European Parliament boosts EU aid budget. Will EU Leaders follow suit?

BRUSSELS, 28 OCTOBER 2015. Today, the European Parliament adopted its position on what the EU’s budget should look like next year. It voted to increase the €154 billion draft budget, amongst other reasons in order to help the EU respond to the refugee crisis.

The Commission had presented its initial draft budget for 2016 in May of this year. In September, EU Member States suggested severe cuts to the proposed budget, with one third of the cuts to come from the EU’s external action, a budget line accounting for only 6% of the overall budget.

The cuts proposed by Member States seem disproportional, unjustified and contrary to previous engagements. They came just weeks after the world has agreed to an ambitious set of Global Goals that would end extreme poverty, fight inequality and injustice, and tackle climate change in the next 15 years.

The negotiations in the coming weeks will be crucial, as by 19 November the institutions will have to agree on a final budget for next year.

Tamira Gunzburg, Director of ONE Brussels, said:

We welcome the Parliament’s proposed increases to the European Union’s draft budget for next year. This is a necessity, especially in the area of development aid, which the EU Member States are trying to cut.

Crippling the EU’s aid budget in the very year the Global Goals for Sustainable Development were adopted would be ludicrous.

 We call on Member States to empower the EU with the budget it needs to deliver on the Global Goals and address the ongoing refugee crisis.

Notes to editors:

• Contact, information &interviews – Andrea Ghianda // [email protected] // +32 (0)2 300 89 42 // +32 (0)471 89 64 22