimicrobial Resistance (AMR);

Amendment 19 #

Draft opinion
Paragraph 12

12. Stresses the importance of strengthening the sustainability and resilience of health systems whilst reducing disparities in equal and equitable access to health care and medication; stresses that health related expenditure should follow the ‘One Health’ and ‘Health in all policies’ approaches; recognises the importance of Union programmes, in providing investment and support to prevent cross border health crises and strengthen the resilience of health care systems and infrastructure; stresses the necessity to continue the Union’s fight against cancer aligned with the Beating Cancer Plan and by ensuring adequate funding, with a strong focus on actions delivering tangible results for citizens;

Amendment 2 #

Draft opinion
Paragraph 2

2. Underlines that climate change and biodiversity loss are ~~the largest~~a compound threat to long-term ~~Union~~ security, including food security~~, and only reinforce inflationary pressures~~; stresses that accelerating the green transition will strengthen the Union’s long- term strategic autonomy, economic security and resilience; stresses the need to thereby guarantee long-term food security and avoid increased inflationary pressures on food prices;

Amendment 20 #

Edina TÓTH

Draft opinion
Paragraph 13

13. Calls for increasing the level of support to the European Health Union in addition to the EU4Health programme in the 2024 Union budget; stresses that sufficient resources should be allocated for increasing investments in research and development in the area of health, inter alia, in improving pandemics preparedness and management; reiterates its concern that over 50 % of the EU4Health budget was allocated for operational expenditures of the Commission’s European Health Emergency Preparedness and Response Authority (DG HERA) and stresses the importance of appropriate funding to be allocated to the activities as foreseen by the EU4Health Regulation; stresses the importance of an enhanced system of Union own resources to finance the Union’s goals on health, the environment and the climate, and contribute to NextGeneration EU’s debt recovery; welcomes the agreed related provisions concerning, inter alia, the EU Emissions Trading System (EU ETS) and the Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism (CBAM) and calls on the Member States to adopt, as soon as possible, the new own resources package proposed by the Commission on 14 December 2021; calls for stronger linkage of the Union’s own resources with environmental and climate policies in the upcoming second package;

Amendment 21 #

Draft opinion
Paragraph 13

13. Calls for increasing the level of support to the European Health Union in addition to the EU4Health programme in the 2024 Union budget; stresses that sufficient resources should be allocated for increasing investments in research and development in the area of health, inter alia, in improving pandemics preparedness and management; reiterates its concern and regrets that over 50 % of the EU4Health budget was allocated for operational expenditures of the Commission’s European Health Emergency Preparedness and Response Authority (DG HERA) and stresses the importance of appropriate funding to be allocated to the activities as foreseen by the EU4Health Regulation; stresses the importance of an enhanced system of Union own resources to finance the Union’s goals on health, the environment and the climate, and contribute to NextGeneration EU’s debt recovery; welcomes the agreed related provisions concerning, inter alia, the EU Emissions Trading System (EU ETS) and the Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism (CBAM) and calls on the Member States to adopt, as soon as possible, the new own resources package proposed by the Commission on 14 December 2021; calls for stronger linkage of the Union’s own resources with environmental and climate policies in the upcoming second package;

Amendment 22 #

Draft opinion
Paragraph 13 a (new)

13a. Stresses the need to consider further support measures to strengthen the Union's strategic independence and reduce its dependence on third countries in relation to the production of critical medicines;

Amendment 23 #

Draft opinion
Paragraph 14

14. Emphasises that the Union budget is at the heart of the transition and is a key enabler of a greener, sustainable, more resilient, competitive and more socially inclusive Union where access to health care is equitable and universal.

Amendment 3 #

Draft opinion
Paragraph 2

2. Underlines that climate change and biodiversity loss are the largest compound threat to long-term Union security, including food security, and only reinforce inflationary pressures; stresses that accelerating the green transition will strengthen the Union’s long-term strategic autonomy, economic security and resilience, and improve the well-being of its citizens;

Amendment 4 #

Draft opinion
Paragraph 3

3. Underscores the importance of integrating climate change adaptation in all relevant Union-funded policies and programs to enable rapid response to emergencies such as recent floods, fires ~~or pandemic~~, pandemics and other unforeseen events; emphasizes the continued importance of ensuring adequate funding of the Union Civil Protection Mechanism in order for the Union to be able to respond to such emergencies; stresses the need for better climate disaster preparedness by building adaptive capacity, and putting in place climate adaptation measures at Union level, including a stress test of key infrastructures of European relevance against a scenario of 1,5 to 4 degrees global warming, to reduce vulnerability to the impacts of climate shocks; underlines the need to recognise the importance of Union programmes in providing investment and support to prevent health crises and strengthen the Union’s resilience;

Amendment 5 #

Draft opinion
Paragraph 4

4. Recalls that the Recovery and Resilience Facility (RRF) should contribute to the mainstreaming of biodiversity and climate action in Union policies, to facilitating just transition and financing pandemic recovery as well as to the modernisation and preparedness of health systems; calls on the Commission and Member States to ensure the full execution of the REPowerEU Plan to accelerate the deployment of renewable energy sources and technologies to speed up the green transition;

Amendment 6 #

Draft opinion
Paragraph 4

4. Recalls that the Recovery and Resilience Facility (RRF) should contribute to the mainstreaming of biodiversity and climate action in Union policies; calls on the Commission and Member States to ensure the full execution of the REPowerEU Plan to accelerate the deployment of renewable energy sources and technologies to speed up the green transition and ending dependency on Russian fossil fuels ;

Amendment 7 #

Draft opinion
Paragraph 7

7. Stresses that the 2024 Union budget should be aligned with the Union’s ambitions of making the Union climate neutral by 2050 at the latest, as well as the Union’s international commitments, in particular the Paris Agreement and the Kunmin-Montreal Agreement, and significantly contribute to the implementation of the European Green Deal and the 8th Environmental Action Programme ;

Amendment 8 #

Draft opinion
Paragraph 7

7. Stresses that the 2024 Union budget should keep the green transition as one of its priorities and should be aligned with the Union’s ambitions of making the Union climate neutral by 2050 at the latest, as well as the Union’s international commitments;

Amendment 9 #

Draft opinion
Paragraph 7 a (new)

7a. Reiterates its call for the phase-out of harmsul subsidies and for coherence between all Union funds and programmes; insists that projects and programmes that are inconsistent with the objective of limiting global warming to under 1,5°C or with the objective of halting and reversing biodiveristy loss should not be eligible for support under the Union budget;

source: 751.846

2023/07/20 FEMM 149 amendments...

Amendment 1 #

Jean-Lin LACAPELLE, Thierry MARIANI

Draft opinion
Recital A

~~A. whereas an aging Union population and low fertility rates are urgent concerns for every Member State;~~deleted

Amendment 1 #

Draft opinion
Recital A

~~A. whereas the growing instability and the rise of unprecedented challenges in the international environment increases the demands on the Union to act;~~deleted

Amendment 10 #

Draft opinion
Recital A a (new)

Amendment 10 #

Draft opinion
Paragraph 3

3. Notes that the majority of external action spending is concentrated under the Neighbourhood, Development and International Cooperation Instrument - Global Europe (NDICI/Global Europe) and the Instrument for Pre-Accession Assistance (IPA III), calls for targeted increases in particular in regions in crisis where needs are most pressing such as the Eastern Neighbourhood, including the South Caucasus, and the African continent, with a specific focus on North and Sub-Saharan Africa;

Amendment 100 #

Radka MAXOVÁ

Draft opinion
Paragraph 5 a (new)

5a. Calls for stronger budgetary support as well as a significant increase in the staffing capacity of the European Institute for Gender Equality (EIGE) to allow it to fulfil its mandate to the fullest; highlights in particular the additional responsibilities and challenges that are going to be dealt with by EIGE, meaning that additional funding as well as additional staff is needed to enhance its research capabilities, expand its data collection and analysis activities, and support the development of innovative tools and methodologies to effectively address gender inequalities in the Union;

Amendment 101 #

Draft opinion
Paragraph 5 a (new)

5a. Calls on the Commission to adhere to the goal of an economically and socially sustainable, just, inclusive and non-discriminatory recovery, and of equal access to Union funds for all Member States; stresses that social investment and funding should be conditional on the socio-economic circumstances only and not on political stances and ideologies and that it is crucial that all regions have access to funding based on heir own specific needs in order to ensure equal access to education, training and employment;

Amendment 102 #

Draft opinion
Paragraph 5 a (new)

5a. Underlines that any equality strategy should address all forms of violence against women, including setbacks and violations of women’s sexual and reproductive health and rights; reiterates that access to health care and public services, including access to abortion and psychological support for women victims of violence, should be considered a priority;

Amendment 103 #

Draft opinion
Paragraph 5 a (new)

5a. Urges the Commission and the Member States to promote economic, social and fiscal measures that enable the development of families;

Amendment 104 #

Draft opinion
Paragraph 5 b (new)

5b. Underlines the importance of funding women’s and LGBTIQ+ civil society organisations under the Neighbourhood, Development and International Cooperation Instrument, as women in armed conflicts suffer disproportionate consequences, including conflict based gender-based (GBV), sexual violence and trafficking for sexual exploitation; calls for the budgetary allocations for actions and organisations preventing conflict based GBV, including in Ukraine, and for additional appropriations to be used for trainings for civil society organisations in order to raise their capacity and provide training to law enforcement to deal with such cases;

Amendment 11 #

Jean-Lin LACAPELLE, Thierry MARIANI

Draft opinion
Recital A a (new)

Aa. whereas the budget of the Union must be allocated in accordance with the competences and values of the Union;

Amendment 11 #

Points out that the EU has given Lebanon more than EUR 2.7 billion in aid since the Syrian conflict began in 2011, including EUR 860 million in humanitarian aid for the Lebanese population and Syrian refugees; believes that the EU’s refusal to follow Lebanese Government proposals for Syrian refugees to gradually return to their country unnecessarily uses European taxpayers’ money and contributes to further destabilisation in Libya.

Amendment 12 #

Draft opinion
Recital A b (new)

Ab. whereas it is crucial to guarantee women the right to work with rights and the right to be a mother, without any penalties, as women continue to be the most disadvantaged and discriminated against; whereas examples of such discrimination consist of employers’ pressure on women in job interviews, questioning the existence of children and their age, so as to condition women’s decision-making and to opt for childless and ‘more available’ workers, and the increasing economic and labour pressures on women not to take maternity leave;

Amendment 12 #

David LEGA, Frédérique RIES, Bert-Jan RUISSEN, Anna-Michelle ASIMAKOPOULOU, Carmen AVRAM, Ilana CICUREL, Andrey KOVATCHEV, Ondřej KNOTEK, Miriam LEXMANN, Antonio LÓPEZ-ISTÚRIZ WHITE, Lukas MANDL, Sara SKYTTEDAL, Tomas TOBÉ, Monika BEŇOVÁ

Draft opinion
Paragraph 3 a (new)

3a. Insists that the Commission must guarantee that EU funds are not allocated or linked to any form of terrorism and/or religious and political radicalization while ensuring notably that individuals or groups affiliated, linked to, or supporting terrorist organisations are excluded from Union funding; reiterates its position that salaries of education civil servants responsible for drafting and teaching school textbooks paid by Union funds, must be made conditional on full compliance with UNESCO standards of peace and tolerance; is concerned about antisemitism, hate speech and incitement to violence taught in Palestinian school textbooks, funded by the EU; stresses that conditionality of EU financial assistance in the educational sector needs to be duly considered; underlines the importance of proper training of Palestinian teachers, in line with UNESCO education standards.

Amendment 13 #

Draft opinion
Recital A b (new)

Ab. whereas the general budget of the Union should not be used to favour a particular political line, and should guarantee plurality and not disadvantage some Member States over others for ideological reasons;

Amendment 13 #

Carina OHLSSON

Draft opinion
Paragraph 3 a (new)

3a. Recognizing that it is still necessary to increase the financial support of the EU to UNRWA in 2024, 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; calls therefore for an increase of EUR 60 million in the EU's financial support to UNRWA in 2024 to ensure the continuation of vital services provided to millions of Palestinian refugees;

Amendment 14 #

Katalin CSEH, Petras AUŠTREVIČIUS

Draft opinion
Recital A b (new)

Ab. whereas fertility treatments are under increasing attack across the Union; whereas the regrettable defunding of IVF treatments in some Member States represents discrimination against individuals;

Amendment 14 #

Draft opinion
Paragraph 3 a (new)

3a. 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, comparable and transparent; believes that granting the European Anti-Fraud Office (OLAF) and the European Public Prosecutors’ Office (EPPO) powers to monitor external action spending is a good avenue to ensure that funds are properly spent and that funds contribute to the EU’s external goals;

Amendment 15 #

Draft opinion
Recital A c (new)

Ac. whereas that expenditure arising from actions having military or defence implications should not be charged to the Union budget; whereas the Union budget should not be used for military, civilian- military or security research in general; whereas funds allocated for such purposes should be reallocated for strict civilian use to address root causes of migration, such as poverty and violent conflicts;

Amendment 15 #

Draft opinion
Paragraph 3 a (new)

3a. Welcomes the proposal for a Regulation of the European Parliament and of the Council on establishing the Ukraine Facility, but warns that the costs of Ukraine’s sustainable reconstruction and recovery will significantly exceed what has so been budgeted so far as Russia continues escalating its destruction of Ukraine, particularly targeting residential areas and the country’s natural environment;

Amendment 16 #

Draft opinion
Recital A c (new)

Ac. whereas increasing the staff of EIGE would prevent EIGE from having to downscale its critical activities and refuse several requests coming from the Union institutions, bodies, offices and agencies for technical assistance on gender mainstreaming due to insufficient human resources;

Amendment 16 #

Draft opinion
Paragraph 4

4. Continues to see the Western Balkans integration as a geopolitical priority; is of the opinion that the funding provided through the IPA should be increased, especially for what concerns the Security dimension, while also ensuring complementarity with the relevant funds provided by specific Horizon clusters; welcomes furthermore the accession perspective for Ukraine and Moldova, insists however that additional funding is needed to support both countries on their path to accession;

Amendment 17 #

Katalin CSEH, Nicola BEER, Petras AUŠTREVIČIUS

Draft opinion
Recital A c (new)

Ac. Whereas the general budget of the Union must meet objective criteria that demonstrate an impact on the development and prosperity of the Member States and promote cohesion;

Amendment 17 #

Draft opinion
Paragraph 4

4. Continues to see the Western Balkans integration as a geopolitical priority; welcomes furthermore the accession perspective for Ukraine and Moldova, insists however that additional funding is needed to support both countries on their path to accession; calls for the strengthening of rule of law conditionality in all funding streams linked to accession procedures, particularly in the Western Balkans; calls for reinforced monitoring and reporting regarding rule of law reforms;

Amendment 18 #

Draft opinion
Recital A d (new)

Ad. whereas, even taking into account the balance of personal, family and professional life, the Union budget should include an increase in investment in high- quality public care services, including public networks of nurseries and crèches and public services of free time activities for children and a public health care network, as well as the defence of public, accessible and quality health systems and a public social security system, ensuring their universality;

Amendment 18 #

Draft opinion
Paragraph 4

4. Continues to see the Western Balkans integration as a geopolitical priority; welcomes furthermore the accession perspective for Ukraine and Moldova, insists however that additional funding is needed to support both countries on their path to accession; calls for continuous support for the Belarusian democratic forces, for increased support for Georgian civil society and independent media, and for peace-building activities between Armenian and Azerbaijani societies;

Amendment 19 #

Jean-Lin LACAPELLE, Thierry MARIANI

Draft opinion
Recital A d (new)

Ad. whereas there needs to be greater emphasis on strategic investment and sustainable growth in the Union and within Member States in order to improve economic cohesion and create jobs, in particular for young women and girls in all their diversity;

Amendment 19 #

Draft opinion
Paragraph 4

4. Continues to see the Western Balkans integration as a geopolitical priority; welcomes furthermore the accession perspective for Ukraine and Moldova, insists however that additional funding is needed to support both countries on their path to accessionbelieve that enlargement is a headlong rush by the EU, which no longer takes into account the criteria of economic rigour but uses enlargement as a geopolitical tool to cement the membership of certain countries in the Euro-Atlantic camp, thereby exacerbating the bloc mentality and aggravating global tensions, while putting at risk the economic, political and social stability of existing Member States;

Amendment 2 #

Draft opinion
Recital A

~~A. whereas an aging Union population and low fertility rates are urgent concerns for every Member State;~~deleted

Amendment 2 #

Draft opinion
Recital A

A. whereas the growing instability and the rise of unprecedented challenges ~~in th~~that emanates both from the Eastern and the Southern EU Neighbourhoods, as well as in the whole international environment increases the demands on the Union to act;

Amendment 20 #

Draft opinion
Recital A d (new)

Ad. whereas the budget of the Union must meet social needs and should seek to serve the common good and the interests of Union citizens;

Amendment 20 #

Draft opinion
Paragraph 4

4. Continues to see the Western Balkans integration and the countries’ reform progresses, in particular in the area of rule of law, democracy and fundamental freedoms as a geopolitical priority; welcomes furthermore the accession perspective for Ukraine and Moldova, insists however that additional funding is needed to support both countries on their path to accession;

Amendment 21 #

Draft opinion
Recital A e (new)

Ae. whereas it is important to focus on enhancing women’s potential in all sectors of the economy, including the digitalised economy, information and communication technologies (ICT) and science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM);

Amendment 21 #

Draft opinion
Paragraph 4 a (new)

4a. Reminds that the EU’s Instrument for Pre-accession Assistance (IPA III) foresees a strong conditionality and funding must be modulated or even suspended in the case of significant regression or persistent lack of progress in the area of the so-called “fundamentals”, notably in the field of the rule of law and fundamental rights; reiterates once again its call on the Commission to develop guidelines on the application of the conditionality; stresses the need to prioritize 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 all EU expenditure is fully in line with the EU’s strategic goals and interests;

Amendment 22 #

Draft opinion
Recital A e (new)

Ae. whereas the Union's budget allocations may not be made subject to conditions on matters beyond the Union's competence;

Amendment 22 #

Nacho SÁNCHEZ AMOR

Draft opinion
Paragraph 4 a (new)

4a. Calls on the Commission to create a permanent training residential programme on the EU’s external action and CFSP for junior diplomats from EU candidate countries, which should draw from the experience and lessons learned from the pilot project on the European Diplomatic Academy and fully synergize with the future permanent structure of the forenamed Academy; stresses that, in this sense, the above-mentioned programme should foster a connection to the EEAS, European Commission, Council, and European Parliament;

Amendment 23 #

Juozas OLEKAS, Carina OHLSSON

Draft opinion
Recital A f (new)

Af. whereas EIGE's workload due to the growth in tasks and scope of certain activities has become unsustainable, as has been assessed by EIGE since 2021;

Amendment 23 #

Draft opinion
Paragraph 4 a (new)

4a. Stresses the need to increase allocations for military mobility in 2024 budget and during the MFF revision. Russia’s war of aggression against Ukraine shows the need of increasing the budget for military mobility projects, that would improve the speed of military response in case of aggression, and also will help civilian infrastructure needs, including rail transport of Ukrainian grain to the EU Member States' seaports.

