|
European Parliament President David Sassoli will represent Parliament at the summit and address heads of state or government at 10:00. At 11.00, he will hold a press conference in the EP Anna Politkovskaya pressroom (and via Skype). See separate media advisory for all details.
This press kit has a selection of European Parliament press releases that show MEPs’ priorities with regard to the recovery package and the EU long-term budget.
The EP’s negotiating team for the next long-term EU budget and Own Resources reform stated on 15 July that the recovery effort will fizzle out quickly if there is no long-term perspective. Their analysis of the figures proposed by the European Council President for the summit shows that after 2023, the EU budget plunges below current levels under his proposal, although citizens call for a bigger EU budget to tackle the fallout of the pandemic, as a recent survey commissioned by the European Parliament shows.
The negotiating team thus exhorts leaders to do better at the summit, adding that the European Council President’s recovery proposals come at the cost of some key priorities, and that a lack of binding commitment to new Own Resources risks burdening next generations with repayment of recovery debt. “Financing the recovery must not burden the next generation”, said also the Chair of the Committee on Budgets, on 30 June.
“We must not go backwards from Commission proposals”, insisted EP President David Sassoli before meeting Chancellor Angela Merkel on 8 July at the beginning of the six-month German Presidency of the Council of the EU. All statements and speeches by the President can be found on this page.
On 8 July, the four presidents of the main EU institutions met to prepare the timetable and structure for the intensive inter-institutional negotiations that lie ahead. Once EU countries have agreed on a common position, they will have a mandate to enter into negotiations with Parliament, which will have a final say before the 2021-2027 budget can enter into force.
“A deal in the Council is not the final deal”, MEPs said in a debate on the EU budget and recovery on 8 July, looking back on the 19 June and forward to the 17 July European Council meetings.
The Presidents of five political groups in the European Parliament said in a common letter on 18 June: “The overall figure that the Commission put on the table for the Next Generation Instrument is a good starting point. But we believe that €500 billion in grants is the bare minimum to provide a credible European response to such a huge crisis. We oppose any reduction. A month ago, 505 out of 705 elected members of the European Parliament voted for a €2 trillion package to transform and mitigate the social and economic impact of the crisis and put us on track to achieve the objectives set in the Green deal, the digital agenda and the EU industrial strategy. You would agree that a two thirds majority of elected members representing the North, South, East and West is hard to ignore.”
Earlier, in their resolution on the post-2020 EU budget revision and economic recovery plans adopted on 15 May, MEPs demand a robust package, focused on citizens’ needs and building on the EU budget. The Recovery Fund must be added to the long-term EU budget, not serve as an argument to reduce it.
|
The press release (15 July): “Recovery effort will fizzle out quickly if there is no long-term perspective”