32 Amendments of Eleftherios SYNADINOS related to 2017/2043(BUD)
Amendment 3 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 1
Paragraph 1
1. Deplores strongly the fact that the EUR 200 million top-up for Erasmus+ proposed under the MFF revision for 2017- 2020 has been reduced by Council to EUR 100 million, with EUR 50 million already allocated in 2017; recalls that Erasmus+ helps to deliver growth and is a strategic long-term investment in Europe’s young people with particular added value;
Amendment 10 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 2
Paragraph 2
2. Notes that proposed funding for the new and already controversial Solidarity Corps draws heavimainly on Erasmus+ (circa EUR 58 million in 2017) and secondarily on Europe for Citizens (around EUR 3.5 million a year); insists that new initiatives require a legal base and clear policy design and must be coordinated with other programmes; stresses that the future roll- out of the Solidarity Corps must notolerating the maintenance of the Solidarity Corps, as a tool for pursuing political ends, indulging in high-cost political rhetoric and promoting new channels of illegal migration, must not, in addition, undermine funding for priority and substantive education and culture programmes;
Amendment 11 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 2
Paragraph 2
2. Believes that in generalvery broad terms the Commission proposal corresponds to Parliament’s view that the 2018 EU budget must enable the EU to continue to generate growth and jobs while ensuring the security of its citizens, though further adjustments are expected;
Amendment 16 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 3
Paragraph 3
3. Underlines that both the Culture sub-programme under Creative Europe and the Europe for Citizens programme continue to have low project success rates (11 % and 16 % respectively in 2016), cauraising frustraquestions among applicants and hampering programme functioning; calls for more funds to be allocated to the programmes in 2018bout the soundness of the initial planning and the real objectives of the programmes; calls for funds for the programmes in 2018 and the allocation of these funds to be re-examined in order to ensure targeted and effective delivery;
Amendment 19 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 3
Paragraph 3
3. Welcomes the decision of the Commission to already include in the draft budget the results of the mid-term revision of the Multiannual Financial Framework (MFF) 2014-2020; is convinced that while the formal adoption is still blocked in the Council, the proposal of the Commission sends a strong signal about the importance of this MFF revision, and the need for increased flexibility in the EU budget that could enable the Union to effectively respond to new emergencies and finance its political priorities; underlines that the European Parliament acted swiftly to grant its consent to the revised MFF Regulation, and expects that the Council will finalise without any further delay the adoption of the MFF revision, following the UK elections on 8 June 2017; reiterates that the current state of play is a mid-term arrangement before substituting the MFF with a more facilitative and purpose- oriented tool;
Amendment 21 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 4
Paragraph 4
4. Calls for significantly greater synergies and the further development thereof between culture and education programmes and EFSI and the ESI Funds; urges the Commission to frontload the Creative Europe Guarantee Facility through EFSI to support the cultural and creative sector and thereby drivee of the nations that make up the European Union and the dormant creativity in the Member States, thereby providing a further means to support growth;
Amendment 22 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 5
Paragraph 5
5. WelcomNotes the agreement reached on the European Year of Cultural Heritage (EYCH) 2018 with a budget of EUR 7 million in 2018, 4 million of which is; stresses that EUR 4 million of the EUR 7 million are fresh money; reiterates that funding for the EYCH must neither have noa negative impact on Cother programmes nor, because of its title or any relative Europeed actions, cast doubt on the only apposite term relating to the respective cultural heritage of the Member States;
Amendment 27 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 4
Paragraph 4
4. Reiterates its firm conviction that in order to achieve sustainable growth and job creation in the EU, investments in research, innovation, infrastructure, education and SMEs are key; welcomes in this respect the proposed reinforcements to Horizon 2020, the Connecting Europe Facility (CEF) and Erasmus+ as these programmes will contribute directly toand indirectly to partly reaching these goals; regrets, however, that the proposed allocation for COSME is lower in comparison with the 2017 budget and points to the need to furthersignificantly reinforce SMEs, which are the main source of job creation and innovation in the EU and have a broader crucial role in reducing the investment gap and potentially contributing to the prosperity of the EUsome member states;
Amendment 30 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 6
Paragraph 6
6. Notes the successinitiative of the New Narrative for Europe, now in its final year as a Preparatory Action; stresses that the initiative has protheoretical objectiven its worth,to fostering debate and fresh thinking among young people on thespecific challenges facing the EU; calls, in light of those challenges, for the initiative to be re-examined and potentially continued through the Youth strand of Erasmus+.
