EP Secures Extra Amount of €16 Billion for Erasmus+ & Horizon Programs

Posted date: 23 Jul 2021

Link:  https://www.schengenvisainfo.com/news/ep-secures-extra-amount-of-e16-billion-for-erasmus-horizon-programs/

After ten weeks of negotiations, the European Parliament and the Council Presidency have reached a deal on the next Multiannual Financial Framework (MFF 2021-2027) and new Own Resources.

In this agreement, the European Parliament has obtained the total amount of €16 billion for EU flagship programs, including Erasmus+ and Horizon, SchengenVisaInfo.com reports.

At the last summit held in Brussels in July, all EU leaders agreed for the total budget to be €1824.3 billion.

According to a press release issued by the European Parliament, afterwards, the European Parliament’s budget negotiators secured the extra amount of €16 billion dedicated to strengthening the EU flagships programs as well as to protect citizens from the Corona pandemic, to offer new opportunities to next generations and to preserve the European values.

“Parliament’s top priority was to secure an increase for flagship programmes that were at risk of being underfinanced under the European Council’s July 2020 agreement, jeopardising the EU’s commitments and priorities, notably the Green Deal and the Digital Agenda,” the press release reads.

EP Budget negotiators have agreed on a roadmap to assist in the introduction of the new Own Resources for the next seven years, which is incorporated into “Interinstitutional Agreement”.

Besides the plastics-based contribution starting from 2021, the roadmap also includes ETS-based Own Resource starting from 2023, a digital levy as of 2023, an FFT-based Own Resource as well as financial support linked to the corporate sector or a new common corporate tax base as of 2026.

The European University Association (EUA) has expressed its support for the European Parliament’s actions.

“Although today’s outcome still falls short of what is necessary to solve the current challenges, EUA welcomes the priority given to Horizon Europe, which receives the largest top-up.  It is also a positive signal for programmes to start on time”, a press release issued by EUA reads.

As per expenditure of Next Generation EU funds which will be spent in a transparent manner, the three institutions will meet systematically to evaluate the funds’ implementation made available on the legal basis of Art. 122. Parliament, along with the Council, will be checking if there is any deviation from plans agreed before.

Biodiversity tracking methodologies, as well as better climate, will be implemented in order to guarantee that at least 30 per cent of the total amount of the Union Budget and the Next Generation EU expenditures will contribute to climate objectives and to ensure that 7.5 per cent of annual spending will support biodiversity objectives starting from 2024, 10 per cent as of 2026 and forward.

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