(01 April 2015) – The European Parliament refuses to take funds from existing investment programmes to finance the Juncker Plan. The choice could jeopardise the future of Erasmus and Galileo, according to the Commission.
The financial plan laid out by the European Commission to guarantee the European Fund for Strategic Investments (EFSI), the business end of the Juncker Plan, has set legislators on edge in the European Parliament.
MEPs have begun examining the proposed regulation in the parliamentary committees, where more than 2000 amendments have been submitted. This reflects the deep division between the Parliament and the Executive on how the economic rescue plan should be funded.
The logic of the European executive is to make small cuts to programmes with large budgets like Horizon 2020 and the European Interconnection Mechanism (EIM). In doing so, they hope the impact will be more reasonable than that of important cuts to programmes with modest budgets.
“The situation is very clear: if you want to shore-up programmes like Horizon and the EIM, the consequences will be considerable cuts to other programmes, like Erasmus. Does the Parliament want to inflict cuts on Erasmus?” EurActiv’s Commission source asked. The Galileo and Fiscalis programmes are also among the possible victims in this scenario. (EurActiv)