Amendment 34 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 5
Paragraph 5
5. CommendsDoubts about the role of the European Fund for Strategic Investments (EFSI) in bridging the investment gap across the EU and does not supports its extension until 2020; underlines its position in the on-going legislative negotiations that no further cuts should be incurred on existing EU programmes in order to finance this extension;
Amendment 54 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 6
Paragraph 6
6. WelcomesStresses that the EU initiatives in the field of defence research, which will contribute to achieving economies of scale in the sector and thus lead to greater coordination among Member States in the field should be overall revised; notes that smaller national defence industries will struggle ineffectively to adjust and remain competitive;
Amendment 56 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 7
Paragraph 7
Amendment 78 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 9
Paragraph 9
9. Stresses that in 2018, cohesion policy programmes are expected to reach cruising speed and emphasises Parliament’s commitment to ensuring adequate appropriations for these programmes; is however preoccupied by the unacceptable delays in the implementation of operational programmes at national level due to inadequate technical assistance and expertise provision; calls on Member States to ensure that the designation of managing, auditing and certifying authorities is concluded and implementation is accelerateddequate, according to nationally set prioritization criteria;
Amendment 98 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 11
Paragraph 11
11. Reiterates that while growth and jobs should remain the underlying priority of the EU budget, obtaining sustainable progress in these fields will be impossible if the citizens feel unsafe or insecure; emphasises, moreover, that the unprecedented mobilisation of special instruments has shown that the EU budget was not initially designed to address the magnitude of the migrationillegal immigration, other migration flows and refugee crisis; believes that moving to a post-crisis approach is premature given the volatility of the situation in the EU Neighbourhood and the terrorist threat within the EU; questions therefore the proposed cuts in Heading 3 compared to the 2017 Budget which do not seem to be in line with the EU pledge to deal in an efficient manner with the migration and refugee crisis,on enforceing security, and tackleing terrorism and radicalisation;
Amendment 112 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 13
Paragraph 13
13. WelcomAcknowledges the increase proposed for the eastern component of the European Neighbourhood Instrument responding to Parliament’s previous calls; is convinced that in order to counter the activities of an increasingly aggressive Russian Federation, the EU’s suppt is of pivotal importance to provide essential support towards member states and the EU's interests in order to counter hostile or aggressive activities of foreign third actorts, especially for in collaboration withe countries that have signed Association Agreements, is essential as required;
Amendment 120 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 14
Paragraph 14
14. NotStresses that the draft budget 2018 leaves very limited margins or no margin under the MFF ceilings throughout Headings 1a, 1b, 3, 4 and 5; considers this as a logical but unfortunate consequence of the significant new initiatives taken since 2014 (EFSI, migration-related proposals, and lately defence research and the European Solidarity Corps), which have been squeezed within the MFF ceilings agreed in 2013; recalls that the MFF, in particular, once its revision is finalised by the Council, provides for flexibility provisions which, albeit limited, should be used to their fullest in order to maintain the level of ambition of successful programmes and tackle the new challenges; expresses Parliament’s intention to further mobilise such flexibility provisions as part of the amending process;
Amendment 126 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 15
Paragraph 15
15. Notes in this respect the numerous references in the draft budget to the necessity of a letter of amendment which may partially pre-empt Parliament’s position in the budgetary procedure; regrets that, instead of already including them in the draft budget, the Commission has announced that possible new initiatives in the area of security and handling illegal immigration and a possible extension of the Facility for Refugees in Turkey may be proposed as part of an upcoming letter of amendment; urges the Commission to prorevidse details as to these upcoming proposals in a timely manner so that the budgetary authority can properly examine them, especially the extension of the Facility for Refugees in Turkey, since nominal goals have not been achieved to an adequate degree; stresses that these potential initiatives should not disregard, let alone replace, requests and amendments put forward by Parliament in the context of this budgetary procedure;
Amendment 129 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 16
Paragraph 16
16. NoteHighlights that in comparison with 2017, the Commission proposal for 2018 corresponds to an substantial increase in commitments under subheading 1a of +2.5 % to EUR 21 841.3 million; welcomes the factnotes that Horizon 2020, the Connecting Europe Facility and Erasmus+ account for an important part of this increase as their commitment appropriations rise by respectively 7.3 %, 8.7 % and 9.5 %, but notes still that this is slightly below their overall financial programming as it currently stands;
Amendment 130 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 17
Paragraph 17
17. Is surprised, however,Stresses that COSME commitment and payment appropriations have been reduced respectively by 2.9 % and 31.3 %, although support to SMEs is nominally identified as one of the top priorities of the EU; expresses its intention to further reinforce this programmecommitment to safeguard this programme's commitments and payment appropriations in the 2018 budget;
Amendment 137 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 19
Paragraph 19