Amendment 24 #

Petras AUŠTREVIČIUS, Nathalie LOISEAU, Katalin CSEH, Nicola BEER

Draft opinion
Recital A j (new)

Aj. whereas the non-compliance with the rule of law in Poland has had an adverse impact on women, girls and LGBTI individuals;

Amendment 24 #

Draft opinion
Paragraph 4 a (new)

4a. 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 25 #

Draft opinion
Recital B

~~B. whereas gender dysphoria is a rapidly growing mental health challenge, especially amongst girls;~~deleted

Amendment 25 #

Nathalie LOISEAU, Urmas PAET, Dragoş TUDORACHE, Petras AUŠTREVIČIUS, Salima YENBOU, Katalin CSEH

Draft opinion
Paragraph 4 a (new)

4a. Reiterates that adequate level of funding should be maintained for the Southern Neighbourhood in 2024; regrets therefore the diminution of 100 million EUR compared to 2023;

Amendment 26 #

Draft opinion
Recital B

~~B. whereas gender dysphoria is a rapidly growing mental health challenge, especially amongst girls;~~deleted

Amendment 26 #

Draft opinion
Paragraph 4 b (new)

4b. With regard to the EU's multiannual support to UNRWA, urges the Commission to allocate supplementary contributions to UNRWA for a total EU contribution of 142 million to the Agency in 2024, taking into account its crucial role in promoting the human development of millions of Palestine refugees;

Amendment 27 #

Nathalie LOISEAU, Urmas PAET, Dragoş TUDORACHE, Petras AUŠTREVIČIUS, Hilde VAUTMANS

Draft opinion
Recital B

~~B. whereas gender dysphoria is a rapidly growing mental health challenge, especially amongst girls;~~deleted

Amendment 27 #

Draft opinion
Paragraph 4 b (new)

4b. Welcomes the continuation of funding for humanitarian aid and support for Syrian refugees in the country and the region;

Amendment 28 #

Draft opinion
Recital B

~~B. whereas gender dysphoria is a rapidly growing mental health challenge, especially amongst girls;~~deleted

Amendment 28 #

María Soraya RODRÍGUEZ RAMOS, Hilde VAUTMANS, Karen MELCHIOR, Samira RAFAELA

Draft opinion
Paragraph 5

5. Believes that funding of projects focussing on women and girls in conflict areas, including on gender-based violence, conflict prevention, rebuilding and empowering of women, is insufficient and should be strengthened throughout all geographical regions in the budget; 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 on the Commission to assess holistically gender impact and facilitate that all the relevant data is available for the tracking;

Amendment 29 #

Draft opinion
Recital B

B. whereas ~~gender dysphoria is a rapidly growing mental health challenge, especially amongst girls~~Parliament has repeatedly called for sufficient funding for the European Institute for Gender Equality (EIGE) and the Daphne Strand and Equality and Rights Strand of the Citizens, Equality, Rights and Values (CERV) programme, which is urgently needed to combat gender-based violence and ensure gender equality across the Union;

Amendment 29 #

Draft opinion
Paragraph 5

5. Believes that funding of projects focussing on women and girls in conflict and crisis-affected areas, including on gender-based violence, conflict prevention, rebuilding and empowering of women, is insufficient and should be strengthened throughout all geographical regions in the budget; calls for the rights of Afghan women and girls to be further strengthened and, most importantly, for them to have access to secondary and university education, including through EU scholarships to study at schools and universities in EU Member States;

Amendment 3 #

Draft opinion
Recital A

~~A. whereas an aging Union population and low fertility rates are urgent concerns for every Member State;~~deleted

Amendment 3 #

Draft opinion
Recital A

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;

Amendment 30 #

Draft opinion
Recital B

B. whereas ~~gender dysphoria is a rapidly growing mental health challenge, especially amongst girl~~living a self-determined life is not possible in poverty and social exclusion for which reason measures should be introduced to address aspects that concern disadvantaged families and children, taking a multifaceted approach from employment to social resources;

Amendment 30 #

Nathalie LOISEAU, Urmas PAET, Dragoş TUDORACHE, Bart GROOTHUIS, Petras AUŠTREVIČIUS, Nicola BEER, Salima YENBOU, Hilde VAUTMANS, Katalin CSEH

Draft opinion
Paragraph 5

Amendment 31 #

Katalin CSEH, Nicola BEER, Petras AUŠTREVIČIUS

Draft opinion
Recital B a (new)

Ba. whereas budgets are never gender- neutral and therefore need to be established with the clear objective of anti-discrimination and the goal of reaching everyone and their specific needs; whereas Parliament has requested that gender mainstreaming and gender budgeting be implemented throughout the budgetary procedure; whereas this is specifically needed in times of crises and conflict and to counter the backlash against gender equality and women’s rights in the Union;

Amendment 31 #

Draft opinion
Paragraph 5

Amendment 32 #

Draft opinion
Recital B a (new)

Ba. whereas the consequences of recent crisis, inflation and increase in the cost of living are mostly born by women and children; whereas the crisis has demonstrated that social isolation and the decline of the socioeconomic situation of the household disproportionally affects the mental and physical well-being of women and children, often marking them for years and in many cases depriving them of the possibility to break out of the viscious circle of poverty;

Amendment 32 #

Draft opinion
Paragraph 5 a (new)

5a. Emphasises that the protection and promotion of human rights globally continues to be of core interest for EU’s external actions; reiterates the need for increased funding dedicated to supporting human rights worldwide, especially where there is closure of civic spaces, and with a particular focus on the protection of human rights defenders and journalists, in particular those most at risk; Calls for increased funding to strengthen the capacities of EU Delegation and key stakeholders in designing and implementing key public policies;

Amendment 33 #

Draft opinion
Recital B a (new)

Ba. whereas that the economic situation favours harassment and violence in all its forms, as well as prostitution, to which women are subjected, in violation of human rights; whereas there is a need to increase public, financial and human resources to intervene among groups at risk of poverty and to address situations posing particular risks for children and young people, the elderly, or persons with disabilities, as well as those designated homeless;

Amendment 33 #

Carina OHLSSON

Draft opinion
Paragraph 5 a (new)

5a. Underlines the importance of directing attention towards the severe situation in Afghanistan and securing essential support for local and international organisations and individuals who are actively promoting the rights of women and girls, while also ensuring the provision of essential public services such as healthcare and education;

Amendment 34 #

Petras AUŠTREVIČIUS, Katalin CSEH

Draft opinion
Recital B a (new)

Ba. whereas various medical associations warn of the social contagion of rapid-onset gender dysphoria and the terrible consequences that its inadequate management can have on the future of children;

Amendment 34 #

Draft opinion
Paragraph 5 a (new)

5a. Stresses the important work of civil society organisations in safeguarding democracy and human rights, and calls for additional funding to be made available for their activities, especially those concerned with LGBTIQ+ rights;

Amendment 35 #

Draft opinion
Recital B a (new)

Ba. whereas there is a worrying and increasing backlash against gender equality, women’s rights and the LGBTIQ+ community, including the proliferation of rampant transphobia;

Amendment 35 #

Draft opinion
Paragraph 6

6. Believes that the support of third countries in the fight against climate change needs to be increased as a matter of urgency; Stresses that the 2024 Union budget should be aligned with the Union’s ambitions of making the Union climate neutral by 2050 at the latest, as well as the Union’s international commitments in particular the Paris Agreement and the Kunmin-Montreal Agreement and significantly contribute to the implementation of the implementation of the European Green Deal, the 2030 Biodiversity Strategy, of the Farm to Fork Strategy, of the Circular Economy Action Plan, of the Chemical Strategy for Sustainability and of a Zero-pollution Action Plan;

Amendment 36 #

Katalin CSEH, Petras AUŠTREVIČIUS

Draft opinion
Recital C

~~C. whereas there are no scientifically demonstrated benefits to abortion, causing harm to women and men and their offspring;~~deleted

Amendment 36 #

Draft opinion
Paragraph 6

6. Believes that the support of third countries in the fight against climate change needs to be increased as a matter of urgency; reiterates its call for the adoption of an EU financing plan for Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), since Heading 6 of the MFF does not provide sufficient means for the EU’s external action to help partner countries finance their SDG strategies;

Amendment 37 #

Draft opinion
Recital C

~~C. whereas there are no scientifically demonstrated benefits to abortion, causing harm to women and men and their offspring;~~deleted

Amendment 37 #

Draft opinion
Paragraph 6 a (new)

6a. Stresses the need for continuous efforts towards the achievement of climate and biodiversity mainstreaming targets laid down in the Interinstitutional Agreement of 16 December 2020 in the Union budget and the European Union Recovery Instrument expenditures (IIA); Welcomes the efforts for a more transparent and comprehensive reporting in the budgetary documents as well as the performance website, and emphasises the need to carry out sufficient ex-post evaluations with a particular focus on impact; calls on the Commission to carefully take into account the conclusions of the special report of the European Court of Auditors on climate spending in the 2014-2020 EU budget as well as the performance audit from November 2022;

Amendment 38 #

Draft opinion
Recital C

~~C. whereas there are no scientifically demonstrated benefits to abortion, causing harm to women and men and their offspring;~~deleted

Amendment 38 #

Draft opinion
Paragraph 6 a (new)

6a. 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; recalls that the do-no-significant-harm principle is mainstreamed in all Union activities through the budgetary implementation as agreed in the IIA and stresses therefore the urgent need to ensure the respect of the ‘Do No Significant Harm’ principle through the entire budget in all the 6 dimensions and to take necessary corrective measures if and when needed without undue delay;

Amendment 39 #

Draft opinion
Recital C

~~C. whereas there are no scientifically demonstrated benefits to abortion, causing harm to women and men and their offspring;~~deleted

Amendment 39 #

Carina OHLSSON

Draft opinion
Paragraph 6 a (new)

6a. Recalls the European Parliament’s Recommendation of 15 March 2023 on the functioning of the EEAS and for a stronger EU in the world, in particular its call for the EEAS to be provided with adequate resources; hence calls for an increase in the establishment plan of 35 posts, while 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;

Amendment 4 #

Draft opinion
Recital A

~~A. whereas an aging Union population and low fertility rates are urgent concerns for every Member State;~~deleted

Amendment 4 #

Nathalie LOISEAU, Urmas PAET, Dragoş TUDORACHE, Bart GROOTHUIS, Petras AUŠTREVIČIUS, Nicola BEER, Hilde VAUTMANS

Draft opinion
Recital B

B. whereas the Union must continue to support Ukraine including military support and respond to other urgent global needs as they evolve; whereas it is of outmost importance to continue demining Ukraine as there will be no sustainable reconstruction without it;

Amendment 40 #

Draft opinion
Recital C

C. whereas ~~there are no scientifically demonstrated benefits to abortion, causing harm to women and men and their offspring~~abortion as a legal right should be treated as a last resort available, with proper and strict regulations in line with women’s right to self-determination and safety; whereas the option of safe and legal abortion is essential not to endanger the lives of pregnant women; whereas education and proper informing of pregnant women of their options and the consequences of termination procedures with adequate time passing for consideration before the execution of the procedure is essential to ensure that abortion is indeed treated as a last resort;

Amendment 40 #

María Soraya RODRÍGUEZ RAMOS, Hilde VAUTMANS, Karen MELCHIOR, Samira RAFAELA

Draft opinion
Paragraph 6 a (new)

6a. Calls for special attention to be paid to nuclear safety and disaster preparedness in the light of Russia's war of aggression in Ukraine and concerns about the safety of the Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant (NPP), as well as the Lukashenka regime's continued failure to ensure the nuclear safety of the Belarusian NPP in Astravyets;

Amendment 41 #

Draft opinion
Recital C

C. whereas ~~there are no scientifically demonstrated benefits to abortion, causing harm to women a~~sexual and reproductive health and rights (SRHR) are human rights, protected under international and European law; whereas Parliament in its resolution of 7 July 2022 called for the right to safe and legal abortion to be included in the Charter of Fund amen ~~and their offspring;~~tal Rights of the European Union;1a _________________ 1a OJ C 47, 7.2.2023, p. 268.

Amendment 41 #

Draft opinion
Paragraph 7

~~7. S~~Is alarmed by the global reduction of funding devoted to humanitarian aid, including by EU Member States; is firmly convinced of the fact that the Union should keep on qualifying itself as a global champion of humanitarian aid; strongly believes that a 7. considerable reinforcement of humanitarian aid is needed for the Union to be able to respond to emerging crises and therefore increases this budget line by EUR 1 billion.

Amendment 42 #

Katalin CSEH, Petras AUŠTREVIČIUS

Draft opinion
Recital C a (new)

Ca. whereas 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;

Amendment 42 #

Draft opinion
Paragraph 7

7. Str~~ongly believes that a considerable reinfor~~esses the need to increase the humanitarian aid budget line (HUMA) by EUR 1 billion to meaningfully address the unprecemdented level of humanitarian ~~aid is needed for the Union to be able to respond to emerging crises and therefore increases this budget line by EUR 1 billion~~needs worldwide, aggravated by the Ukraine war and its global economic repercussions, notably in terms of food insecurity; highlights that funds from the Solidarity and Emergency Aid Reserve (SEAR) can be mobilised for crises outside the EU throughout the whole financial year.

Amendment 43 #

Ca. whereas abortion must be a voluntary decision at the request of women, freely taken, in line with medical standards based on World Health Organisation guidelines; whereas access to free safe and legal abortion services must be guaranteed;

Amendment 43 #

Nathalie LOISEAU, Urmas PAET, Dragoş TUDORACHE, Petras AUŠTREVIČIUS, Salima YENBOU, Hilde VAUTMANS, Katalin CSEH

Draft opinion
Paragraph 7

7. 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 emerging crises and therefore increases this budget line by EUR 1 billion.

Amendment 44 #

Draft opinion
Recital C a (new)

Ca. Whereas there is a lack of action to protect the family and promote the birth rate;

Amendment 44 #

Maria ARENA

Draft opinion
Paragraph 7 a (new)

7a. Commends the results of the study on Palestinian schoolbooks performed by the Georg Eckert Institute revealing a complex picture, confirming that they adhere to UNESCO standards and adopt criteria that are prominent in international education discourse, including a strong focus on human rights, while displaying antagonism towards Israel in the context of the Israeli- Palestinian conflict;

Amendment 45 #

Draft opinion
Paragraph 1

Amendment 45 #

Nathalie LOISEAU, Urmas PAET, Dragoş TUDORACHE, Bart GROOTHUIS, Petras AUŠTREVIČIUS, Nicola BEER, Hilde VAUTMANS, Katalin CSEH

Draft opinion
Paragraph 7 a (new)

7a. Calls on the Commission to ensure that there is no direct or indirect funding of foreign associations that run counter to European values;

Amendment 46 #

Draft opinion
Paragraph 1

Amendment 47 #

Draft opinion
Paragraph 1

Amendment 48 #

Draft opinion
Paragraph 1

Amendment 49 #

Draft opinion
Paragraph 1

1. Calls on the Commission and the Council to ~~reduce~~maintain budget allocations to civil societiey organisations that promote sexual and reproductive health and rights, ~~as killing the next generation of Europeans is economically damaging~~pointing out that education for girls and women is an essential factor in reducing gender inequalities;

Amendment 5 #

Draft opinion
Recital A

A. whereas an aging Union population and low fertility rates are urgent concerns for every Member State, meaning that swift action needs to be taken to address the demographic issue of an aging population by enabling citizens to act according to their self-determination and start families and have multiple children without a heavy financial strain, something that can be encouraged by supporting mothers’ return to employment with access to childcare facilities, family-friendly working time arrangements, adequate maternity and paternity leave and social funds, tax breaks and pensions to support families;

Amendment 5 #

María Soraya RODRÍGUEZ RAMOS, Hilde VAUTMANS, Karen MELCHIOR, Samira RAFAELA

Draft opinion
Recital B

B. whereas the Union must continue to support Ukraine in its struggle of self defence against Russia’s war of aggression and respond to other urgent global needs as they evolve;

Amendment 50 #

Draft opinion
Paragraph 1

1. Calls on the Commission and the Council to reduce budget allocations to civil societies that promote sexual and reproductive health and rights, as killing the next generation of Europeans is economically damagingfor increased budget appropriations for women’s health and especially SRHR in the EU4Health Programme, including for the provision of safe and legal abortion via cross-border services;

Amendment 51 #

Draft opinion
Paragraph 1 a (new)

1a. Recommends that funds, in particular, be increased to enable the protection of motherhood, parenthood and early childhood through appropriate programmes; calls, therefore, for maternal and child health to be given particular importance in the 2024 Union budget; further recommends that funds be secured for the protection, promotion and support of breastfeeding and breastfeeding, thus contributing to the achievement of the World Health Organisation’s objective of ensuring that, by 2025, the global rate of exclusive breastfeeding in the first six months of the baby’s life is at least 50 %, which requires, among other measures, the adequacy of the duration and remuneration of maternity and paternity leave;

Amendment 52 #

Draft opinion
Paragraph 1 a (new)

1a. Underlines that a gender perspective should be fully integrated at all levels of the budgetary process; calls for mandatory implementation of gender budgeting and the inclusion of gender- related objectives in all 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 all programmes and spending in order to make necessary adjustments in the following MFF period;

Amendment 53 #

Draft opinion
Paragraph 1 a (new)

1a. Recognises the need to ensure that funding is made available for actions aimed at combating violence against women, including Female Genital Mutilation (FGM), and trafficking 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;

Amendment 54 #

Draft opinion
Paragraph 1 a (new)

1a. Underlines the importance of gender mainstreaming of all Union policies and of integrating a gender perspective in the budgetary cycle;

Amendment 55 #

Draft opinion
Paragraph 1 b (new)

1b. Stresses the importance of cohesion policy in promoting gender equality, welcomes that a gender equality related expenditure tracking system was included for the ESF+, the ERDF and the Cohesion Fund, which will allow for better monitoring of the investments related to gender equality; calls for an increase in the budget of ESF+ in order to increase funds for the EaSI strand;

Amendment 56 #

Draft opinion
Paragraph 1 b (new)

