Activities of Ernest URTASUN related to 2023/0264(BUD)
Shadow opinions (1)
OPINION on the draft general budget of the European Union for the financial year 2024
Amendments (11)
Amendment 5 #
Draft opinion
Recital B
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 7 #
Draft opinion
Recital B a (new)
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 15 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 3 a (new)
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 20 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 4
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
Paragraph 4 a (new)
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 26 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 4 b (new)
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 28 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 5
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 32 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 5 a (new)
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 35 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 6
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 37 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 6 a (new)
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
Paragraph 6 a (new)
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;