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Negotiations on MFF and Recovery Fund dragging slow

Yesterday (September 7th, 2020) the second round of negotiations on the EU’s Multiannual Financial Framework and the Recovery Package between the European Council and the European Parliament took place, led by the German Council Presidency. Rasmus Andresen, spokesperson on budgets for the Greens/EFA Group and one of six negotiators for the Parliament on the EU budget and Recovery Fund explains:

“The negotiations are currently dragging on slowly; There is still significant disagreement between the Parliament and the Council, in particular on the question of how the EU-programs should be equipped.

We parliamentarians are fighting for an increase in the funds that are to be spent in the EU on research, health, digitization and youth, such as the Erasmus program. So far the Council has not been able to explain to us in a comprehensible way why the Member States want to cut these relevant future-oriented EU-programs, compared to the initial Commission proposals.“

“The Council and Parliament agree that the allocation of funds must be controlled democratically. The European Parliament is the only directly elected EU institution that represents the concerns of all people in the EU. It is therefore right that the Parliament and the Council jointly decide on the Corona aid and that the use of funds is democratically controlled. „

“We have a biodiversity-crisis. Species extinction is increasing worldwide and nature is being destroyed. Over 15,000 animal species die out every year and around 13 million hectares of forest are deforested.

We know that if we will not stop the biodiversity-crisis, we will miss the climate targets and leave a dead planet.

A sole climate quota will not stop this, we have to ensure that sufficient funds are available for nature conservation and biodiversity. That is why we propose a quota of 10% of the EU budget for biodiversity.“