1b. Underlines the need for budgetary allocations to support women’s entrepreneurship and women’s economic independence and promote a progressive approach to ensure and encourage access for women to loans, equity finance, venture capitalists, business angels and investors through Union programmes and funds, such as the European Social Fund Plus;

Amendment 57 #

Draft opinion
Paragraph 1 b (new)

1b. Calls on the Member States to safeguard sexual and reproductive health and rights, inter alia by ensuring the existence of reproductive health programmes and services, including essential care and medicines for voluntary family planning and maternal and neonatal health;

Amendment 58 #

Draft opinion
Paragraph 1 c (new)

1c. Reiterates the need for the Union budget to play a more active role in order to guarantee free access to contraceptive methods, thereby safeguarding the fundamental right to health and ensuring that family planning consultations are in place, specifically covering, inter alia, the issues of reproduction, preparation for childbirth, maternity and paternity, and infertility;

Amendment 59 #

María Soraya RODRÍGUEZ RAMOS, Hilde VAUTMANS, Karen MELCHIOR, Samira RAFAELA

Draft opinion
Paragraph 1 c (new)

1c. Highlights the importance of investments in high-quality public services, including healthcare and social infrastructure for coping with the social and health crises, building social resilience and combating inequalities; stresses the importance of creating high quality jobs in those sectors, aiming at achieving a just transition towards a less carbon intensive society;

Amendment 6 #

Draft opinion
Recital A

A. whereas ~~an aging Union population and low fertility rates are urgent concerns for every Member State~~gender equality is a core principle of the Union enshrined in Article 2 of the Treaty on European Union; whereas gender mainstreaming is a globally recognised strategy to ensure the integration of a gender perspective across all policies and programmes;

Amendment 6 #

Draft opinion
Recital B a (new)

Ba. whereas the European Union must continue to ensure access to education for children and young people in regions affected by conflicts and crises, and to continuously call for the lifting of bans on women and girls' access to education and full participation in public life in Afghanistan;

Amendment 60 #

Draft opinion
Paragraph 1 c (new)

1c. Reiterates 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;

Amendment 61 #

Draft opinion
Paragraph 1 e (new)

1e. Calls on the Commission not to release a single euro to Poland until the Polish authorities comply with the rulings of the Court of Justice of the European Union;

Amendment 62 #

Draft opinion
Paragraph 1 f (new)

1f. Calls for greater awareness about the positive impact of fertility treatments in achieving gender equality for women in all their diversity;

Amendment 63 #

Draft opinion
Paragraph 1 g (new)

1g. Calls on the Commission to allocate the sum of EUR 327 500 as a minimum to EIGE to ensure that EIGE can employ the eight contract agents that it needs to fulfil its mandate and ensure that the current staff have an adequate work-life balance; underlines that EIGE has a strategy set in place and has a concrete plan as to the roles and tasks that those contract agents would fulfil and perform;

Amendment 64 #

Draft opinion
Paragraph 1 h (new)

1h. Underscores that EIGE's request for contract agents is based on budgetary appropriations and only will secure the minimal, not the optimal, levels necessary to enable it to execute its mandate and to respond to the needs of its stakeholders;

Amendment 65 #

Draft opinion
Paragraph 1 i (new)

1i. Calls on the Commission to ensure that there are enough budgetary allocations to ensure that official communication of the Union and Member States is gender inclusive and, where possible, also in braille;

Amendment 66 #

Draft opinion
Paragraph 2

2. Calls for a similar reduction in budget allocations to civil society organisations promoting LGBTI+ ideologies, as they do not represent these diverse groups, but promote division by awarding special rights to sexual minorities;deleted

Amendment 67 #

Draft opinion
Paragraph 2

Amendment 68 #

Draft opinion
Paragraph 2

Amendment 69 #

Draft opinion
Paragraph 2

Amendment 7 #

Draft opinion
Recital A a (new)

Aa. whereas in several Member States, with low birth rates, women and couples would wish to have children but are prevented in practice from having them, not by their own choice, but by the increasing deterioration of their living and working conditions resulting directly from so-called austerity policies that have created unemployment, precarious employment and disrespect and violation of maternity and paternity rights in the workplace, destroyed public services and hindered access to childcare facilities;

Amendment 7 #

María Soraya RODRÍGUEZ RAMOS, Hilde VAUTMANS, Karen MELCHIOR, Samira RAFAELA

Draft opinion
Recital B a (new)

Ba. whereas the financial situation of the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA) remains worrisome, and risks to put in jeopardy the fulfilment of its crucial mandate and the vital services it provides to millions of Palestine Refugees;

Amendment 70 #

Draft opinion
Paragraph 2

2. Calls for ~~a similar reduction in~~increased budget allocations to civil society organisations that promot~~ing LGBTI+ ideologies, as they do not represent these diverse groups, but~~e women’s rights, in particular those working on protection of women in conflicts, encompassing the promote ~~division by awarding special rights to sexual minoritie~~ction of SRHR and LGBTI+ rights; calls also for provisions to ensure that Union funds cannot be accessed by anti-gender and anti-choice organisations;

Amendment 71 #

Draft opinion
Paragraph 2

2. Calls for a ~~similar~~ reduction in budget allocations to civil society organisations promoting LGBTI+ ideologies, as they ~~do not~~ represent ~~these diverse groups, but promote division by awarding special rights to sexual minorities~~but a fraction of minorities in the Union today and are overfunded compared to other minorities; emphasises the need for funding of societies supporting Roma women, women with disabilities and women in poverty;

Amendment 72 #

Draft opinion
Paragraph 2 a (new)

2a. repeats its concern at the interrelation between the attacks on the rule of law and the backlash on gender equality and women’s rights; calls on the Commission to strengthen the rule of law in the Union, and thus protect fundamental rights and gender equality, via the rule of law conditionality mechanism for access to Union funds; calls on the Commission to explore 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, particularly women’s rights and gender equality;

Amendment 73 #

Draft opinion
Paragraph 2 a (new)

2a. Demands that the creation of offers based on job insecurity be rejected; calls on the Commission and the Member States to promote collective bargaining, wage valuation, the promotion of open- ended contracts and the regulation of working hours; calls on Parliament and the other Union institutions, bodies, offices and agencies to combat precariousness by promoting collective bargaining and working with rights, and rejecting subcontracts, ensuring equal pay for equal work;

Amendment 74 #

Draft opinion
Paragraph 3

3. Calls for a reduced budget for the European Institute for Gender Equality at a time when citizens are facing cost of living crises as Member States have their own centres of expertise, and equal rights are already safeguarded in national constitutions;deleted

Amendment 75 #

Draft opinion
Paragraph 3

Amendment 76 #

Draft opinion
Paragraph 3

Amendment 77 #

Draft opinion
Paragraph 3

Amendment 78 #

María Soraya RODRÍGUEZ RAMOS, Hilde VAUTMANS, Karen MELCHIOR, Samira RAFAELA

Draft opinion
Paragraph 3

3. Calls for ~~a reduced~~maintaining the current adequate budget for the European Institute for Gender Equality at a time when citizens are facing severe consequences of the cost of living crises; notes that, as Member States ~~have~~set up their own centres of expertise, aid and complementary funding is essential, and equal rights ~~are already~~ safeguarded in national constitutions need to be ensured for men, women and children without discrimination of any kind;

Amendment 79 #

Draft opinion
Paragraph 3

3. CRecalls ~~for a reduced budget for the European Institute for Gender Equality at a time when citizens are facing cost of living crises as Member States have their own~~the vital work of EIGE, especially in the context of the backlash against women’s rights across the Union and the situation of women fleeing Ukraine; calls on the Commission to allocate budget and ceontr~~es of expertise, and equal rights are already safeguarded in national~~acts so that EIGE can recruit the eight contract agents urgently needed for the Institute to constitunue to carry out its functions;

Amendment 8 #

Katalin CSEH, Nicola BEER, Petras AUŠTREVIČIUS

Draft opinion
Recital A a (new)

Aa. 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 Union states that ‘in all its activities, the Union shall aim to eliminate inequalities and to promote equality between men and women’, thus establishing the principle of gender mainstreaming, which stipulates that gender equality must be incorporated at all levels of the budgetary process;

Amendment 8 #

Draft opinion
Paragraph 2

2. Strongly believes that a revision of the MFF is needed to make the Union budget fit for purpose in order to address global challenges; highlights that sufficient funding is key to the EU’s credibility as a stronger, more assertive, and more strategic actor on the world stage; welcomes therefore the Commission proposal for a revision presented on 20 June, believes however that an even stronger increase in Heading 6 would be needed to address the various challenges in the neighbourhood and beyond; strongly believes that external action funding is crucial for the EU’s stability and security amid Russian aggression in Ukraine and malign influence in the neighborhood and beyond, therefore views it as imperative that the EU maintains its current presence as a stabilizing power; calls on the Council to agree on a revision of the MFF before the end of the year so that it can have an impact on the 2024 budget; furthermore calls on the Commission to present as soon as possible a detailed breakdown per budget line regarding the suggested increases for 2024 of EUR 2.331 million (in 2018 prices) in order for the budgetary authority to make full use of the additional funds in Heading 6;

Amendment 80 #

Draft opinion
Paragraph 3 a (new)

3a. Recalls the important role played by the European Institute for Gender Equality (EIGE) in understanding and addressing the extent and causes of gender inequality in the Union; 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; calls for EIGE’s budget to be increased in order to facilitate the recruitment of more staff to ensure its ability to effectively fulfill its mandate; notes specifically EIGE’s request for eight additional contract agent posts and EIGE's assessment of this request as the minimal necessary level to enable it to execute its mandate and to respond to the needs of its stakeholders;

Amendment 81 #

Draft opinion
Paragraph 3 a (new)

3a. Calls on the Commission to increase the budget allocation to civil society organisations that promote women’s rights in Europe and beyond, highlights the importance to reach smaller grassroots organisations in order to guarantee the best impact on women’s rights and gender equality and therefore welcomes tenders and other financial support to such intermediaries; highlights the continued importance to fund organisations working on sexual and reproductive health and rights, such as those that facilitate cross-border cooperation between organisations providing safe and legal abortions guaranteeing women’s access to the fundamental right to decide over their bodies;

Amendment 82 #

Draft opinion
Paragraph 3 a (new)

3a. Stresses that in the last decade, with the outbreak of the economic and financial crisis, economic, social, labour and gender inequalities have intensified within and between Member States; recalls the important role played by the European Institute for Gender Equality in understanding the scale and causes of gender inequality in the Union; calls, therefore, for the budget, staff and independence of the budget to be strengthened;

Amendment 83 #

Draft opinion
Paragraph 4

Amendment 84 #

Draft opinion
Paragraph 4

Amendment 85 #

Draft opinion
Paragraph 4

Amendment 86 #

Draft opinion
Paragraph 4

Amendment 87 #

María Soraya RODRÍGUEZ RAMOS, Hilde VAUTMANS, Karen MELCHIOR, Samira RAFAELA

Draft opinion
Paragraph 4

4. Stresses that the Citizens, Equality, Rights and Values Programme (CERV) should redirect allocation away from sexual minorities and gender identities towards genuine protection of victims of violence ~~(both men and women)~~, especially domestic violence, persons with disabilities and ~~vulnerable children~~women and children coming from disadvantaged backgrounds, toward social inclusion of minorities such as Roma and the reduction of poverty;

Amendment 88 #

Draft opinion
Paragraph 4

4. Stresses that the Citizens, Equality, Rights and Values Programme (CERV) should redirect allocation away from sexual minorities and gender identities towards genuine protection of victims of violence (both men and women), persons with disabilities and vulnerable children; 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 year1b; calls for additional funds to be allocated to the Daphne Strand and Equality and Rights Strand of the CERV programme specifically to combat gender-based violence; _________________ 1b https://eige.europa.eu/publications- resources/publications/costs-gender- based-violence-european-union

Amendment 89 #

Draft opinion
Paragraph 4 a (new)

4a. calls on the Commission to increase budget allocation to civil society organisations that promote women’s rights in Europe and beyond, including organisations dealing with combatting gender based violence, including women’s rights organisations, LGBTIQ+ organisations and organisations providing services and support for victims of conflict gender based violence; underlines the importance of appropriate ongoing funding of the Daphne programme to combat gender based violence in the Union;

Amendment 9 #

Draft opinion
Recital A a (new)

Aa. whereas the European Institute for Gender Equality (EIGE) is under greater strain due to an increased workload and requests for research; whereas EIGE has repeatedly called for eight contract agents with the established general cost to the budget of exactly EUR 327 500;

Amendment 9 #

Nathalie LOISEAU, Urmas PAET, Dragoş TUDORACHE, Bart GROOTHUIS, Petras AUŠTREVIČIUS, Nicola BEER, Salima YENBOU, Hilde VAUTMANS, Katalin CSEH

Draft opinion
Paragraph 2

2. Strongly believes that a revision of the MFF is needed to make the Union budget fit for purpose in order to address global challenges, among which European defence; welcomes therefore the Commission proposal for a revision presented on 20 June, believes however that an even stronger increase in Heading 6 would be needed to address the various challenges in the neighbourhood and beyond; calls on the Council to agree on a revision of the MFF before the end of the year so that it can have an impact on the 2024 budget; furthermore calls on the Commission to present as soon as possible a detailed breakdown per budget line regarding the suggested increases for 2024 of EUR 2.331 million (in 2018 prices) in order for the budgetary authority to make full use of the additional funds in Heading 6;

Amendment 90 #

Draft opinion
Paragraph 4 a (new)

4a. Reiterates the need for the Union budget to play a more active role in pursuing the UN Sustainable Development Goals; calls, therefore, for it to support measures and projects aimed at eradicating female and child poverty, promoting greater and better integration into the labour market, eliminating labour and wage inequalities between men and women, improving access to and delivery of healthcare, and combating violence against women, children and young people;

Amendment 91 #

Draft opinion
Paragraph 4 a (new)

4a. Underlines the requirement to allocate at least 40 % of the funds dedicated to the Equality, Rights and Gender Equality strand and to the Daphne strand of the Citizens, Equality, Rights and Values Programme to activities to prevent and combat at all levels all forms of gender-based violence, and at least 15 % to activities promoting women’s full enjoyment of rights, gender quality, including work-life balance, women’s empowerment and gender mainstreaming;

Amendment 92 #

Draft opinion
Paragraph 4 b (new)

4b. Calls on the Commission to increase budget allocation to civil society organisations that promote women’s rights, gender equality, LGBTIQ+ rights, sexual and reproductive health rights and access, and social justice in Europe and beyond;

Amendment 93 #

Draft opinion
Paragraph 4 c (new)

4c. Laments the scourge of gender based violence that is pervasive not only in the Union, but throughout the world; highlights that women in armed conflicts suffer disproportionate consequences, including conflict based gender-based and sexual violence; calls on the Commission to increase budget allocations to the Neighbourhood, Development and International Cooperation Instrument specifically to fund civil society organisations working on the prevention of gender based violence in conflict and providing support to survivors;

Amendment 94 #

Draft opinion
Paragraph 5

Amendment 95 #

Draft opinion
Paragraph 5

Amendment 96 #

María Soraya RODRÍGUEZ RAMOS, Hilde VAUTMANS, Karen MELCHIOR, Samira RAFAELA

Draft opinion
Paragraph 5

Amendment 97 #

Draft opinion
Paragraph 5

5. Strongly urges the Commission to return to prioritising equality of opportunity for men and women, and not push an agenda of equality of outcome for all 27+ genders, including ‘non-binary’, ‘asexual’ and ‘genderfuck’esses 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, childcare and long-term care facilities, particularly in the light of the Union’s 14% average gender pay gap;

Amendment 98 #

Draft opinion
Paragraph 5

5. Strongly urges the Commission to return to prioritising equality of opportunity ~~for~~between men and women, and not push an agenda of equality of outcome for a~~ll 27+ genders, including ‘non-binary’, ‘asexual’ and ‘~~ vocal minority of multiple gender~~fuck’~~s;

Amendment 99 #

Draft opinion
Paragraph 5 a (new)

5a. Stresses that sexual and reproductive health and rights are fundamental rights; calls for the budgetary allocations under EU4Health programme for the research into gender- specific conditions such as endometriosis and fibroids with an intersectional perspective, along with the provision of cross-border services to ensure the provision of safe and legal abortion to all citizens; underlines the importance of budgetary allocations for civil society organisations providing sexual and reproductive health and rights services and information, including cross border abortion care services in the light of the backlash on women’s rights in the Union;

source: 751.833

2023/07/24 ECON 63 amendments...

Amendment 1 #

Draft opinion
Paragraph 1

1. Calls for the 2024 EU budget to ensure that all Member States put in place ~~structural reforms to unleash the full potential of the EU economy and achieve long-term growth;~~future-oriented reforms and investments to achieve EU climate and social goals, including full employment.

