MFF: time to deliver for the next Erasmus+, Creative Europe and European Solidarity Corps
The next seven years for EU education, culture and volunteering are at stake, stress MEPs Verheyen, Zver, Smeriglio, Šojdrova, commenting on the stalled programme trilogues.
With trilogue negotiations on Erasmus+, Creative Europe and the European Solidarity Corps at a standstill, the Chair of the Committee on Culture and Education, Sabine Veryehen (DE, EPP) and the rapporteurs for the three programmes - Milan Zver (SL, EPP) for Erasmus+, Massimiliano Smeriglio (IT, S&D) for Creative Europe and Michaela Šojdrová (CS, EPP) for the European Solidarity Corps – issued the following joint statement:
“The EU education, culture and volunteering programmes bring people together, help them learn from one another, celebrate creativity and diversity, and give people a better chance to get a job. Parliament, Council and Commission all have a duty to ensure the programmes are ready for January 2021 with a budget that matches the ambitions we all say we share for them. But that does not mean Parliament is ready just to agree to anything.”
“We called for a tripling of the Erasmus+ budget and a doubling of the Creative Europe budget, whereas the Finnish Presidency proposal from December was even 20% under the Commission proposal. Let’s be clear, if we don’t have enough money for each of the three programmes, we will have to scale back our ambitions for the next seven years. We call on the Council to move forward on the next Multiannual Financial Framework and to return to the negotiating table with a full negotiating mandate, including on the budget distribution – it no longer makes sense to negotiate with key things off the table.”
“We would also like to remind the Commission that, while flexibility in the programme makes sense, we cannot and will not tolerate civil servants taking big policy and budgetary decisions instead of elected Members of the European Parliament and the national governments in the Council. We are not about to give the Commission carte blanche for the next seven years. We have been asking the Commission since early October for a suitable mechanism for decision-making over the course of the programme. It’s time to deliver.”
“The Parliament stands ready to resume talks at any time, but first we need hard proposals from the Commission and a full negotiating mandate from the Council.”
Contacts:
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Agnese KRIVADE
Press Officer