The European Parliament on October 25 adopted the EU Council’s position on the 2018 EU Budget compiled by MEP Siegfried Muresan as the EP’s chief negotiator for the 2018 EU Budget by 414 votes in favor, 163 against and 90 abstentions. By adopting this, the European Parliament accepted Siegfried Muresan’t proposal to increase allocations for the Eastern Neighborhood states, including Moldova, by €27 million to €619 million from 2018, IPN reports.
The approved rise is additional to the increase of about 48 million included by the European Commission in the 2018 Draft Budget following a request made by MEP Siegfried Muresan. Unlike the macro-financial assistance, this money is intended for projects with European financing and will not reach the government.
“By this rise in allocations, the European Union reasserts its firm commitment to help the Eastern Neighborhood states that have Association Agreements with the EU, the Republic of Moldova, Ukraine, Georgia, to do the reforms they need to strengthen the economy and institutions. For the Republic of Moldova, this support is essential and helps it strengthen its economy and institutions and become more competitive at economic level. The assistance that the European Union offers is concrete and substantial, but we must see concrete progress on the part of the authorities of the Republic of Moldova. For the purpose, the Government should do reforms that strengthen justice, the rule of law and the banking sector and should thus improve people’s lives,” Siegfried Muresan stated after the vote in Parliament.
The European Parliament also accepted the MEP’s request to increase the allocations for investments at the European level in jobs and safety and rejected the EU Council’s request to decrease the 2018 EU Budget by €1.7 billion compared with the initial proposal of the European Commission.
If the European Parliament adopts amendments to the Council’s position by 26 October, a three-week conciliation period will begin on 31 October 2017. The aim of conciliation is to reach a joint position of both institutions on next year’s budget by 20 November 2017. If no consensus on the budget is reached after the conciliation period, the European Commission will have to present a new budget proposal and the budget procedure will be resumed.