Amendment 10 #

Draft opinion
Paragraph 1 b (new)

1b. Stresses that the 2024 Union budget should be aligned with the Union’s ambitions of making the Union climate neutral by 2050 at the latest, as well as the Union’s international commitments in particular the Paris Agreement and the Kunming-Montreal Agreement and significantly contribute to the implementation of the implementation of the European Green Deal, the 2030 Biodiversity Strategy, of the Farm to Fork Strategy, of the Circular Economy Action Plan, of the Chemical Strategy for Sustainability and of a Zero-pollution Action Plan;

Amendment 11 #

Draft opinion
Paragraph 2

2. Considers that s~~imple and enforceable fiscal rules that promote countercyclical policies and ensure debt sustainability~~ound and responsible fiscal policies by all Member States are key for the long-term economic prosperity of Member States and the Union;

Amendment 12 #

Draft opinion
Paragraph 2

2. ~~Considers that simple and enforceable~~Stresses the importance to reform the EU fiscal rules t~~hat~~o promote forward- looking countercyclical policies ~~and~~, ensure debt sustainability rules and integrate a long-term perspective accounting for the sustainability risks of climate inaction; emphasises that high quality public investments are key for the long-term economic and social sustainability and prosperity of Member States and the Union;

Amendment 13 #

Draft opinion
Paragraph 2

2. Considers that simple ~~and enforceable~~ fiscal rules that promote countercyclical policies, foster public investment for an inclusive green transition and ensure debt sustainability are key for the long-term economic prosperity of Member States and the Union; stresses, that the Commission’s proposal fails to provide fiscal space for Member States to invest in resiliency and growth enhancing reforms to achieve the European Green Deal and Social Pillar objectives; calls, moreover, for a special debt treatment of the repayments of the loans share of the NGEU programme to be included under the revision;

Amendment 14 #

Draft opinion
Paragraph 2

2. Considers that simple and enforceable fiscal rules that promote countercyclical policies and ensure debt sustainability are key for the long-term economic prosperity of Member States and the Union; welcomes the fact that the proposed reform of the economic governance framework foresees more flexibility for strategic investments and allows for different debt reduction paths for Member States; regrets that the proposal (i) does not include a permanent fiscal capacity at EU level, (ii) lacks a meaningful social dimension and a proper integration of the European Pillar of Social Rights, (iii) remains weak in the coordination of national fiscal policies, and (iv) does not foresee an adequate democratic accountability; recalls the need for the reform to be approved preferably prior to the deactivation of the general escape clause;

Amendment 15 #

Markus FERBER

Draft opinion
Paragraph 2

2. Considers that simple and enforceable fiscal rules that promote countercyclical policies and ensure debt sustainability are key for the long-term economic prosperity of Member States and the Union; concurs with EU finance ministers that a strategy of determined, gradual and realistic fiscal consolidation is warranted, to strengthen fiscal sustainability and to rebuild fiscal buffers;

Amendment 16 #

Draft opinion
Paragraph 2

2. Considers that simple and enforceable fiscal rules that promote countercyclical policies and ensure ~~deb~~public debt and deficit sustainability are key for the long-term economic prosperity of Member States and the Union;

Amendment 17 #

Draft opinion
Paragraph 3

3. Calls for the 2024 budget to i~~nclude targeted spending in areas that are key for the Union’s strategic autonomy such as energy, defence, education and the labour marke~~mplement the constitutional obligations laid out in article 3 TEU on the work for the sustainable development of Europe based on a balanced economic growth and price stability, a highly competitive social market economy, aiming at full employment and social progress, and a high level of protection and improvement of the quality of the environment;

Amendment 18 #

Draft opinion
Paragraph 3

3. Calls for the 2024 budget to include targeted spending in areas that are key for the Union’s strategic autonomy such as energy, ~~defenc~~climate, healthcare, education and ~~the~~high quality labour market;

Amendment 19 #

Markus FERBER

Draft opinion
Paragraph 3

3. Calls for the 2024 budget to include targeted spending in areas that are key for the Union’s strategic autonomy such as energy, defence, education and ~~the labour market~~competitiveness;

Amendment 2 #

Draft opinion
Paragraph 1

1. Calls for the 2024 EU budget to ensure that all Member States put in place ~~structural reforms to unleash the full potential~~well designed and future-oriented investment and structural reforms, in particular for climate mitigation and adaptation, in order to meet EU climate neutrality and biodiversity targets, enhance the resilience and sustainability of the EU economy ~~and~~, achieve long-term gpro~~wth~~sperity and well-being for all European citizens;

Amendment 20 #

Draft opinion
Paragraph 3

3. Calls for the 2024 budget to include targeted spending in areas that are key for the Union’s open strategic autonomy such as energy~~, defence~~ security, defence cooperation, education ~~and~~, the labour market and reindustrialisation in key technological sectors;

Amendment 21 #

Draft opinion
Paragraph 3

3. Calls for the 2024 budget to include targeted spending in areas that are key for the Union’s strategic autonomy such as energy, ~~defence~~security, defence, agriculture, health, education and the labour market;

Amendment 22 #

Draft opinion
Paragraph 3

3. Calls for the 2024 budget to include targeted spending in areas that are key for the Union’s strategic autonomy such as climate, biodiversity, energy, defence, education and the labour market;

Amendment 23 #

Draft opinion
Paragraph 3

3. Calls for the 2024 budget to include targeted spending in areas that are key for the Union’s strategic autonomy such as energy, defence, military mobility, education and the labour market;

Amendment 24 #

Draft opinion
Paragraph 4

4. Stresses that t~~he budget~~ax incentives applied in a fiscally responsible manner for private research and development (e.g. via tax credits, enhanced allowances or adjusted depreciation schedules) should contribute to increasing the spending in research and development (R&D) as a key driver for innovation and economic growth by leveraging both private and national public investment;

Amendment 25 #

Draft opinion
Paragraph 4

Amendment 26 #

Draft opinion
Paragraph 4

4. Stresses that the budget should contribute to increasing the spending in research and development (R&D) as a key driver for innovation and economic growth by leveraging both private and national public investment; stresses the importance of funding to foster the creation of green net zero technologies and support climate mitigation and adaptation;

Amendment 27 #

Draft opinion
Paragraph 5

5. Calls for adequate investment resources to ensure that the Union ~~is competitive internationally, is able to attract investments and create employment, and to increase productivity in the context of growing international competition~~transforms its industrial sector towards the goal of an inclusive green transition and creates high quality employment;

Amendment 28 #

Draft opinion
Paragraph 5

5. Calls for adequate resources to ensure that the ~~Union is~~European companies get into a better position to be more competitive internationally, isand are able to attract investments and create employment, and to increase productivity in the context of growing international competition;

Amendment 29 #

Draft opinion
Paragraph 5

5. Calls for adequate resources to ensure that the Union is competitive internationally, is able to attract productive investments and create quality employment, and to increase productivity in the context of growing international competition, whilst strengthening the social protection system;

Amendment 3 #

Draft opinion
Paragraph 1

1. Calls for the 2024 EU budget to ensure that all Member States put in place socially-balanced structural reforms to unleash the full potential of the EU economy ~~and~~, achieve long-term ~~growth~~inclusive and sustainable growth and advance in the green and digital transitions;

Amendment 30 #

Draft opinion
Paragraph 5 a (new)

5a. Recalls that tax policy is a national competence of Member States and that the EU intervenes in the area of taxation with the main goal of coordination and cooperation; recognises the important role of national tax authorities and understands the complex framework of administrative cooperation in the field of taxation; calls, therefore, for the sufficient funding of the Fiscalis programme;

Amendment 31 #

Draft opinion
Paragraph 5 a (new)

5a. Recalls that in a global market economy, good fiscal policy with good Member State coordination can attract investment and boost the competitiveness of businesses, thus increasing public revenue and creating more jobs and generating more opportunities;

Amendment 32 #

Draft opinion
Paragraph 5 a (new)

5a. Recalls that the introduction of a basket of new and real own resources was integrated into the ‘Interinstitutional cooperation on a roadmap towards the introduction of new own resources’ and the ‘Legislative resolution on the draft Council decision on the system of own resources of the EU’ ; stresses the importance of the additional new EU own resources to cover the costs of the repayment of NextGenerationEU, to assure a sustainable financing of the EU budget and to ensure the financing of the green and digital transitions; warns against the risk of burdening citizens with these transition costs with the added complications that the ongoing cost-of- living crisis poses; takes note of the adjustment of the own resources proposals based on the Emissions Trading System and the Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism; recalls that a share of the revenue generated under Pillar One of the Global Tax Deal is also included in the first basket of own resources; calls therefore for a swift implementation of the Global Tax Deal;

Amendment 33 #

Draft opinion
Paragraph 5 b (new)

5b. Takes note of the proposal of a new temporary statistical own resource based on company profits; insists that a proper contribution linked to the corporate sector or a share of corporate income tax collected under BEFIT, together with a Financial Transaction Tax or a Financial Activities Tax, should form part of a second basket of new own resources;

Amendment 34 #

Andżelika Anna MOŻDŻANOWSKA

Draft opinion
Paragraph 6

6. Believes that the budget plays an important role in the completion of the Banking Union and the Capital Markets Union; Recalls that the Union lags behind other jurisdictions regarding companies’ and especially SMEs’ access to financing;deleted

Amendment 35 #

Draft opinion
Paragraph 6

6. Believes that the budget plays an important role in the completion of the ~~Banking Union and the~~ Capital Markets Union; Rrecalls that the Union lags behind other jurisdictions regarding companies’ and especially SMEs’ access to financing;

Amendment 36 #

Draft opinion
Paragraph 6 a (new)

6a. Considers that the completion of the Capital Markets Union and the facilitation of companies’, namely SMEs’, access to financing, is a priority for the Union; calls for an in-depth assessment on the added value of EU legislation in the EU capital markets competitiveness; understands that the EU funded programmes to support SMEs must be properly financed and should be financially reinforced;

Amendment 37 #

Draft opinion
Paragraph 6 b (new)

6b. Considers that public investment is essential to pursue the EU’s political objectives; recognises that private investment is the key driver or job creation, growth generation and competitiveness reinforcement; calls, therefore, for a financial increment of the InvestEU programme ;

Amendment 38 #

Draft opinion
Paragraph 7

7. ~~Calls for the budget to provide support to Ukraine for as long as Russia’s war of aggression continues, and to~~Highlights that through the newly- proposed Ukraine Facility a determined, coordinated and solidarity-based European response to Russia’s war of aggression against Ukraine will continue; acknowledges that such instrument will contribute to ~~its~~the reconstruction, ~~including through the European Union Solidarity Fund and the Emergency Aid Reserv~~recovery and modernisation of Ukraine as well as limit the spread of the crisis by identifying and supporting Ukraine’s financing needs to mitigate its economic and social consequences and, therefore, will maintain European citizens’ support for the actions taken against Russia and for other actions needed in supporting the Ukrainians in their defence;

Amendment 39 #

Draft opinion
Paragraph 7

7. Calls for the budget to provide support to Ukraine for as long as Russia’s war of aggression continues, and to contribute to its reconstruction, including through the European Union Solidarity Fund and the Emergency Aid Reserve; calls for the EU’s financial support to be in the form of grants, in order not to further degrade the external and public debt of Ukraine, and to remove the political conditionality of the IMF economic programme; stresses that the budgetary proposal of EUR 50 billion until 2027 is insufficient when compared to the 142 billion published in the Updated Ukraine Recovery and Reconstruction Needs Assessment of March 2023 ;

Amendment 4 #

Andżelika Anna MOŻDŻANOWSKA

Draft opinion
Paragraph 1

1. Calls for the 2024 EU budget to ensure that all Member States put in place structural reforms to unleash the full potential of the EU economy, boost the competitiveness of its businesses in order to create more jobs and achieve long-term growth;

Amendment 40 #

Draft opinion
Paragraph 7

7. Calls for the budget to provide support to Ukraine for as long as Russia’s war of aggression continues, and to contribute to its reconstruction, including through the European Union Solidarity Fund and the Emergency Aid Reserve; expects an increase in spending on humanitarian aid and NDICI programmes (at least restored to 2023 levels), as well as on support related to Ukrainian refugees in the Member States and border protection under the AMIF and BMVI programmes;

Amendment 41 #

Draft opinion
Paragraph 7

7. Calls for the budget to provide support to Ukraine for as long as Russia’s war of aggression continues, to provide funds for the integration of refugees, and to contribute to ~~its~~the reconstruction of the country, including through the European Union Solidarity Fund and the Emergency Aid Reserve;

Amendment 42 #

Draft opinion
Paragraph 8

8. Reiterates that the budget should effectively support and complement the uptake of funds under the Recovery and Resilience Facility., whose success is dependent on its swift implementation by the Member States, strict compliance with the Regulation and the monitoring and assessment activities carried out by the European Commission;

Amendment 43 #

Enikő GYŐRI

Draft opinion
Paragraph 8

8. Reiterates that the budget should effectively support and complement the uptake of funds under the Recovery and Resilience Facility. Reminds that the disbursement of the RRF funds is lagging behind: less than 1/4 of the money have been paid out so far, and five Member States have not received a single euro;

Amendment 44 #

Draft opinion
Paragraph 8 a (new)

8a. Calls for adequate additional financial and human resources for the European Supervisory Agencies (ESAs), specifically the European Banking Authority and the European Securities and Markets Authority, in order to execute strictly those tasks assigned to them by the European Parliament and the Council, which have increased through the ESAs review and sectoral legislation; highlights that the speedy developments in the fields of sustainable finance, financial technology, anti-money laundering, cyber resilience and other areas entail increased competences and responsibilities for the ESAs and thus, calls for these to be matched with adequate staff and funding;

Amendment 45 #

Draft opinion
Paragraph 8 a (new)

8a. The cohesion policy and the Structural and Investment Funds have been a cornerstone of the European Union, as they have enabled the creation and development of business projects in regions with greater difficulties, as well as much needed public investment in those territories. It is therefore necessary to highlight the importance of these cohesion policy funds so that their resources are not systematically transferred to newly created funds; Real recovery and cohesion of the European Union will be achieved by implementing existing programmes in a coordinated, swift, efficient and transparent manner, and not by compromising them to create new programmes;

Amendment 46 #

Draft opinion
Paragraph 8 a (new)

8a. Calls for adequate financial and human resources for the European Supervisory Authorities (ESAs) given the persistence of inflation and the increased tasks and powers included in the ESAs review and sectorial legislations, including in the field of digital and sustainable finance; highlights that speedy developments in the fields of fintech, anti-money-laundering, cyber resilience and others may translate to increased competences and responsibilities for the ESAs and thus calls for these to be matched with adequate resources;

Amendment 47 #

Draft opinion
Paragraph 8 a (new)

8a. 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 on the Commission to assess holistically gender impact and facilitate that all the relevant data is available for the tracking;

Amendment 48 #

Draft opinion
Paragraph 8 a (new)

8a. Calls for new political priorities to be financed within the agreed budgetary ceilings in order to prevent an ever increasing financial burden on citizens, many of whom are going through financially difficult times; emphasises in this regard that budget cuts should not be considered taboo as a solution of last resort in order to protect the financial integrity of the EU;

Amendment 49 #

Markus FERBER, Lídia PEREIRA

Draft opinion
Paragraph 8 a (new)

8a. Recognises that the implementation of the MRR has been slow and that there are significant differences between Member States in its implementation; underlines the importance of systematic coherence, synergies and the added value of transnational and cross-border projects in the context of MRR and European Structural and Investment Funds.

Amendment 5 #

Markus FERBER

Draft opinion
Paragraph 1

1. Calls for the 2024 EU budget to ensure that all Member States put in place structural reforms in order to strengthen their competitiveness and to unleash the full potential of the EU economy and achieve long-term growth;

Amendment 50 #

Draft opinion
Paragraph 8 a (new)

8a. Stresses that all organisations receiving Union funding must behave in a politically neutral and impartial manner; notes that this also applies to organisations that are supposed to provide independent financial expertise, as well as organisations that conduct research in the area of taxation;

Amendment 51 #

Draft opinion
Paragraph 8 a (new)

8a. Welcomes the fact that, under the latest revision of the MFF, a new special ‘EURI instrument’ was created to exclusively cover additional borrowing costs arising from the NextGenerationEU funding; regrets, however, that no new funding was allocated for this purpose ;

Amendment 52 #

Draft opinion
Paragraph 8 b (new)

8b. Stresses the adequate additional funding for the Fiscalis programme to ensure the support necessary for the national tax authorities in a time when the European Union is imposing progressively more administrative burden on them; highlights that the Fiscalis programme is a crucial cooperation programme for Member States and their national tax authorities to pursue common goals regarding the fight against tax fraud, tax evasion and aggressive tax planning;

Amendment 53 #

Draft opinion
Paragraph 8 b (new)

8b. Recalls that the do-no-significant- harm principle is mainstreamed in all Union activities through the budgetary implementation as agreed in the IIA and stresses therefore the urgent need to ensure the respect of the ‘Do No Significant Harm’ principle through the entire budget in all the six dimensions and to take necessary corrective measures if and when needed without undue delay;

Amendment 54 #

Draft opinion
Paragraph 8 b (new)

8b. Recalls that the agreed roadmap for the introduction of new own resources is of the utmost importance to ensure repayment of the NGEU programme and to guarantee no extra budgetary burden will be carried by Member States; therefore urges the Council to respect the agreed timeline to make the necessary progress on the new revenue basket proposed by the Commission in December 2021;

Amendment 55 #

Draft opinion
Paragraph 8 b (new)

8b. Calls on the Commission to make proposals to perpetuate the EU Tax and Financial Crimes Observatory; considers such Observatory as a useful contribution to both democratic debate and informing decision makers;

Amendment 56 #

Draft opinion
Paragraph 8 b (new)

8b. Expresses its concern about the increasing financing costs of the RRF; stresses that the solution should be found within the currently available financial means in order to protect European citizens financially;

Amendment 57 #

Eleni STAVROU, Isabel BENJUMEA BENJUMEA

Draft opinion
Paragraph 8 c (new)

8c. Welcomes the temporary new own resource based on company profits statistics as a short term solution; urges the Commission to publish an ambitious proposal for a common corporate tax base in September 2023, which aims at fighting tax evasion of big MNEs and increasing tax revenues; regrets that the calendar of the Interinstitutional Agreement was disregarded and that no proposal was put forward for a financial transaction tax; regrets the last OECD deal banning national digital taxes until the end of 2024; calls for the Commission to come up with a proposal for an European digital levy before the end of 2023 ;

Amendment 58 #

Draft opinion
Paragraph 8 c (new)

8c. Calls for adequate funding for the Anti-Money-Laundering Authority (AMLA) to be able to perform its tasks competently; underlines the increasing need to strengthen the efficient functioning of the EU’s Anti-Money Laundering and Countering the Financing of Terrorism (AML/CFT) measures and the necessary contribution of AMLA as the focal point of an integrated system composed of the Authority itself and the national authorities with an AML/CFT supervisory mandate, aimed at ensuring obliged entities' compliance with AML/CFT- related obligations;

Amendment 59 #

Draft opinion
Paragraph 8 c (new)

8c. Takes note of the Commission estimates based on the ex-ante methodology that the total climate financing in the EU budget will reach EUR 58 134 million, representing a share of 31.9%; looks forward to the Commission presenting in 2023 a methodology for tracking climate related expenditure which are effect-based (looking at CO2 impact) to complement the intention-based on EU climate coefficients; calls for further work to differentiate between differentiating between climate mitigation and adaptation, as set out in the IIA;

Amendment 6 #

Draft opinion
Paragraph 1 a (new)

1a. Calls on the 2024 Union budget to be a true European budget with citizens at its heart that allows (i) to successfully tackle the social and economic consequences of the war in Ukraine, in particular the increase in energy and food prices hitting the most vulnerable of households, (ii) to promote the strategic autonomy of the Union, which is essential in a rapidly changing world, with greater power rivalry and complex and multi- dimensional challenges, and (iii) to accelerate the implementation of the EU Green Deal and its commitment to deliver a carbon-neutral economy by 2050, in a context of climate emergency.