19. Takes note of the Commission’s proposal to set up a European Solidarity Corps (ESC); notes, however, with concern that, despite Parliament’s warnings, the legislative proposal adopted on 30 May 2017 envisages that three fourths of the ESC budget would be financed by redeployments from existing programmes, and mainly from Erasmus+ (EUR 197.7 million); is concerned by the risk that this situation would pose to those EU programmes; is concerned about the effective use of funds when duplicating structures supportive of volunteering and by dealing with volunteering on the basis of a co-financed operation; is additionally apprehensive on potential hidden costs by opening up channels of "volunteers" from thirds countries settling in Europe, leading to the need of further fund allocation on operations supporting security and tackling illegal immigration;
Amendment 145 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 20
Paragraph 20
Amendment 157 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 23
Paragraph 23
23. Stresses the need forof revising the implementation of the 2014-2020 programmes to reach full speed, and ; strongly believes that any ‘abnormal’ build-up of unpaid bills must be avoided in the future; calls, in this context, on the Commission and the Member States to resolve, as a priority, any outstanding issues linked with the delayed designation of national managing and certifying authorities, as well as other bottlenecks for the submission of payment applications; sincerely hopes that both the national authorities and the Commission have improved their estimates of the payment needs in the 2018 budget and that the proposed level of payment appropriations will be fully executed;
Amendment 165 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 26
Paragraph 26
26. Notes that the Commission has left a EUR 713.5 million margin under the ceilings of Heading 2; points to the fact that increased and speculative volatility of agricultural markets, as was the case with the dairy sector crisis in the pastwhich is severely counter-productive and unjust to producers, might envisage recourse to this margin; calls on the Commission to ensure that the margin left under the ceilings is sufficient to addressly appropriate to avert, address or contain any crises that may arise;
Amendment 167 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 27
Paragraph 27
27. HighlightNotes the prolongation of exceptional support measures for certain fruits for which the market situation is still difficult, but regretsis saddened that support measures in the livestock sectors related to the Russian ban on EU imports will not be extended; stresses that it would be far more effective if the Commission substantially re-evaluated the approach to the Russian embargo-style measures and similar unjustifiable distortions to the relevant markets, which result to the very need to adopt support measures to counteract the negative economic impact on specific Union sectors; awaits the Commission’s letter of amendment, expected in October, which should be based on updated information on the EAGF funding to verify the real needs in the agricultural sector;
Amendment 171 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 29
Paragraph 29
29. Notes the proposed EUR 3 473.1 million in commitment appropriations for Heading 3; emphasises the need for joint, comprehensive and sustainable solutions to the current migration and refugee crisis, and to address, long-term and security- focused solutions to the current illegal immigration issues along with the refugee crisis, and to attempting to address certaing safety and security concerns; welcomes, therefore, the Commission’s proposal for an additional EUR 800 million dedicated to tackling these issues;
Amendment 175 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 30
Paragraph 30
30. Is of the opinion that the importance and urgency of these issues is not in line with the significant decreases in commitment (-18.9 %) and payment appropriations (-21.7 %) proposed for Heading 3 compared with the 2017 budget, notably on the Asylum, Migration and Integration Fund (AMIF), the Internal Security Fund (ISF) and the Justice programme; considers that those cuts are not fully justifiable given the delays in implementation of the agreed measures and the delays in the adoption of the new legal proposals; calls therefore on the Commission to ensure that adequate budgetary resources are provided for and that any additional needs will be swiftly addressed, along with sufficient margins, are provided prior to facing and needing to address yet more additional urgent challenges that threaten security of the Union and its Member States;
Amendment 179 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 31
Paragraph 31
31. Furthermore believes that cooperation among Member States in security related matters could be further enhanced through increased support from the EU budget, in addition to technical assistance; questions how such an objective could be adequately reached while relevant budgetary lines of the ISF are significantly decreased compared to 2017 Budget;
Amendment 182 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 32
Paragraph 32
32. Considers that 2018 will be a pivotal year in the viable establishment of the European Agenda on Migration, with several of its key components under development; underlines the need to carefully assess the budgetary implications of a number of legislative proposals on the table, such as the reform of the Dublin common asylum system, the new Entry- Exit and European Travel Information and Authorisation Systems, including the possibility of their late adoption; stresses the importance of adequate financing to match the Union’s ambition in this regard and urgently achieve the set-up of an effective European asylum and migration policyachieve policy changes and implementation thereof;
Amendment 188 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 34
Paragraph 34
34. RecallNotes Parliament’s consistently strong support forsupport for member states' culture and media programmes; welcomacknowledges the proposed increases for the Creative Europe Programme compared with the 2017 budget, including for the European Year for Cultural Heritage under ‘Multimedia actions’; furthermore, insists onasks for sufficient funding for the programme ‘Europe for Citizens’ while refocusing the scope of the programme itself; appreciates, finally, the increases in commitment appropriations for the Food and Feed programme, the Health programme and the Consumer programme compared with the 2017 budget;
Amendment 190 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 36
Paragraph 36
Amendment 196 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 37
Paragraph 37
Amendment 197 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 38
Paragraph 38