At its 37^th meeting which took place on 10 November 2020 by videoconference, members of the EASO Management Board discussed a range of issues in relation to the Governance areas, such as the implementation of the EASO Work Programme and Budget 2020, staff recruitment and audit reports.

Members of the EASO Management Board also considered updates on EASO’s operations in the field, in Italy, Greece, Cyprus and Malta and looked at the situation of asylum in the EU+ with a special focus on EASO’s recent analytical work related to the asylum situation in 2020 as well as the emergency measures in place in asylum and reception authorities as a result of the COVID-19 situation.

Members also continued the discussion on identified new alternative options for the deployment of experts across the European Union Member States where EASO provides operational support.

At the end of the meeting, the European Commission gave a presentation on the recently published Pact on Migration and Asylum.

11 November 2020

Guidelines and Technical standards

• Support for new investment projects, with a maximum term of five years, in all production sectors mainly for companies in southern Italy.
• Working capital, including wages, tax, social security contributions, and administrative and other operational costs are also financed.

The European Investment Bank (EIB) and Mediocredito Centrale (MCC) are providing €50 million to help Italian small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) and mid-caps to face the COVID-19 crisis.

An agreement to this end was announced today by the EU bank and the Italian public sector bank dedicated to supporting smaller companies mostly in southern Italy. Under the agreement, the EIB will make €50 million available to MCC for SMEs (businesses with up to 250 employees) and mid-caps (up to 3 000 employees).

The new credit line, aiming to address the ongoing crisis, provides financing for new investment projects with a maximum term of five years, and covers working capital needs, in view of the exceptional situation being faced by Italian industry. This includes social security contributions, administrative and other operational costs and multifunctional credit lines, even if these are extensions or renewals of working capital loans. Only purely financial and/or real estate transactions remain excluded.

The loans target projects from companies active in all production sectors: agriculture, crafts, commerce, tourism, services and industry.

“Thanks to the partnership with Mediocredito Centrale, the advantages of EIB financing in terms of loan duration and low interest rates will be available to small and medium-sized companies, mostly in southern Italy, an area which, in addition to manufacturing, also hosts production chains interconnected with national and international industry, such as many activities in the automotive sector,” said EIB Vice-President Dario Scannapieco.

“The agreement signed by Mediocredito Centrale and the EIB is an important tool for small and medium-sized enterprises in southern Italy that, from a position of competitive disadvantage, have been more heavily affected by the effects of the ongoing health crisis. The interdependence of northern and southern Italy means that supporting production chains and investments in this area will provide a boost for the entire country. This virtuous multiplier effect shows how Italy can only grow with a stronger and more competitive South, and how this region is playing a strategic role in post-crisis reconstruction and recovery policies,” added Mediocredito Centrale CEO Bernardo Mattarella.

L’Union européenne, c’est la démocratie, ce sont les valeurs de liberté fondamentales. Cette bataille que nous menons ensemble contre le terrorisme, c’est une bataille pour préserver nos valeurs fondamentales. Nous sommes mobilisés pour travailler afin de renforcer la sécurité. C’est en cela que nous allons, avec les chefs d’État et de gouvernement, avec les ministres, avec la Commission européenne, continuer à progresser pour faire en sorte qu’il y ait plus de sécurité. Et pour faire reculer cette menace terroriste alors que ces dernières années, beaucoup de choses ont été initiées, beaucoup de choses ont été mises en oeuvre, mais il était extrêmement important d’observer de quelle manière on peut encore améliorer les choses.

Et ce sera le sens de la réunion au niveau des ministres de l’Intérieur qui se tiendra ce vendredi. Ce sera l’occasion de faire le point sur l’état d’avancement, l’étape d’implémentation de ce qui a été décidé parfois depuis plusieurs années. Ce sera l’occasion aussi de voir comment on peut accélérer, préciser, améliorer un certain nombre de processus. Et puis, je m’y suis engagé, nous aurons à nouveau au mois de décembre, au niveau des chefs d’Etat et de gouvernement, l’occasion de refaire le point pour s’assurer que nous donnons les impulsions politiques et les orientations afin que les progrès soient réalisés.

Je mets en avant quelques points qui me semblent importants. D’une part, comme d’autres l’ont dit avant moi, faire reculer l’apologie du terrorisme, combattre farouchement ces messages de haine, cette apologie de la violence: c’est la clé, notamment dans l’espace Internet. C’est le sens d’un travail qui a démarré depuis quelques temps et nous espérons qu’on pourra prendre des décisions formelles pour réussir à retirer très rapidement les contenus terroristes en dehors des espaces Internet.

Et puis, un autre point qui me tient à cœur. Parce que je sais que dans beaucoup de pays européens, c’est un vrai sujet: comment peut-on encourager la formation des imams en Europe? Comment peut-on s’assurer de garantir, dans le respect évidemment, la liberté de conscience, la liberté de religion qui est un point extrêmement important en Europe, comment garantir que sur ces valeurs fondamentales, il n’y ait pas d’accommodements possibles, qu’ils soient fermement garanties, fermement protégées.