Amendment 60 #

Draft opinion
Paragraph 8 c (new)

8c. Considers that the RRF should remain a one-off instrument, given the lack of absorbing capacity in the Member States and increasing interest costs as a consequence of the normalisation of monetary policy;

Amendment 61 #

Draft opinion
Paragraph 8 d (new)

8d. Emphasises the continuing need for increased human and financial resources for accounting entities and tax authorities, in particular to support them in the fight against tax fraud, tax evasion, tax avoidance and money laundering and to promote tax fairness, transparency and certainty; underlines that these entities should be held accountable by the Parliament; deeply regrets the Council’s position to cut funding on supervisors such as ESMA, EBA and AMLA and the Fiscalis programme;

Amendment 62 #

Draft opinion
Paragraph 8 d (new)

8d. Stresses that all organisations receiving Union funding must behave in a politically neutral and unbiased way; notes that this also applies to organisations that are supposed to provide independent financial expertise as well as for organisations providing research in the area of taxation;

Amendment 63 #

Andżelika Anna MOŻDŻANOWSKA

Draft opinion
Paragraph 8 d (new)

8d. Considers that the EU budget should remain adaptable in the face of shifting political priorities; calls therefore for structural and cohesion funds to be redirected towards the enhancement of European open strategic autonomy and its financial vehicles, such as STEP;

Amendment 7 #

Draft opinion
Paragraph 1 a (new)

1a. Calls for an increase in the planned expenditure under cohesion policy, which in the 2024 draft budget has decreased by more than 50% compared to 2023; points out that the payments proposed by the Commission fall well short of the forecasts provided by the Member States (the Commission is only taking into account around 50% of the Member States' forecasts); notes that in order to avoid a cumulation of payments in 2025-2027, the level of payments for economic, social and territorial cohesion and rural development needs to be increased;

Amendment 8 #

Draft opinion
Paragraph 1 a (new)

1a. Stresses that the current cycle of restrictive monetary policy is still ongoing; stresses that the full set of economic and social consequences are yet to be fully assessed, such as further pressure on the EU and national budgets, on the stability of the financial system, and hardships for households;

Amendment 9 #

Draft opinion
Paragraph 1 a (new)

1a. Highlights that according to the Commission Strategic Foresight Report of July 2023 additional investments of over EUR 620 billion annually will be needed in the EU to meet the objectives of the Green Deal and RepowerEU, with an additional EUR 92 billion needed to address the objectives of the Net-Zero Industry Act over the 2023-2030 period; stresses therefore that larger funding and public investments are directed to finance a just green transition;

source: 752.605

2023/07/26 DEVE 120 amendments...

Amendment 1 #

Draft opinion
Recital A

A. whereas in a context of increasing geopolitical instability, crises and natural disasters, the EU must strengthen its role through credible cooperation with partner countries in the neighbourhood and the Global South; whereas 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;

Amendment 1 #

Draft opinion
Paragraph 1

1. Takes note of the EUR 53,76 million in commitments and EUR 52,58 million in payment for agriculture; nonetheless calls for an increase of the budget considering the challenges that the agri-food sector has faced in 2023 and stwill have repercussions that needs to continue to be efficiently tackled in 2024 also; stresses the need to further support farmers and producers, especially in the context of the challenges of climate change, the need to adapt to technological developments and market fluctuations in the context of the conflict in Ukraine, inflation and the energy crisis, which are having a marked impact on the internal market and in particular on the agri-food sector;

Amendment 10 #

Peter JAHR, Christine SCHNEIDER, Marlene MORTLER, Norbert LINS

Draft opinion
Paragraph 1 c (new)

1c. Regrets that, for 2021, the share of the committed amount contributing to the migration and forced displacement target was 14 %, exceeding largely the 10 % target, and that the share of the committed amounts contributing to climate objectives was 18,5 %, drastically below the 30 % target; urges the Commission to provide detailed figures on the implementation of the horizontal objectives and the programming for the remaining MFF period, in particular on climate, migration, biodiversity and gender mainstreaming;

Amendment 10 #

Draft opinion
Paragraph 2

2. Highlights the role that agriculture plays in achieving the Union objectives of food security, sustainable growth, social inclusion, and combating climate change, therefore insists that there should be no cuts to the agricultural budget, especially given the fact that the agricultural sector is frequently affected by crises that require a budgetary response;

Amendment 100 #

Juozas OLEKAS, Paolo DE CASTRO, Attila ARA-KOVÁCS, Carmen AVRAM, Clara AGUILERA, Katarína ROTH NEVEĎALOVÁ

Draft opinion
Paragraph 11 h (new)

11h. Stresses the importance of Solidarity Lanes in ensuring that Ukrainian grain can reach countries most in need, supporting Ukraine's economy and preventing a global food crisis, notices, however, the impact of the surge in traffic, and calls on the Commission to provide funding for strengthening and improving the relevant infrastructure.

Amendment 11 #

Juozas OLEKAS, Paolo DE CASTRO, Attila ARA-KOVÁCS, Carmen AVRAM, Clara AGUILERA

Draft opinion
Paragraph 1 d (new)

1d. Recalls at least 85 % of new actions implemented under the NDICI- GE instrument should have gender equality as a principal or a significant objective, and at least 5 % of those actions should have gender equality and women’s and girls’ rights and empowerment as a principal objective;

Amendment 11 #

Draft opinion
Paragraph 2

2. Highlights the role that agriculture plays in achieving the Union objectives of food security, sustainable growth, social inclusion, and combating climate change, while helping to diversify agricultural production, preserve biodiversity and develop local economies;

Amendment 12 #

Tomas TOBÉ

Draft opinion
Paragraph 2

2. Notes with great concern that humanitarian aid remains the most strained instrument under Heading 6; warns that ad- hoc solutions through budgetary reinforcements from other funding sources or redeployments and recommitments are not sustainable; calls on the Commission to establish and maintain a solid baseline for predictable and principled humanitarian aid as the trend of growing emergencies is unlikely to slow down; reminds that humanitarian needs in Ukraine will not be covered by the Ukraine Facility proposed in the MFF revision; requests an increase of 1 billion euro to the HUMA budget line, which anticipates the needs predicted by main humanitarian actors and takes into account that the EU humanitarian budget in 2022 reached EUR 2,62 billion after several reinforcements and that similar needs remain for 2024; underlines the urgent need for increased efforts to broaden the resource base for humanitarian action, drawing on the resources of traditional, emerging and potential donors, the private sector as well as other stakeholders; stresses also that there is a need to enhance the effectiveness and efficiency of the humanitarian system and to increase efforts to reduce humanitarian needs; welcomes in this regard the Council Conclusions of 22 May 2023 on addressing the humanitarian funding gap;

Amendment 12 #

Draft opinion
Paragraph 2

2. Highlights the role that agriculture plays in achieving the Union objectives of food security, sustainable growth, social inclusion, and combating climate change, objectives compatible with the Sustainable Development Goals;

Amendment 13 #

Draft opinion
Paragraph 2

2. Notes with great concern that humanitarian aid remains the most strained instrument under Heading 6; warns that ad- hoc solutions through budgetary reinforcements from other funding sources or redeployments and recommitments are not sustainable; calls on the Commission to establish and maintain a solid baseline for predictable and principled humanitarian aid as the trend of growing emergencies is unlikely to slow down, notably due to the humanitarian impact of the increasing number of weather events expected to occur until 2027; reminds that humanitarian needs in Ukraine will not be covered by the Ukraine Facility proposed in the MFF revision; requests an increase of 1 billion euro to the HUMA budget line, which anticipates the needs predicted by main humanitarian actors and takes into account that the EU humanitarian budget in 2022 reached EUR 2,62 billion after several reinforcements and that similar needs remain for 2024;

Amendment 13 #

Draft opinion
Paragraph 2

2. Highlights the role that agriculture should plays in achieving the Union objectives of food security, sustainable growth, social inclusion, ~~and comb~~preservation of biodiversity, as well as adapting to and mitigating climate change;

Amendment 14 #

Tomas TOBÉ

Draft opinion
Paragraph 2 a (new)

2a. Is extremely alarmed by the deepening food insecurity in developing countries, with 345 million people facing acute food insecurity in 2023; calls on the Commission to step up efforts to support partner countries in developing resilient and sustainable agri-food systems, enhancing local food production, and investing in interventions for food security to accelerate progress towards SDG 2; calls on the Commission to continue to provide support to Ukraine on humanitarian mine action, to enable the resumption of agriculture in contaminated areas, as well as to help Ukraine export agricultural goods, in order to alleviate the devastating consequences that Russia's war of aggression is having on global food security;

Amendment 14 #

Draft opinion
Paragraph 2

2. Highlights the essential role that agriculture plays in achieving the Union objectives of food security, sustainable growth, social inclusion, and combating climate change;

Amendment 15 #

Draft opinion
Paragraph 2 a (new)

2a. Calls for additional investments to address the setback in the recognition and protection of sexual and reproductive health and rights (SRHR) as well as the general backlash against women’s rights and gender equality in developing countries; in this regard underlines that targeted support to CSOs and communities advocating for the respect of SRHR, women’s rights, gender equality and the LGBTIQ+ community and other marginalised populations should be prioritised;

Amendment 15 #

Charles GOERENS, Ulrike MÜLLER, Elsi KATAINEN, Hilde VAUTMANS, Irène TOLLERET, Jérémy DECERLE

Draft opinion
Paragraph 2

2. Highlights the role that agriculture plays in achieving the Union objectives of food security, sustainable growth, social inclusion, animal welfare and combating climate change;

Amendment 16 #

Miguel URBÁN CRESPO

Draft opinion
Paragraph 2 a (new)

2a. Expresses its concern for the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA)’s financial situation, and calls for stepping up EU financial support to the Agency in 2024 with additional 110 million, to ensure the uninterrupted delivery of vital services to one of the most vulnerable populations in the Middle East;

Amendment 16 #

Draft opinion
Paragraph 2

2. Highlights the fundamental role that agriculture plays in achieving the Union objectives of food security, sustainable growth, social inclusion, and combating climate change;

Amendment 17 #

Ilan DE BASSO

Draft opinion
Paragraph 2 a (new)

2a. Welcomes the Commission’s commitment to increase the education share of the EU's development aid budget from 10 % to 13 %; notes with concern the persistently high illiteracy in the least developed countries; highlights that illiteracy is a gendered issue, affecting two thirds of women worldwide.

Amendment 17 #

Draft opinion
Paragraph 2 a (new)

2a. Notes that, in addition to the Common Agricultural Policy, cohesion policy funds are of great importance for the socio-economic development of rural areas; stresses that investments from this source boost the development of rural areas and contribute to raising the quality of life of inhabitants, support business and entrepreneurship, improve the situation on the labour market, and have the potential to stem the outflow of migration, especially of women and young people, from areas of low population density;

Amendment 18 #

Draft opinion
Paragraph 2 b (new)

2b. 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 on the Commission to holistically assess the gender impact of spending and ensure that all the relevant data is available for tracking;

Amendment 18 #

Draft opinion
Paragraph 2 a (new)

2a. Stresses that the 2024 Union budget should be aligned with the Union’s ambitions of making the Union climate neutral by 2050 at the latest, as well as the Union’s international commitments in particular the Paris Agreement and the Kunmin-Montreal Agreement and significantly contribute to the implementation of the implementation of the European Green Deal;

Amendment 19 #

Ilan DE BASSO

Draft opinion
Paragraph 2 b (new)

2b. Reminds that women and children bear the greatest consequences of limited access to humanitarian aid and are the most vulnerable to violence and abuses; calls for child-centred transversal approaches in budget decisions; invites the Commission to introduce a child marker to track the Union’s external spending on children’s development and protection in humanitarian settings, in line with the EU Strategy on the Rights of the Child (2021-2024);

Amendment 19 #

Draft opinion
Paragraph 2 b (new)

2b. Takes note of the Commission estimates based on the ex-ante methodology that the total climate financing in the EU budget will reach EUR 58.134 million, representing a share of 31,9% ; looks forward to the Commission presenting in 2023 a methodology for tracking climate related expenditure which are effect-based (looking at CO2 impact) to complement the intention-based on based on EU climate coefficients; Calls for further work to differentiate between differentiating between climate mitigation and adaptation, as set out in the IIA;

Amendment 2 #

Draft opinion
Recital B a (new)

Ba. whereas the 2024 European Union budget contribution to partner countries in the Global South should be aligned with the ambitions of making the Union climate neutral by 2050 at the latest, as well as with the Union’s international commitments, in particular the Paris Agreement and the Kunmin-Montreal Agreement, and significantly contribute to the implementation of the European Green Deal, the EU Biodiversity Strategy for 2030, the Farm to Fork Strategy, the Circular Economy Action Plan, the Chemical Strategy for Sustainability and the Zero-pollution Action Plan;

Amendment 2 #

Draft opinion
Paragraph 1

1. Takes note of the EUR 53,76 million in commitments and EUR 52,58 million in payment for agriculture; nonetheless calls for an increase of the budget considering the challenges that the agri-food sector has faced in 2023 and still needs to tackle in 2024; believes that an increase in the budget is needed in order to safeguard food security in the context of extreme climate events, such as protracted droughts and a profoundly modified precipitation regime, and the disruptions determined by Ukrainian agricultural imports, whose state is characterised by increased volatility, as demonstrated by the recent suspension of the Black Sea Grain initiative;

Amendment 20 #

Ilan DE BASSO

Draft opinion
Paragraph 2 c (new)

2c. Reaffirms the key role of civil society organizations (CSOs) as development actors in implementing the EU external action agenda and values; calls for their active involvement in budget programming;

Amendment 20 #

Draft opinion
Paragraph 2 c (new)

2c. Regrets that the Commission has not published the methodology for ex-ante tagging expenditure contributing to halting and reversing biodiversity loss, despite the fact that the IIA states this needs to be done "on the basis of an effective, transparent and comprehensive methodology"; takes note of the Commission estimating that biodiversity spending is to reach EUR 14.376 million in 2024, representing a share of 7,9% in the EU budget - which is also higher than the target of 7,5% for expenditure contributing to halting and reversing the decline of biodiversity as set out in the IIA; is furthermore concerned the Commission underlines that the 10% target in 2026 and 2027 will most likely not be reached and proposes no avenue towards reaching the agreed targets; therefore underlines that further efforts must be made especially in relation to the CAP strategic plans to ensure that biodiversity spending target set for the years 2026 and 2027 are met; highlights that the biodiversity financing gap over the period from 2021 to 2030 is around EUR 18,69 billion per year and should be remedied as soon as possible;

Amendment 21 #

Draft opinion
Paragraph 2 d (new)

2d. 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; recalls that the do-no-significant-harm principle is mainstreamed in all Union activities through the budgetary implementation as agreed in the IIA and stresses therefore the urgent need to ensure the respect of the ‘Do No Significant Harm’ principle through the entire budget in all the 6 dimensions and to take necessary corrective measures if and when needed without undue delay;

Amendment 22 #

Draft opinion
Paragraph 2 e (new)

2e. Requests that, with a view to the revision of the Multiannual Financial Framework and the preparation of a multiannual financial framework for the next programming period, the Commission shall conduct an assessment of additional funds needed to support Member States in implementing nature restoration measures; furthermore calls on the Commission to identify, on the basis of this assessment, the existing potential solutions and to propose the setting up of a permanent and dedicated restoration fund;

Amendment 23 #

Draft opinion
Paragraph 3

3. Points out the negative effects of Russia’s war of aggression against Ukraine on food security and on the smooth functioning of the entire agri-food sector; expresses its concern that this conflict has led, amongst other things, to the disruption of supply chains, the limitation of agricultural production and the heightening of vulnerability to food crises in the region; reiterates the need to urgently address these issues through increased EU support in order to ensure access to sufficient food of good quality on the EU market, and in particular in affected areas; draws attention to the urgent need to ensure the appropriate financial framework at EU level to help farmers, and especially small and medium-sized farmers, to operate effectively, in particular to prevent any escalation of the food crisis and potential food security gaps;

Amendment 24 #

Draft opinion
Paragraph 3

3. Points out the negative effects of Russia’s war of aggression against Ukraine on global food security; and the stability of EU markets; welcomes the fact that the mid-term review of the Multiannual Financial Framework prioritises assistance to Ukraine through the 'Ukraine Facility', with the aim of providing predictable financial support to Ukraine over the period 2024-2027; notes at the same time that uncontrolled inflows of agricultural products from Ukraine to the markets of Bulgaria, Poland, Romania, Slovakia and Hungary have destabilised those countries' markets, especially in the cereals, oilseeds and soft fruit sectors; welcomes the introduction of exceptional and temporary precautionary measures under the Autonomous Trade Measures Regulation and expects the Commission to keep the situation on the EU agricultural markets under constant review and to be ready to take new ad hoc measures if necessary;

Amendment 25 #

Draft opinion
Paragraph 3

3. Points out the negative effects of Russia’s war of aggression against Ukraine on food security, since Russia’s war against Ukraine has seriously affected prices of resources necessary for agricultural production and increased speculation on the agricultural commodities markets;

Amendment 26 #

Charles GOERENS, Ulrike MÜLLER, Hilde VAUTMANS, Elsi KATAINEN, Irène TOLLERET, Jérémy DECERLE

Draft opinion
Paragraph 3

3. Points out the negative effects of Russia’s war of aggression against Ukraine ~~on food security~~on international food security and food affordability, especially in those regions of the world highly dependent on staple food imports from Ukraine;

Amendment 27 #

Anne SANDER

Draft opinion
Paragraph 3

3. Points out the negative effects of Russia’s war of aggression against Ukraine on food security, on commodity prices and thus on production costs, on inflation and on food prices;

Amendment 28 #

Juozas OLEKAS, Paolo DE CASTRO, Attila ARA-KOVÁCS, Carmen AVRAM, Clara AGUILERA, Katarína ROTH NEVEĎALOVÁ

Draft opinion
Paragraph 3

3. Points out the negative effects of Russia’s war of aggression against Ukraine on the agricultural markets in EU Member States in the vicinity of the conflict, in particular, and on food security, in general;

Amendment 29 #

Draft opinion
Paragraph 3

3. Points out the negative effects of Russia’s war of aggression against Ukraine on food security, and stresses the rapidly increasing importance of food and feed sovereignty;

Amendment 3 #

Tomas TOBÉ

Draft opinion
Recital B a (new)

Ba. whereas the gap between humanitarian needs and resources is increasing; whereas according to the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) Financial Tracking Service, only 57 % of funding needs were met in 2022; whereas global humanitarian funding continues to rely heavily on a very limited number of donors, with the ten largest humanitarian donors providing more than 80 % of all funding; whereas the need to expand the resource base for humanitarian action is acute;

Amendment 3 #

Charles GOERENS, Ulrike MÜLLER, Hilde VAUTMANS, Elsi KATAINEN, Irène TOLLERET, Atidzhe ALIEVA-VELI, Jérémy DECERLE

Draft opinion
Paragraph 1

1. Takes note of the EUR 53,76 million in commitments and EUR 52,58 million in payment for agriculture; nonetheless calls for an increase of the budget considering the challenges that the agri-food sector has faced in 2023 and still needs to tackle in 2024; highlights that generally the size of this budget is smaller compared to 2023 in relation to the GNI of the EU and even if the budget 2024 is EUR 2.7 billion more than the one agreed for 2023, the increase does not compensate for high inflation levels;

Amendment 30 #

Peter JAHR, Christine SCHNEIDER, Marlene MORTLER, Norbert LINS

Draft opinion
Paragraph 3

3. Points out the negative effects of Russia’s war of aggression against Ukraine on ~~food secur~~European and global food security as well as food affordability;

Amendment 31 #

Draft opinion
Paragraph 3

3. Points out the negative cascade effects of Russia’s war of aggression against Ukraine on food security and the livelihoods of farmers;

Amendment 32 #

Draft opinion
Paragraph 3 a (new)

3a. Calls on the Commission to urgently think of financial alternatives to the already utilised CAP's crisis reserve ahead of the fall agricultural campaign and to prolong the exceptional and temporary preventive measures on limited imports from Ukraine amid Russia's termination of Black Sea Grain Initiative, which will put even higher pressure on riparian EU Member States agricultural markets and ports' infrastructure;

Amendment 33 #

Charles GOERENS, Ulrike MÜLLER, Hilde VAUTMANS, Atidzhe ALIEVA-VELI

Draft opinion
Paragraph 3 a (new)

3a. Notes that part of the Ukrainian grain for export is remaining on the EU market, which leads to significant losses for farmers in some member states; calls on the Commission to increase the financial allocations for these countries in order to install additional storage capacity in ports and to support the local infrastructure, with view to ensuring the transit of Ukrainian grain to their final destination;

Amendment 34 #

Draft opinion
Paragraph 3 a (new)

3a. Welcomes the fact that the agriculture crisis reserve has been repeatedly used to support famers in the Member States bordering Ukraine, who are the most affected by market disturbances provoked by Russia's illegal war against Ukraine; stresses that should the Black Sea grain deal not be renewed, they might need further support;

Amendment 35 #

Draft opinion
Paragraph 3 a (new)

3a. Considers it immoral to use the pretext of the war in Ukraine to satisfy the greed of big agribusiness; points out that fertilisers, the raw materials for which are primarily produced by Russia, went up in price, in some cases, by more than 300 % long before the war began;

Amendment 36 #

Draft opinion
Paragraph 3 a (new)

3a. Draws attention to the need to ensure sufficiently broad margins below the ceilings to cope with unforeseen circumstances in the agri-food sector;

Amendment 37 #

Juozas OLEKAS, Paolo DE CASTRO, Attila ARA-KOVÁCS, Carmen AVRAM, Clara AGUILERA, Katarína ROTH NEVEĎALOVÁ

Draft opinion
Paragraph 4

4. Underlines that inflation has been much higher than the 2 % deflator foreseen in the MFF, which will not compensate for the loss of value caused by inflation; this has affected consumers’ purchasing capacity and has put additional pressure on producers, who are facing ever- increasing costs; draws attention to the need to take this reality into account in the design and implementation of the EU’s financial and economic policies;

Amendment 38 #

Draft opinion
Paragraph 4

4. Underlines that inflation has been much higher than the 2 % deflator foreseen in the MFF, which will not compensate for the loss of value, imposing further strains on farmers’ profitability, especially small- scale and young farmers; highlights the fact that the CAP budget in the MFF 2021-27 is already lower than in the previous planning period and that the high inflation further depreciates the funding available to farmers particularly in the CAP Budget;

Amendment 39 #

Charles GOERENS, Ulrike MÜLLER, Elsi KATAINEN, Hilde VAUTMANS, Atidzhe ALIEVA-VELI, Jérémy DECERLE

Draft opinion
Paragraph 4

4. Underlines that inflation has been much higher than the 2 % deflator foreseen in the MFF, which will not compensate for the loss of value; highlights in this regard the fact that the CAP budget in the MFF 2021-27 is already lower than in the previous planning period and that the high inflation further depreciates the funding available to farmers; highlights that the revision of the MFF should address all these shortcomings;

Amendment 4 #

Mónica Silvana GONZÁLEZ

Draft opinion
Paragraph 1

1. Welcomes the attention given to Heading 6 in the proposal for the revision of the MFF for the period 2024-2027 with an increase in the ceiling of Heading 6 by 10.5 billion; underscores that this increase should be seen as a minimum so that the Union can address the various challenges in third countries and contribute to the fulfilment of the SDG commitments; urges the Council to agree on the MFF revision on time for it to have an impact on the 2024 budget; furthermore calls on the ~~Member States to live up to the commitment to dedicate~~Council to compel the Member States to allocate by law a fixed share of 0,7 % of their gross national income to Official Development Assistance; notes that 10 % of the Official Development Assistance budget should be dedicated to humanitarian action;

Amendment 4 #

Draft opinion
Paragraph 1

1. Takes note of the EUR 53,76 million in commitments and EUR 52,58 million in payment for agriculture; nonetheless calls for an increase of the budget considering the challenges that the agri-food sector has faced in 2023 and still needs to tackle in 2024, mainly due to the high level of inflation, which on the one hand resulted in a loss of the economic value of CAP subsidies, and on the other led to implementation difficulties of the Rural Development measures;

Amendment 40 #

Draft opinion
Paragraph 4

4. Underlines that inflation has been much higher than the 2 % deflator foreseen in the MFF, which will not compensate for the loss of value; underscores that the subventions granted through the CAP might become unattractive since the requirements for farmers increase in complexity while the financial benefits dwindle;

Amendment 41 #

Draft opinion
Paragraph 5

5. Calls for additional support for Member States with the lowest direct payments in order to strengthen their capacity to withstand inflationary pressures and increased input prices; also calls for additional support for the Member States most affected by the impact of Russia's war against Ukraine; justifies these requests by the fact that the States in question are particularly vulnerable to economic fluctuations and need additional assistance to ensure the stability, resilience and sustainability of their agricultural sector; proposes concrete measures, such as increased funding for agricultural subsidies, facilitating access to credit and technical assistance to help farmers manage risks more effectively and avoid the danger of a relocation of agricultural activities from those countries to other countries inside or outside the EU;

Amendment 42 #

Draft opinion
Paragraph 5

5. Calls for additional support for Member States with the lowest direct payments in order to strengthen their capacity to withstand inflationary pressures and increased input prices; takes the view that the continued disparities in direct payments under the CAP violate the principles of fair competition within the common market and exacerbate existing disparities in development between the poorest and richest countries and regions of the EU;

Amendment 43 #

Peter JAHR, Christine SCHNEIDER, Marlene MORTLER, Norbert LINS

Draft opinion
Paragraph 5

5. Calls for additional support for Member States with the lowest direct payments, through, inter alia, speeding up the process of flattening CAP support towards the EU average, in order to strengthen their capacity to withstand inflationary pressures and increased input prices;

Amendment 44 #

Draft opinion
Paragraph 5

5. Calls for additional support for ~~Member State~~farmers with the lowest direct payments in order to st~~rengthen their capacity to withstand inflationary pressures and increased input prices;~~abilise their income

Amendment 45 #

Draft opinion
Paragraph 5

5. Calls for additional support for Member States ~~with the lowest direct payments~~ in order to strengthen their capacity to withstand inflationary pressures and increased input prices;

Amendment 46 #

Charles GOERENS, Ulrike MÜLLER, Elsi KATAINEN, Hilde VAUTMANS, Irène TOLLERET

Draft opinion
Paragraph 5

5. Calls for additional support for Member States ~~with the lowest direct payments~~ in order to strengthen their capacity to withstand inflationary pressures and increased input prices;

Amendment 47 #

Draft opinion
Paragraph 5 a (new)

5a. Notes that a fair, non- discriminatory distribution of direct payments is needed in order to ensure the balanced development of agriculture, rural areas, and environmental protection across the EU; calls on the Commission and the Member States immediate actions towards equitable convergence;

Amendment 48 #

Juozas OLEKAS, Paolo DE CASTRO, Attila ARA-KOVÁCS, Carmen AVRAM, Clara AGUILERA, Katarína ROTH NEVEĎALOVÁ

Draft opinion
Paragraph 6

6. Is committed to ensuring that generational renewal ~~must remain~~constitutes, among other things, a high priority in the future CAP programming period~~; calls~~, and calls for more solid support and more incentives in that direction; calls especially for the strengthening of support measures for young farmers and for the improvement of their access to land and credit; this support should include measures to facilitate transactions in the field of property rights, and in particular help for young people to obtain loans, rapid access to technical assistance and better training in preparation for the special challenges involved in farming; also stresses the importance of maintaining a continuous dialogue with young farmers in order to better understand their needs and expectations;

Amendment 49 #

Draft opinion
Paragraph 6

6. ~~Is committed to ensuring that generational renewal~~Considers that that the demographic challenge of ageing population is of particular concern in rural areas and is committed to ensuring that generational renewal, as the key for social, economic and environmental sustainability of rural areas and EU food autonomy, the future of agriculture and the traditional family farming model, must remain a high priority in the future CAP programming period; calls for the strengthening of support measures for young farmers and for the improvement of their access to land and credit;

Amendment 5 #

Peter JAHR, Christine SCHNEIDER, Marlene MORTLER, Norbert LINS

Draft opinion
Paragraph 1 a (new)

1a. Stresses the need for continuous efforts towards the achievement of climate and biodiversity mainstreaming targets laid down in the Interinstitutional Agreement of 16 December 2020 on the Union budget and the European Union Recovery Instrument expenditures; 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, including the Neighbourhood, Development and International Cooperation - Global Europe (NDICI-GE) instrument, when presenting the draft budget; emphasises the need to carry out sufficient ex-post evaluations with a particular focus on the impact of the projects on climate and biodiversity;

Amendment 5 #

Anne SANDER

Draft opinion
Paragraph 1

1. Takes note of the EUR 53,76 million in commitments and EUR 52,58 million in payment for agriculture; nonetheless calls for an increase of the budget considering the challenges that the agri-food sector has faced in 2023 and still needs to tackle in 2024; stresses that that budget must be expanded, but also topped up with new funds, which must accompany all new initiatives;

Amendment 50 #

Draft opinion
Paragraph 6

6. Is committed to ensuring that generational renewal must remain a high priority in the future CAP programming period~~; calls for the strengthening of support measures for young farmers and for the improvement of their access to land and credit~~, stresses the need for targeted measures aimed at supporting start-ups by young farmers, easing their entry into farming and facilitating the takeover of farms by young people and by women as they play a fundamental role in maintaining the economic resilience of rural areas;

Amendment 51 #

Draft opinion
Paragraph 6

6. ~~Is committed~~Calls on the Commission to ensur~~ing~~e that measures to secure generational renewal ~~must~~and stem the rural exodus, particularly of young people, remain a ~~high~~ priority in the future CAP programming period; calls for the strengthening of support measures for young farmers and for the improvement of their access to land and credit;

Amendment 52 #

Draft opinion
Paragraph 6

6. Is committed to ensuring that generational renewal must remain a high priority in the future CAP programming period; calls for ~~the~~immediate actions to strengthen~~ing of~~ the support measures for young farmers ~~and for the improvement of~~; highlight the necessity to improve their access to land and credit;

Amendment 53 #

Peter JAHR, Christine SCHNEIDER, Marlene MORTLER, Norbert LINS

Draft opinion
Paragraph 6 a (new)

6a. Notes the growing need for highly qualified young professionals in the regions, and calls on Member States to take necessary measures, including financial incentives, to encourage young people to study agricultural professions, as well as to facilitate the transfer of knowledge from older people to the younger generation;

Amendment 54 #

Draft opinion
Paragraph 6 a (new)

6a. calls for the levels of support for young farmers to be increased and for the improvement of their access to land and credit;

Amendment 55 #

Draft opinion
Paragraph 6 b (new)

6b. 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 on the Commission to assess holistically gender impact and facilitate that all the relevant data is available for the tracking;

Amendment 56 #

Draft opinion
Paragraph 6 c (new)

6c. Calls on the Commission and the Member States to allocate budget resources to design and implement measures to fight gender gaps; notes the crucial need for providing women entrepreneurs in rural areas with an enabling environment, including legal and political considerations, leading to greater access to information, knowledge and skills, as well as facilitating access to financial resources, leading to the creation of more jobs in rural areas;

Amendment 57 #

Draft opinion
Paragraph 7

7. Highlights the importance of redistributive income support mechanisms in supporting smaller and medium-sized farms; emphasises that such farms play a crucial role in ensuring food security, creating and developing short supply chains, protecting the environment and supporting rural economies; stresses the need to ensure suitable financial support to help these farms become more resilient and to adapt to the use of new technologies in the agricultural sector so as to become more competitive on the national, European and international markets;

Amendment 58 #

Charles GOERENS, Ulrike MÜLLER, Hilde VAUTMANS, Atidzhe ALIEVA-VELI, Jérémy DECERLE

Draft opinion
Paragraph 7

7. Highlights the importance of redistributive income support mechanisms in supporting smaller and medium-sized farms; calls to focus on projects that promote and enhance the safeguarding of existing jobs in the agriculture sector and the creation of quality jobs with adequate rights and stable and fair pay and decent working conditions, as well as effectively and decisively combating poverty and social exclusion in rural areas;

Amendment 59 #

Draft opinion
Paragraph 7

7. Highlights the importance of redistributive income support mechanisms in supporting smaller and medium-sized farms, especially measures for young farmers engaged in agricultural practices beneficial for the climate and environment;

Amendment 6 #

Draft opinion
Paragraph 1 a (new)

1a. Stresses that together with the achievement of the UN Sustainable Development Goals, human development is the key priority of the NDICI-GE instrument; calls on the Commission and Member States to ensure that EU development aid reaches people first; regrets that the NDICI-GE instrument was underfunded since the start of the Multiannual Financial Framework 2021- 2027, creating a gap between the EU’s bold ambitions on the global stage and the resources available to achieve them; recalls that the review of the NDICI-GE instrument and the revision of the MFF, to which the EU budget 2024 should be re-adapted, are key opportunities to change this;

Amendment 6 #

Juozas OLEKAS, Paolo DE CASTRO, Attila ARA-KOVÁCS, Carmen AVRAM, Clara AGUILERA, Katarína ROTH NEVEĎALOVÁ

Draft opinion
Paragraph 1

1. Takes note of the EUR 53,76 million in commitments and EUR 52,58 million in payment for agriculture; deplores nonetheless the fact that this is not enough and calls for an increase of the budget considering the challenges that the agri-food sector has faced in 2023 and still needs to tackle in 2024;

Amendment 60 #

Draft opinion
Paragraph 7

7. Highlights the importance of redistributive income support mechanisms in supporting smaller and medium-sized farms and ensuring a fair and equitable distribution of Union funds;

Amendment 61 #

Draft opinion
Paragraph 7

7. Highlights the importance of redistributive income support mechanisms in supporting smaller, traditional and medium-sized farms;

Amendment 62 #

Draft opinion
Paragraph 7 a (new)

7a. Calls for specific agricultural programmes to promote, on the one hand, short marketing channels, fair prices for producers and stable and acceptable earnings for farmers and, on the other, the fair redistribution of payments between countries, types of production and producers, eliminating the current disparities and benefiting the Member States with the largest production shortfalls, as well as small and medium- sized producers, and add to the initial amount of the agricultural reserve; stresses the need to increase funding intended to mitigate the impact of crises and of volatility on agricultural markets, which have caused, and continue to cause, many small- and family-business bankruptcies, and therefore play a part in rural depopulation and the concentration of production; calls for increases to the European Agricultural Guarantee Fund (EAGF) and the European Agricultural Fund for Rural Development (EAFRD);

Amendment 63 #

Charles GOERENS, Ulrike MÜLLER, Elsi KATAINEN, Hilde VAUTMANS, Atidzhe ALIEVA-VELI, Jérémy DECERLE

Draft opinion
Paragraph 7 a (new)

7a. Stresses the need to provide funding to support the development of sustainable energy infrastructure in rural areas, for example through investment in biogas plants, which have the potential to reduce energy poverty, particularly in the least developed areas;

Amendment 64 #

Draft opinion
Paragraph 7 a (new)

7a. Highlights the importance of making farming a more attractive profession by improving mechanisms that support young farmers through training schemes and calls on the Council and Commission to increase support for young farmers in the General Budget 2024;

Amendment 65 #

Juozas OLEKAS, Paolo DE CASTRO, Attila ARA-KOVÁCS, Carmen AVRAM, Clara AGUILERA

Draft opinion
Paragraph 8

8. Stresses the importance of funding research and innovation in the agri-food sector~~; recalls the importance of ensuring that research results reach farm level~~, in particular through the Horizon Europe programme and the European Innovation Partnerships (EIPs), recalls the importance 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;

Amendment 66 #

Peter JAHR, Christine SCHNEIDER, Marlene MORTLER, Norbert LINS

Draft opinion
Paragraph 8

8. Stresses the importance of suitable funding for research and innovation in the agri-food sector~~; r~~, especiall~~s the importance of ensuring that research results reach farm level~~y for the development of sustainable farming practices; makes reminder of the importance of ensuring that research results reach farm level in a timely manner and that farmers are properly trained to implement them; draws attention to the importance of facilitating the transfer of knowledge to and between farmers, especially so as to foster sustainable development and competitiveness in agriculture;

Amendment 67 #

Draft opinion
Paragraph 8

8. Stresses the importance of funding research and innovation in the agri-food sector; retherefore calls on the ~~importance of ensuring that research results reach farm level~~Commission to provide sufficient financial support for further uptake of smart and innovate solutions in the agricultural sector given their proven environmental benefits and greater agricultural efficiency is required; considers that precision farming and the use of digitisation should be further analysed and promoted;

Amendment 68 #

Anne SANDER

Draft opinion
Paragraph 8

8. Stresses the importance of funding research and innovation in the agri-food sector; stresses that a real investment shock will be an essential concomitant to the European agricultural production model's eco-transition; recalls the importance of ensuring that research results reach farm level;

Amendment 69 #

Draft opinion
Paragraph 8

8. Stresses the importance of sufficient funding for research and innovation in the agri-food sector; recalls the importance of ensuring that research results reach farm level in a timely manner; recognizes the importance of advisory services in delivering updated and tailored information to farmers;

Amendment 7 #

Peter JAHR, Christine SCHNEIDER, Marlene MORTLER, Norbert LINS

Draft opinion
Paragraph 1 b (new)