Et enfin il y a un autre élément qui nous tient à cœur, c’est la nécessité de mener le dialogue international. Cela était dit, l’Europe garantit la liberté de conscience, garantit la liberté pour chacun de croire ou de ne pas croire et l’Europe, par conséquent, veut aussi être engagée dans le dialogue international pour ne pas tomber dans le piège de ceux qui tentent d’instrumentaliser, de ceux qui tentent de nourrir la haine, de nourrir la séparation. C’est le sens de l’activité diplomatique intense qu’on va continuer à mener avec des pays en dehors d’Europe pour expliquer quelles sont nos valeurs, pour expliquer notre détermination à agir contre le terrorisme, pour protéger les libertés, pour protéger la démocratie. Merci.

On Tuesday, after ten weeks of intense negotiations, Parliament’s budget negotiators agreed with the Council Presidency on the outline of an agreement on the next Multiannual Financial Framework (MFF 2021-2027) and new Own Resources. The compromise needs to be endorsed by both institutions.

In the compromise, Parliament obtained €16 billion on top of the package agreed by heads of state or government at their summit in July. €15 billion will reinforce flagship programmes to protect citizens from the COVID-19 pandemic, provide opportunities to the next generation, and preserve European values. €1 billion will increase flexibility to address future needs and crises.

Parliament’s top priority was to secure an increase for flagship programmes that were at risk of being underfinanced under the European Council’s July 2020 agreement, jeopardising the EU’s commitments and priorities, notably the Green Deal and the Digital Agenda.

The additional funds will be drawn mainly from amounts corresponding to competition fines (which companies have to pay when they do not comply with EU rules), in line with Parliament’s long-standing request that money generated by the European Union should stay in the EU budget.

Thanks to this compromise, in real terms, the European Parliament inter alia triples the envelope for EU4Health, ensures the equivalent of an additional year of financing for Erasmus+ and ensures that research funding keeps increasing.

New Own Resources

Negotiators agreed to the principle that the medium- to long-term costs of repaying the debt from the recovery fund should neither come at the expense of well-established investment programmes in the MFF, nor result in much higher GNI-based contributions from member states. Therefore, EP negotiators have devised a roadmap to introduce new Own Resources during the next seven years. This roadmap is incorporated into the ‘Interinstitutional Agreement’, a legally binding text. In addition to the plastics-based contribution as of 2021, the roadmap includes an ETS (Emissions Trading System)-based Own Resource (from 2023, possibly linked with a carbon border adjustment mechanism), a digital levy (from 2023), and an FTT-based Own Resource as well as a financial contribution linked to the corporate sector or a new common corporate tax base (from 2026).

Checking how Next Generation EU funds are spent: enhancing budgetary scrutiny

Concerning the expenditure of Next Generation EU funds, Parliament secured that the three institutions will meet regularly to assess the implementation of funds made available on the legal basis of Art. 122. The expenditure will be spent in a transparent manner and Parliament, together with Council, will check any deviation from previously agreed plans.

The recovery instrument (Next Generation EU) is based on an EU treaty article (Art. 122 TFEU) which does not provide for a role for the European Parliament. EP negotiators have also obtained a new procedure, setting up a “constructive dialogue” between Parliament and Council on the basis of an assessment by the Commission, in order to agree on the budgetary implications of any proposed new legal act on the basis of Article 122.

Horizontal issues: biodiversity targets, gender and equal opportunities

Improved climate and biodiversity tracking methodologies will be implemented in order to make sure that at least 30% of the total amount of the Union budget and Next Generation EU expenditures will support climate objectives, and to ensure 7.5% of annual spending is dedicated to biodiversity objectives from 2024 and 10% from 2026 onwards.

Another horizontal priority in the MFF will be to promote gender equality and mainstreaming, accompanied by a thorough gender impact assessment and monitoring of the programmes.

The EP’s negotiating team for the next long-term EU budget and Own Resources reform

Johan Van Overtveldt (ECR, BE), Chair of the Committee on Budgets

Jan Olbrycht (EPP, PL), MFF co-rapporteur

Margarida Marques (S&D, PT), MFF co-rapporteur

José Manuel Fernandes (EPP, PT), Own Resources co-rapporteur

Valérie Hayer (RENEW, FR), Own Resources co-rapporteur

Rasmus Andresen (Greens/EFA, DE)

Follow them on Twitter: https://twitter.com/i/lists/1205126942384676866?s=20

Quotes

Find the statements of the Parliament’s negotiators here

Background information

This outline of an agreement reached between the EP’s negotiating team and the Council Presidency still has be endorsed by the Council, Parliament’s President and group leaders, and will be subject to votes in the Committee on Budgets and the plenary.

Follow press conference: here