1b. Is concerned that the Commission underlines that the 10 % biodiversity target in 2026 and 2027 set in the MFF and stated in the provisions of the NDICI- GE instrument will most likely not be reached, and that it proposes no avenue towards reaching the agreed target; therefore underlines that further efforts must be made especially in the mid-term review of the NDICI-GE instrument and in the relevant annual workplans, to ensure that the spending target set for the years 2026 and 2027 is met; highlights that the biodiversity financing gap over the period 2021-2030 is around EUR 18,69 billion per year and should be remedied as soon as possible;

Amendment 7 #

Draft opinion
Paragraph 1

1. Takes note of the EUR 53,76 mbillion in commitments and EUR 52,58 mbillion in payment for agriculture; nonetheless calls for an increase of the budget considering the challenges that the agri-food sector has faced in 2023 and still needs to tackle in 2024;

Amendment 70 #

Charles GOERENS, Ulrike MÜLLER, Elsi KATAINEN, Hilde VAUTMANS, Irène TOLLERET, Jérémy DECERLE

Draft opinion
Paragraph 8

8. Stresses the importance of funding research and innovation in the agri-food sector and ensuring that farmers are involved in this research; recalls the importance of ensuring that research results reach farm level;

Amendment 71 #

Peter JAHR, Christine SCHNEIDER, Marlene MORTLER, Norbert LINS

Draft opinion
Paragraph 8 a (new)

8a. Highlights the need to fund partnerships between universities, research institutions and agricultural organisations in order to stimulate innovation and the development of new technologies and practices that improve the productivity, sustainability and resilience of the agri-food sector;

Amendment 72 #

Draft opinion
Paragraph 8 a (new)

8a. Recalls the importance of ensuring that research results reach farm level; stresses that obstacles such as lack of standardisation of data formats must be eliminated so that agricultural data can be used efficiently and to its full potential;

Amendment 73 #

Peter JAHR, Christine SCHNEIDER, Marlene MORTLER, Norbert LINS

9. Welcomes the acceleration of the digital transformation in agriculture and rural areas, reminds that farmers should have access to digital solutions, technological advancements and developments in artificial intelligence. In this respect, sufficient financial support is key for ensuring a just digital transformation that prevents the exacerbation of disparities between regions;

Amendment 74 #

Draft opinion
Paragraph 9

9. Welcomes the acceleration of the digital transformation in agriculture and rural areas, which is crucial for ensuring resilience and stemming the depopulation of these areas; stresses that digital transformation in rural needs more support, especially as those involved in the agri-food chain are confronted with the growing impact of the Russian war in Ukraine;

Amendment 75 #

Juozas OLEKAS, Paolo DE CASTRO, Attila ARA-KOVÁCS, Carmen AVRAM, Clara AGUILERA, Katarína ROTH NEVEĎALOVÁ

Draft opinion
Paragraph 9

9. Welcomes the acceleration of the digital transformation in agriculture and rural areas to allow for more precise, efficient and sustainable agricultural systems in the EU with a higher environmental performance, as well as increase the attractiveness of employment in agriculture and rural communities for younger generations;

Amendment 76 #

Charles GOERENS, Elsi KATAINEN, Ulrike MÜLLER, Hilde VAUTMANS, Atidzhe ALIEVA-VELI, Irène TOLLERET, Jérémy DECERLE

Draft opinion
Paragraph 9

9. Welcomes the acceleration of the digital transformation in agriculture and rural areas; notes the continued importance of support for investments in modernisation and innovation if the agriculture sector is to contribute to meeting the targets of the European Green Deal, the Biodiversity strategy and Farm to Fork measures;

Amendment 77 #

Juozas OLEKAS, Paolo DE CASTRO, Attila ARA-KOVÁCS, Carmen AVRAM, Clara AGUILERA, Katarína ROTH NEVEĎALOVÁ

Draft opinion
Paragraph 10

10. Emphasises the important role of agri-cooperatives, and calls on Member States to provide more support for the cooperative sector; highlights the fact that these organisations play a crucial role in improving economic efficiency and productivity, promoting innovation and improving living conditions in rural areas; also urges the adoption of measures to protect and enhance the rights and interests of members of agricultural cooperatives;

Amendment 78 #

Draft opinion
Paragraph 10

10. Emphasises the important role of agri-cooperatives, and calls on Member States to provide more support for the cooperative sector to develop incentive schemes for setting up new cooperatives, helping to boost the competitiveness of the agri-food sector and the economic and social development of rural areas; stresses that this collaboration can help cooperatives’ members to adapt more easily to climate change, increase efficiency and diversify their production;

Amendment 79 #

Draft opinion
Paragraph 10

10. Emphasises the important role of agri-cooperatives, and calls on Member States to provide more support for the cooperative sector; such support could include educational programmes and training in modern management of cooperative enterprises and in financial and marketing principles, so as to increase the attractiveness of this form of farmer association at local level;

Amendment 8 #

Juozas OLEKAS, Paolo DE CASTRO, Attila ARA-KOVÁCS, Carmen AVRAM, Clara AGUILERA

Draft opinion
Paragraph 1 b (new)

1b. Recalls that the Union has cooperative relations with a large number of countries and that the EU external financing instruments shall contribute to achieving the international commitments and objectives that the Union has agreed to, in particular the Agenda2030 and its Sustainable Development Goals and the Paris Agreement;

Amendment 8 #

Draft opinion
Paragraph 1 a (new)

1a. Recalls the Parliament resolution on “Upscaling the 2021-2027 MFF: a resilient EU budget fit for new challenges”; calls for an urgent revision of the EU long-term budget to respond more effectively to evolving needs, address funding gaps, increase flexibility and crisis responsiveness, and provide new funding for new political priorities, while maintaining that the repayment of recovery plan borrowing does not jeopardise EU programmes; calls on the Commission to present a proposal for a new batch of new resources as soon as possible;

Amendment 80 #

Charles GOERENS, Ulrike MÜLLER, Elsi KATAINEN, Hilde VAUTMANS, Irène TOLLERET

Draft opinion
Paragraph 10

10. Emphasises the important role of agri-cooperatives, and calls on Member States to provide more support for the cooperative sector while making sure that unnecessary administrative burden is mitigated;

Amendment 81 #

Draft opinion
Paragraph 10 a (new)

10a. 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 LEADER; Calls on the Member states to make full use of LEADER's capacities;

Amendment 82 #

Juozas OLEKAS, Paolo DE CASTRO, Attila ARA-KOVÁCS, Carmen AVRAM, Katarína ROTH NEVEĎALOVÁ

Draft opinion
Paragraph 11

11. Emphasises the need for careful monitoring of the national CAP strategic plans.; stresses that this monitoring should focus not only on compliance with EU regulations, but also on the concrete effects of these plans on farmers, especially small and medium-sized farms and young farmers; calls on the Commission to play an active role in this process and to work closely with the Member States to ensure that the CAP is implemented efficiently and correctly and that farmers are properly informed of the tools available to them through the CAP;

Amendment 83 #

Draft opinion
Paragraph 11

11. ~~Emphasises the need for careful monitoring of the national CAP strategic plans.~~ Recalls that implementation of common agricultural policy (CAP) strategic plans began in January 2023, putting in place CAP’s new green architecture and taking an important step in the transition towards more sustainable food systems in the EU, emphasises the need for careful monitoring of the national CAP strategic plans; encourages Member States to improve the quality of data and indicators reported to the Union in order to realize the full potential of the new performance-based CAP and accurately assess its impact;

Amendment 84 #

Draft opinion
Paragraph 11

11. Recalls that the reformed CAP has introduced the need for farmers to allocate significant resources to meet environmental objectives, including through eco-schemes; Emphasises the need for careful monitoring of the implementation of the national CAP strategic plans with regard to the administrative and bureaucratic burden they generate and their impact on the volume of EU agricultural production, the fluidity and resilience of food supply chains and food security.

Amendment 85 #

Draft opinion
Paragraph 11

11. Emphasises the need ~~for careful monitoring of the national CAP strategic plans~~to encourage bringing national CAP strategic plans into line with developments affecting agriculture.

Amendment 86 #

Draft opinion
Paragraph 11

11. Emphasises the need for careful monitoring of the implementation of the national CAP strategic plans.

Amendment 87 #

Juozas OLEKAS, Paolo DE CASTRO, Attila ARA-KOVÁCS, Carmen AVRAM, Clara AGUILERA, Katarína ROTH NEVEĎALOVÁ

Draft opinion
Paragraph 11 a (new)

11a. Welcomes the imminent adoption of the Farm Sustainability Data Network (FSDN) regulation; believes that this system, based on the principle of entirely voluntary participation, has the potential to provide reliable data to enable the performance of farms to be compared and tailored advice and guidance to be given to farmers.

Amendment 88 #

Draft opinion
Paragraph 11 a (new)

11a. Welcomes the mobilisation of the crisis reserve to finance exceptional measures for Union farmers most affected by the war in Ukraine, climate events and market disturbances, recalls, however, that the crisis reserve only consists of about EUR 3 per hectare of the farmland in the EU, emphasises the urgent need for additional better-funded instruments for crisis management;

Amendment 89 #

Draft opinion
Paragraph 11 a (new)

11a. Calls for a broader debate to be held on the future of agriculture in the EU, including on how the sector can be reformed to face future challenges such as demographic change, climate change and digitalisation;

Amendment 9 #

Draft opinion
Paragraph 1 c (new)

1c. Is concerned that migration is the main component behind the EUR 10.5 billion rise in the ceiling of Heading 6; calls for complementary information on the exact purpose of the individual top- ups that led to this increase; underlines that this increase significantly surpasses the migration-related budgetary target set in the NDICI-GE Regulation; urges to respect each budgetary target set in the Regulation and to maintain a balanced distribution across all spending targets, including notably 30 % for climate, 85 % for gender mainstreaming, 20 % for human development;

Amendment 9 #

Peter JAHR, Christine SCHNEIDER, Marlene MORTLER, Norbert LINS

Draft opinion
Paragraph 1 a (new)

1a. Regrets the significant cuts to important budget lines such as the school scheme (decrease by 12,2% compared to 2021) and the young farmers programme (16,9 % compared to 2021), and calls for a boosting of these programmes instead;

Amendment 90 #

Draft opinion
Paragraph 11 a (new)

11a. Insists that any revenue to the Union budget deriving from any assigned revenues or repayments of irregularities from agriculture in previous years should remain under Heading 3;

Amendment 91 #

Juozas OLEKAS, Paolo DE CASTRO, Attila ARA-KOVÁCS, Carmen AVRAM

Draft opinion
Paragraph 11 b (new)

11b. Recalls that, according to the Court of Auditors’ special report, climate spending in the 2014-2019 budget was not as high as reported, and that reliability issues could remain in the Commission's reporting for the 2021-2027 period, when the EU’s new climate spending target will rise to 30%, calls on the Commission to report on the contribution made by climate spending to EU climate and energy objectives, focusing in particular on measuring the impact of the budget on mitigating climate change and review the methodology of climate mainstreaming accountability, to allow better decision- making to ensure a full transition to a sustainable agricultural sector;

Amendment 92 #

Peter JAHR, Christine SCHNEIDER, Marlene MORTLER, Norbert LINS

Draft opinion
Paragraph 11 b (new)

11b. Believes that the Union can make a vital contribution to the promotion of healthy eating habits, especially among children, and therefore considers it essential to make full use of the ceilings provided for in relation to the Union school schemes; therefore calls on the Member States to strengthen their national programmes to ensure full utilisation of the maximum available allocations by establishing less bureaucratic programmes;

Amendment 93 #

Peter JAHR, Christine SCHNEIDER, Marlene MORTLER, Norbert LINS

Draft opinion
Paragraph 11 b (new)

11b. Proposes a review of direct CAP payments aimed at ensuring that all farmers receive equal support;

Amendment 94 #

Draft opinion
Paragraph 11 c (new)

11c. stresses the importance of the agricultural reserve to assist the agricultural sector in the event of market developments or crises that affect agricultural production or distribution; underlines that the exceptional measures adopted so far in 2023 amount to EUR 530,5 million, which will be partially covered by the 2024 agricultural reserve; calls on the Commission to ensure that sufficient funding will be available in the event of new crises in 2024, while ensuring that direct payments to farmers are not affected and, where appropriate, exploring the possibility of mobilising funds outside the CAP;

Amendment 95 #

Juozas OLEKAS, Paolo DE CASTRO, Attila ARA-KOVÁCS, Carmen AVRAM, Katarína ROTH NEVEĎALOVÁ

Draft opinion
Paragraph 11 c (new)

11c. Recalls the Court of Auditors’ Special report on conflict of interest in EU cohesion and agricultural spending, calls on the Commission to take action to improve the prevention, detection and reporting of conflicts of interests, and to promote transparency;

Amendment 96 #

Juozas OLEKAS, Paolo DE CASTRO, Attila ARA-KOVÁCS, Carmen AVRAM, Clara AGUILERA, Katarína ROTH NEVEĎALOVÁ

Draft opinion
Paragraph 11 d (new)

11d. Calls for the Commission to maintain an adequate level of funding in order to preserve the high sanitary and phytosanitary status in the EU, and rejects any decrease in co-financing rates for sanitary programmes and control of emerging diseases, which may jeopardise animal and plant health, and thus human health in the EU;

Amendment 97 #

Juozas OLEKAS, Paolo DE CASTRO, Attila ARA-KOVÁCS, Carmen AVRAM, Clara AGUILERA, Katarína ROTH NEVEĎALOVÁ

Draft opinion
Paragraph 11 e (new)

11e. Points out the significant potential of results-based carbon farming for tackling climate change through carbon sequestration and the preservation of biodiversity and eco-systems;

Amendment 98 #

Juozas OLEKAS, Paolo DE CASTRO, Attila ARA-KOVÁCS, Carmen AVRAM, Clara AGUILERA, Katarína ROTH NEVEĎALOVÁ

Draft opinion
Paragraph 11 f (new)

11f. Emphasises the value that circular economy and the agricultural sectors that work according to its principles can bring in achieving the goals set in the European Green Deal, encourages pilot projects to improve knowledge and increase the understanding of possible benefits of circular economy principles for the European food system;

Amendment 99 #

Juozas OLEKAS, Paolo DE CASTRO, Attila ARA-KOVÁCS, Carmen AVRAM, Clara AGUILERA, Katarína ROTH NEVEĎALOVÁ

Draft opinion
Paragraph 11 g (new)

11g. Reaffirms the significance of the Union's school fruit, vegetables and milk scheme to help children follow a healthy diet, with nutrition its primary focus; invites Member States to fully use their allocations of those schemes and prioritise sustainable, local, and high-quality production;

source: 752.614

2023/09/08 CULT 34 amendments...

Amendment 1 #

Draft opinion
Paragraph 1

1. Highlights that Russia’s war of aggression in Ukraine, which contributed to high inflation in many Member States, has emphasized the need to support the cultural and creative sectors and industries and the educational sector; in this regard, calls for significant increases for important EU programmes focussing on European citizens, including the youth, culture and education, namely Erasmus+ and Creative Europe; reiterates its call to ensure that the European Year of Youth will result in tangible outcomes for young people and stresses, in this regard, on the need for additional funds dedicated to youth dedicated policies;

Amendment 10 #

Andrey SLABAKOV

Draft opinion
Paragraph 3

3. Reiterates the need to support editorial and news media to help counter the constant and intensifying information warfare, which is threatening the public debate in European democracies and their elections, including the elections of the European Parliament in 2024; therefore, insists that the Cross-Sectoral strand under Creative Europe should be reinforced with an additional EUR 15 million; furthermore, recalls the need to increase support for the cultural and creative sectors and industries to align the programme with the objectives of the 2018 New European Agenda for Culture, and the priorities and corresponding actions of the EU Work Plan for Culture 2023-2026; therefore, the cultural strand should be reinforced with an additional EUR 15 million; ~~additionally, underlines the need to strengthen the media strand with an additional EUR 13 million to support the audio-visual sector;~~

Amendment 11 #

Draft opinion
Paragraph 3

3. Reiterates the need to support editorial and news media to help counter the constant and intensifying information warfare, which is threatening the public debate in European democracies and their elections, including the elections of the European Parliament in 2024; therefore, insists that the Cross-Sectoral strand under Creative Europe should be reinforced with an additional EUR 15 million; furthermore, recalls the need to increase support for the cultural and creative sectors and industries to align the programme with the objectives of the 2018 New European Agenda for Culture, and the priorities and corresponding actions of the EU Work Plan for Culture 2023-2026; therefore, the cultural strand under Creative Europe should be reinforced with an additional EUR 15 million; additionally, underlines the need to strengthen the media strand with an additional EUR 13 million to support the audio-visual sector;

Amendment 12 #

Salima YENBOU, Ilana CICUREL

Draft opinion
Paragraph 4

4. Underlines the importance of Erasmus+ Programme in promoting European values and forming European identities through education and learning in different Member States; therefore, calls for a significant increase of EUR 60 million for the Erasmus+ Programme;deleted

Amendment 13 #

Draft opinion
Paragraph 4

4. Underlines the importance of Erasmus+ Programme in promoting European values and forming European identities through education and learning in different Member States; nevertheless, highlights that Erasmus+ still remains inaccessible to a high number of people, particularly youth from disadvantaged backgrounds, notably because of financial obstacles and other difficulties they face and that impede them from spending longer periods of time abroad; therefore, calls for a significant increase of EUR 60 million for the Erasmus+ Programme;

Amendment 14 #

Hannes HEIDE, Petra KAMMEREVERT, Domènec RUIZ DEVESA, Vilija BLINKEVIČIŪTĖ, Massimiliano SMERIGLIO, Marcos ROS SEMPERE, Ibán GARCÍA DEL BLANCO, Łukasz KOHUT, Victor NEGRESCU

Draft opinion
Paragraph 4

4. Underlines the importance of Erasmus+ Programme in ~~promoting European values and form~~strengthening European identities through education and learning in different Member States and promoting European values; stresses that some learners and teachers face significant financial difficulties in participating in the programme given the rising cost of living across Europe; believes that this poses a challenge to achieving a more inclusive participation in the programme; therefore, calls for a significant increase of EUR 60 million for the Erasmus+ Programme;

Amendment 15 #

Andrey SLABAKOV

Draft opinion
Paragraph 4

4. Underlines the importance of the Erasmus+ Programme ~~in promoting European values and forming European identities through education and learn~~as the most successful EU flagship programme; in light of the current situation and the increasing in diff~~erent Member States; therefore,~~iculties for the young people calls for a significant increase of EUR 60 million ~~for the Erasmus+ Programme~~;

Amendment 16 #

Salima YENBOU, Ilana CICUREL

Draft opinion
Paragraph 4 a (new)

4a. Highlights that European Universities can lead the way towards the universities of the future and revolutionize education to escalate change, ecological and social challenges and accelerate innovation; considers that Erasmus+ must enhance the existing potential of European University networks by developing its potential in including a stronger emphasis on research cooperation, digital infrastructure and common diplomas and curricula, as the additional resources allocated for the initiative will enable the development of a digital platform – European Online University – gathering educational resources, online classes and programs offered by European universities;

Amendment 17 #

Draft opinion
Paragraph 4 a (new)

4a. Highlights the role of the DiscoverEU initiative as a tool to bring young people closer to the EU, particularly youth from disadvantaged backgrounds or from rural and remote areas, by offering the opportunity to travel for free by rail throughout Europe, and therefore increasing awareness and knowledge of the EU amongst the youth, and encouraging future involvement in other EU programmes and projects; reiterates its support to the DiscoverEU initiative, and calls for its continuous funding, in order to triple the number of tickets awarded;

Amendment 18 #

Draft opinion
Paragraph 5

Amendment 19 #

Hannes HEIDE, Petra KAMMEREVERT, Domènec RUIZ DEVESA, Vilija BLINKEVIČIŪTĖ, Massimiliano SMERIGLIO, Marcos ROS SEMPERE, Ibán GARCÍA DEL BLANCO, Łukasz KOHUT, Victor NEGRESCU

Draft opinion
Paragraph 5

5. Believes that a budgetary increase will help ensure the continued greening and digitalisation of the Erasmus+ Programme as well as further inclusion measures to allow the participation of more disadvantaged young Europeans and more learners;, reiterating that Erasmus+ must ensure equal access and opportunities to participants from all backgrounds; recalls that new technologies require the development of new skills essential for the future of the labour market, therefore, based on the recommendations of the European Parliament report on shaping a digital education policy and the specific actions plans of the European Commission, the budgetary increase is necessary also to include an initiative focused to develop AI and robotics education in schools across Europe, in particular in less developed regions; stresses that participants with physical, mental or health-related conditions, from vulnerable groups or rural and mountain areas must be encouraged to apply through dedicated information and awareness campaigns and specialized actions focused on those specific target groups; furthermore, emphasizes the need to support sport, including Esport and the gamification of educational material, under Erasmus+ to promote the role of sport for improving health and social inclusion while also fighting discrimination;

Amendment 2 #

Draft opinion
Paragraph 1

1. Highlights that Russia’s war of aggression in Ukraine, which contributed to high inflation in many Member States, has emphasized the need to support the cultural and creative sectors and industries and the educational sector, as well as journalists and media professionals for a free press and quality information; in this regard, calls for significant increases for important EU programmes focussing on European citizens, including the youth, culture and education, namely Erasmus+ and Creative Europe;

Amendment 20 #

Andrea BOCSKOR

Draft opinion
Paragraph 5

5. Believes that a budgetary increase will help ensure the continued greening and digitalisation of the Erasmus+ Programme as well as further inclusion measures to allow the participation of more disadvantaged young Europeans and more learners; revokes the discriminatory decision to exclude students, teachers and researchers at new-model universities in Hungary from the Erasmus+ 2024 programmes and Horizon Europe research projects, furthermore, emphasizes the need to support sport, including Esport and the gamification of educational material, under Erasmus+ to promote the role of sport for improving health and social inclusion while also fighting discrimination;

Amendment 21 #

Andrey SLABAKOV

Draft opinion
Paragraph 5

5. Believes that a budgetary increase will help ensure the continued ~~greening and~~ digitalisation of the Erasmus+ Programme as well as further inclusion measures to allow the participation of more disadvantaged young Europeans and more learners; furthermore, emphasizes the need to support sport, including Esport and the gamification of educational material,; furthermore, emphasizes the need to support sport under Erasmus+ to promote the role of sport for improving health and social inclusion while also fighting discrimination;

Amendment 22 #

Hannes HEIDE, Petra KAMMEREVERT, Domènec RUIZ DEVESA, Vilija BLINKEVIČIŪTĖ, Massimiliano SMERIGLIO, Marcos ROS SEMPERE, Ibán GARCÍA DEL BLANCO, Łukasz KOHUT, Victor NEGRESCU

Draft opinion
Paragraph 5

5. Believes that a budgetary increase will help ensure the continued greening and digitalisation of the Erasmus+ Programme as well as further inclusion measures to allow the participation of more disadvantaged young Europeans and more learners; recalls the importance of additional funds to support the achievement of the European Education Area; furthermore, emphasizes the need to support sport, including Esport and the gamification of educational material, under Erasmus+ to promote the role of sport for improving health and social inclusion while also fighting discrimination;

Amendment 23 #

Draft opinion
Paragraph 5

5. Believes that a budgetary increase ~~will~~is needed to help ensure the continued greening and digitalisation of the Erasmus+ Programme as well as further inclusion measures to allow the participation of more disadvantaged young Europeans and more learners and teaching staff; furthermore, emphasizes the need to support sport, including Esport ~~and the gamification of educational material~~, under Erasmus+ to promote the role of sport for improving health and social inclusion while also fighting discrimination;

Amendment 24 #

Draft opinion
Paragraph 5 – subparagraph 1 (new)

5a. Highlights the huge potential in gamification of education, which, among other advantages, can help disadvantaged people learn and study better, while also promoting key European values;

Amendment 25 #

Hannes HEIDE, Petra KAMMEREVERT, Domènec RUIZ DEVESA, Vilija BLINKEVIČIŪTĖ, Massimiliano SMERIGLIO, Marcos ROS SEMPERE, Ibán GARCÍA DEL BLANCO, Łukasz KOHUT, Victor NEGRESCU

Draft opinion
Paragraph 5 a (new)

5a. Underlines the role of Erasmus+ in encouraging young people to participate in Europe's democratic life; draws attention to its contribution to addressing the impact of the war in Ukraine by supporting education and training systems, learners and teachers, schools, youth organisations and NGOs;

Amendment 26 #

Draft opinion
Paragraph 6

6. ~~Calls for a slight increase for the European Solidarity Corps~~Notes that the European Solidarity Corps is a new programme with a small budget of over €1 billion; notes that despite the difficulties in the implementation derived from the Covid-19 crisis, the first two years of the current programming period show very high demand and a 100% absorption rate associated with high levels of oversubscription and a lower number of people supported than anticipated due to the limited available budget; concludes that an increase in the ESC budget is needed to satisfy the demand and in particular, to support young people engaged in civic engagement and solidarity actions; emphasizes the need to strengthen the humanitarian strand to improve the programme’s efforts related to the consequences of Russia’s war of aggression in Ukraine.;

Amendment 27 #

Ilana CICUREL, Laurence FARRENG, Salima YENBOU

Draft opinion
Paragraph 6

6. Calls for a ~~slight~~n increase for the European Solidarity Corps to support young people engaged in civic engagement, mobility and solidarity actions; emphasizes the need to strengthen the humanitarian strand to improve the programme’s efforts related to the consequences of Russia’s war of aggression in Ukraine.; calls for a considerable increase of the European Solidarity Corps in the next Multiannual Financial Framework, especially to boost European civic mobility;

Amendment 28 #

Hannes HEIDE, Petra KAMMEREVERT, Domènec RUIZ DEVESA, Vilija BLINKEVIČIŪTĖ, Massimiliano SMERIGLIO, Marcos ROS SEMPERE, Ibán GARCÍA DEL BLANCO, Łukasz KOHUT, Victor NEGRESCU

Draft opinion
Paragraph 6

6. Calls for a ~~slight~~n increase for the European Solidarity Corps to be able to accommodate the increasing interest in the programme and allow it to address unexpected challenges and support young people engaged in civic engagement and solidarity activities actions; emphasizes the need to strengthen the humanitarian strand to improve the programme’s efforts related to the consequences of Russia’s war of aggression inagainst Ukraine.;

Amendment 29 #

Draft opinion
Paragraph 6 a (new)

6a. Recalls the importance of the citizens’ engagement strand in CERV programme, in particular as regards town twinning and remembrance activities, and the essential role of CSOs in related projects and activities; calls for the continued support for the programme; Recalls that current inflation rates have a significant impact on the running costs of CERV beneficiaries;

Amendment 3 #

Draft opinion
Paragraph 1

1. Highlights that Russia’s war of aggression in Ukraine, which contributed to high inflation in many Member States, has emphasized the need to support the cultural and creative sectors and industries and the educational sectore need to support the cultural and creative sectors and industries and the educational sector to manage the multiple crises Europe has faced in recent years and is still facing, including the Russian war of aggression against Ukraine, continued high inflation as well as high energy prices; in this regard, calls for significant increases for important EU programmes focussing on European citizens, including the youth, culture and education, namely Erasmus+ and Creative Europe;

Amendment 30 #

Ilana CICUREL, Salima YENBOU

Draft opinion
Paragraph 6 a (new)

6a. In view of the next Multiannual Financial Framework to be set up as of 2028, asks the Commission to consider establishing a permanent Union news media fund to empower independent news coverage, contribute to the digital development of media, safeguard the independence of European journalists and journalism, and guarantee the freedom of the press;

Amendment 31 #

Draft opinion
Paragraph 6 a (new)

6a. Recalls that it is essential to take the necessary budgetary measures to support the achievement of the European Education Area; in view of the next Multiannual Financial Framework to be set up as of 2028, asks the Commission to propose a modification of its structure allowing dedicated budgetary lines for the European Education Area;

Amendment 32 #

Hannes HEIDE, Petra KAMMEREVERT, Domènec RUIZ DEVESA, Vilija BLINKEVIČIŪTĖ, Massimiliano SMERIGLIO, Marcos ROS SEMPERE, Ibán GARCÍA DEL BLANCO, Łukasz KOHUT, Victor NEGRESCU

Draft opinion
Paragraph 6 b (new)

6b. Welcomes the development of the New European Bauhaus(NEB) initiative; recalls that existing culture and education programmes such as Creative Europe, Erasmus+ and the European Solidarity Corps will not allocate any budget to the NEB; considers the deployment of existing funds insufficient to achieve the objectives of the initiative beyond 2024; ask for proper funding with fresh money, in line with the planning of the MFF to ensure that the actions undertaken have a sustainable impact and that the objectives initially set by the initiative can be fully achieved;

Amendment 33 #

Ilana CICUREL, Laurence FARRENG, Salima YENBOU

Draft opinion
Paragraph 6 b (new)

6b. Asks for the financial contributions from the EU to the European School System (ESS) to feature as a separate budget line in future EU budgets, in order to increase transparency, ensure strategic planning and facilitate parliamentary scrutiny under the discharge procedure, and requests that the ESS be included in the further development of the EEA to become a 'laboratory' and source of experience for pedagogical innovation and the exchange of best practices for the benefit of all European students;

Amendment 34 #

Draft opinion
Paragraph 6 b (new)

6b. Reiterates its call for the Commission to ensure sufficient funding to be made available to the New European Bauhaus initiative in the 2024 budget and to consider establishing a separate budget for the New European Bauhaus as a part of the revision of the MFF; stresses the need to release new funds without affecting the Creative Europe budget;

Amendment 4 #

Draft opinion
Paragraph 1 a (new)

1a. Underlines the importance of Erasmus+ Programme in promoting European values and forming European identities through education and learning in different Member States; highlights that the Programme should also continue to support Ukrainian students in light of the Russian war of aggression against Ukraine; Believes that a budgetary increase will help ensure the continued greening and digitalisation of the Erasmus+ Programme as well as further inclusion measures to allow the participation of more disadvantaged young Europeans and more learners; furthermore, emphasizes the need to support sport, including Esport and the gamification of educational material, under Erasmus+ to promote the role of sport for improving health and social inclusion while also fighting discrimination; therefore, calls for a significant increase of EUR 60 million for the Erasmus+ Programme;

Amendment 5 #

Hannes HEIDE, Petra KAMMEREVERT, Domènec RUIZ DEVESA, Vilija BLINKEVIČIŪTĖ, Massimiliano SMERIGLIO, Marcos ROS SEMPERE, Ibán GARCÍA DEL BLANCO, Łukasz KOHUT, Victor NEGRESCU

Draft opinion
Paragraph 2

2. Highlights that Creative Europe, as the only EU Programme directly supporting the cultural and creative sector and industries, needs a significant reinforcement to fulfil its goals in 2024, including ensuring the sector’s full recovery after the pandemic, its resilience against the currently high inflation, which also undermines European citizen’s purchasing power; besides, the increase in funding is needed to further implement cross-cutting actions linked to improving the overall inclusiveness and sustainability of the programme;

Amendment 6 #

Niyazi KIZILYÜREK

Draft opinion
Paragraph 2

2. Highlights that Creative Europe, as the only EU Programme directly supporting the cultural and creative sector and industries, needs a significant reinforcement to fulfil its goals in 2024, including ensuring the sector’s full recovery after the pandemic, its resilience against the currently high inflation, which also undermines European citizen’s purchasing power; Underlines that the support should be focused towards the creators and workers of the sector;

Amendment 7 #

Draft opinion
Paragraph 2

2. Highlights that Creative Europe, as the only EU Programme directly supporting the cultural and creative sector and industries, needs a significant reinforcement of all its strands to fulfil its goals in 2024, including ensuring the sector’s full recovery after the pandemic, its resilience against the currently high inflation, which also undermines European citizen’s purchasing power and a just green and digital transition;

Amendment 8 #

Hannes HEIDE, Petra KAMMEREVERT, Domènec RUIZ DEVESA, Vilija BLINKEVIČIŪTĖ, Massimiliano SMERIGLIO, Marcos ROS SEMPERE, Ibán GARCÍA DEL BLANCO, Łukasz KOHUT, Victor NEGRESCU

Draft opinion
Paragraph 2 a (new)

2a. Stresses the need for additional funding for the European Capitals of Culture, as they represent a great added value for European society, and as the rising costs due to high inflation have significantly worsened the framework conditions for the implementation of the European Capitals of Culture; highlights that additional funding is long overdue, as the "Melina Mercouri Prize" is the only direct EU funding opportunity for European Capitals of Culture and has been endowed with only 1.5 million euros for years;

Amendment 9 #

Niyazi KIZILYÜREK

Draft opinion
Paragraph 3

3. Reiterates the need to support editorial and news media to help counter the constant and intensifying information warfare, which is threatening the public debate in European democracies and their elections, including the elections of the European Parliament in 2024; therefore, insists that the Cross-Sectoral strand under Creative Europe should be reinforced with an additional EUR 15 million; furthermore, recalls the need to increase support for the cultural and creative sectors and industries to align the programme with the objectives of the 2018 New European Agenda for Culture, and the priorities and corresponding actions of the EU Work Plan for Culture 2023-2026; therefore, the cultural strand should be reinforced with an additional EUR 15 million; additionally, underlines the need to strengthen the media strand with an additional EUR 13 million to support the audio-visual sector; Underlines the need to protect media freedom and the freedom of journalists from any kind of interference;

source: 752.895

2023/09/11 AFCO 10 amendments...

Amendment 1 #

Draft opinion
Recital A a (new)

Aa. Whereas the Conference on the Future of Europe has offered an unprecedented model of deliberative and participatory democracy at EU level;

Amendment 10 #

Draft opinion
Paragraph 5 a (new)

5a. Calls for specific resources for increased and strengthened projects of interaction between the institutions and national and regional institutions, in order to enhance national participation at Union level

Amendment 2 #

Damian BOESELAGER

Draft opinion
Paragraph 1

1. Welcomes the proposed increase of 68 % in commitment appropriations and 147 % in payment appropriations for the ‘Citizens engagement and participation in the democratic life of the Union’, as compared to the 2023 budget, as it finances programs and initiatives like Citizens, Equality, Rights and Values Programme (CERV) and the European Citizens’ Initiative (ECI), that contribute to enhancing the overall civic participation in Union politics and the exercise of the rights deriving from Union citizenship; asks to foresee the adequate funding for a Convention for the revision of the Treaties; asks to increase funds to enable a deeper involvement of the youth concerning the Union’s democratic values and policies;

Amendment 3 #

Draft opinion
Paragraph 2

2. Notes the increase in funding for ‘Commission Representations’ by 0,9 % in commitment and 1,6 % in payment appropriations and regrets that the increase is not more substantial, especially since 2024 is the European election year; proposes a 20 % increase of the commitment and payments appropriations as compared to the 2023 levels; deems this increase necessary for the purpose of encouraging proactive dialogues on EU matters with citizens in the Member States ahead of European Parliament elections, and developing communication activities to fight disinformation; highlights that additional funding is necessary also to support actions related to citizenship education and participation involving local communities, schools or universities;

Amendment 4 #

Gilles BOYER, Sandro GOZI, Max ORVILLE

Draft opinion
Paragraph 3

3. Regards as insufficient the 0,9 % and 1,7 % increase in the commitment and payments appropriations respectively for ‘Communication services for citizens’ compared to the 2023 budget; proposes a 15 % increase of the commitment appropriations as compared to the 2023 budget in view of intensified communication activities related to the European elections information campaign; underlines that adequate financial means must be made available to enable and further develop the participation of citizens in both the strategic and day-to- day decision-making of the Union, including through dedicated funds for an online one-stop-shop for all the existing participation instruments as well as an EU Citizens' Agora;

Amendment 5 #

Draft opinion
Paragraph 3

3. Regards as insufficient the 0,9 % and 1,7 % increase in the commitment and payments appropriations respectively for ‘Communication services for citizens’ compared to the 2023 budget; proposes a 15 % increase of the commitment appropriations as compared to the 2023 budget in view of intensified communication activities related to the European elections information campaign; recalls that communication activities should have content available in all EU languages, as well as considering the use of native languages for EU citizens living in other member states; stresses that local authorities, smaller NGOs and other relevant stakeholders should be involved in the communication activities;

Amendment 6 #

Maite PAGAZAURTUNDÚA, Sandro GOZI, Max ORVILLE

Draft opinion
Paragraph 3 a (new)

3a. Regards as insufficient the proposed increase for European Commission representation offices in Member States, and therefore strongly supports a call for increased funding in 2024, to encourage proactive dialogues on EU matters with citizens across the Union;.

Amendment 7 #

Draft opinion
Paragraph 4 a (new)

4a. Demands a 20 % increase in the resources devoted to Union citizenship, which have remained static despite repeated demands for policymaking and regulatory interventions, and a foreseeable need for further increases, including as a result of new Member States and treaty reforms. This is especially the case if calls for the creation of an EU citizenship statute are to be met. This initiative requires widespread public consultation and expert input ahead of the European elections. The process should be dynamic, linked to the European dimension of citizenship education and an expansion of citizenship-specific rights.

Amendment 8 #

Draft opinion
Paragraph 4 a (new)

4a. Strongly emphasises the need for further investment and resources dedicated towards a participatory democracy, particularly in light of the findings and results of the Conference on the Future of Europe;

Amendment 9 #