Now in his second term in the European Parliament, MEP Victor Negrescu focused his legislative activity in 2022 on key areas for the future of Romanian and European citizens. In a review of his work and initiatives, education, digitalisation, innovation, support for SMEs and entrepreneurs, Romania’s accession to the Schengen area, the EU budget, European funds for Romania and the NRRP, support for Ukraine and the European minimum wage are the major dossiers in which the Romanian representative has been involved in order to achieve solutions and favourable results for Romanian and European citizens.
“We will continue in 2023 to work constructively for a strong European Union, where every citizen is represented, so that no one is left behind. I wish you all the best and I am convinced that together we will overcome all the challenges we are facing. Best wishes for the New Year!”– Victor Negrescu
Key moments of the MEP’s activity during 2022:
Re-election as Vice-Chair of the European Parliament’s Committee on Education, Culture, Youth, Media and Sport (CULT)
In this position, MEP Victor Negrescu pledged to continue to campaign “for access to quality education for all, for the development of the cultural and creative sector, for the voice of young people to be heard, for the media to be assisted in remaining independent and for sport to be truly supported”.
Europe of Education
- called for stronger EU action in the field of education by increasing European competences in the field;
- has consistently promoted the European Digital Education Hub’s accelerator programme, whereby innovators in each education sector are invited to submit proposals for digital education solutions. The programme focuses on three themes: vulnerable groups, engagement in digital education and skills for the 21st century;
- signed the open letter drafted ahead of the UN Summit on Transforming Education, supporting the proposal to change the international legal framework so that education is free globally for all children from kindergarten to secondary school;
- tabled amendments to the European Parliament’s report on civic education for active European citizenship, proposing a common curriculum available in all Member States, teacher training in this area, methods and content adapted to different categories of learners, including online, adequate resources with appropriate funding and the creation of a responsible structure at European level;
- upon his proposal, policies, projects and reforms dedicated to education, youth and culture, implemented through national recovery and resilience plans will be evaluated in detail;
- in the context of the Conference on the Future of Europe, as representative of the European Parliament, proposed to create the European Education Plan, requesting to increase the funding allocation by €3 billion for educational infrastructure and improvement of accessibility, connectivity and quality of education, as well as lifelong learning throughout the European Union, idea which was subsequently adopted by the European Commission;
- sustained at the European Education Summit the importance of access to educational technologies and highlighted Romania’s potential to become a leader in this field through an enhanced presence at European level;
- proposed amendments to Romania’s education laws to bring the legislation into line with European trends in education and the implementation of the European Education Area by 2025. The list of amendments concerns the need for predictable legislation that can offer reliable and real prospects for access to quality education;
Digitalisation, innovation, technology
- organised the first European Forum of the Common Innovation Area together with the President of the European Parliament, Roberta Metsola;
- continued the public debates on the Charter of Digital Rights with the aim of identifying the set of rights and obligations that can be defined in the digital space in order to exploit its potential and make it more secure;
- organised the first Romanian Digital Day in Brussels, with the support of the S&D Group. During this event, he gave actors from the Romanian digital sector the opportunity to present their views in Brussels, to present the innovative and effective initiatives they had implemented, and to interact with leading representatives of European institutions and public authorities in Romania;
Delegate to the plenary of the Conference on the Future of Europe
- the only Romanian to represent the S&D Group in the European Parliament at the plenary of the conference, with the support of the PSD delegation;
- organised several actions aimed at gathering Romanians’ views on the future of Europe;
Supporting European and Romanian SMEs and entrepreneurs
- secured an additional approximately €1 million for the pilot project he launched, sum approved by the European Commission, for the creation of a digital one-stop-shop for SMEs, in the form of an interactive platform, to provide European and Romanian entrepreneurs with information, advice and support in accessing European funds and the opportunities offered by the European single market;
- tabled amendments to the European budget to increase the funds allocated to SMEs, so that for both the 2022 budget and next year’s European budget, there will be additional funds at European level for programmes aimed at SMEs;
- proposed an amendment to modify the Regulation for the Recovery and Resilience Facility to allow not only the optimisation but actually the amendment of recovery and resilience plans in a very short timeframe of around 30 days to allow the introduction of grants for SMEs;
The European budget for 2023 and the amendment of the EU multi-annual budget in order to provide extra protection for citizens faced with multiple crises and challenges
- called for a long-term review of the EU budget in order to provide solutions to current needs and to fill funding gaps to address various pressing issues such as the energy crisis, social and regional disparities or high inflation, stressing the need for greater annual EU budgetary flexibility as well as for new own resources;
- as rapporteur for the S&D Group in the European Parliament on the EU general budget for 2023, he called for the inclusion of three priorities concerning Romania in the draft budget proposed by the Parliament: funds for Romania’s accession to the Schengen area, additional resources for the Republic of Moldova and the recovery of projects delayed by the war in Ukraine or affected by the current context. At the end of the negotiations with the Council, €687.3 million in addition to the initial proposal was obtained, and a budget of €186.6 billion was agreed, which is an increase of 1.1% on the previous budget and includes funding for important priorities for our country. Some of the additional funded priorities are: €155.5 million to combat the energy crisis and for the development of the energy sector; €10 million to support SMEs; €10 million for the protection of external borders, including Romania’s accession to the Schengen area; €210 million for the Eastern Partnership, including the Republic of Moldova; €118 million for the European transport programme; €123 million for education and youth;
Support for Ukraine
- in the wake of the invasion of Ukraine, he started work on the creation of a humanitarian corridor, an initiative supported by some 90 MEPs and approved by the European Commission in early March;
- also called for help for families with children, the creation of a corridor for the transport of humanitarian aid to Ukraine, and integrated European support;
- travelled, together with colleagues from PES activists Romania, to the border with Ukraine to send a message of hope and solidarity to children and families who had fled the war and offered direct support, as well as to distribute hundreds of humanitarian aid kits;
- launched, together with PES activists Romania, the campaign “Hope for children in Ukraine”, which was a continuation of the humanitarian actions organized for children in Romania and a message to the little ones that during difficult times the Romanian people stand united and in solidarity;
European minimum wage
- the European minimum wage proposed by the European social democratic family was approved, an idea actively supported by MEP Victor Negrescu since two years ago when PES activists Romania had initiated a petition, supported by more than 20,000 people, for a European minimum wage, officially submitted to the European Parliament;
European funds for Romania and the implementation of the NRRP
- organised the “European Funds for the Future” information campaign, presenting European and NRRP funding opportunities to potential beneficiaries together with experts in the field. The campaign started in Alba county and continued throughout the country;
- approval of the amendment tabled together with social democrat colleague Dan Nica, calling for the optimisation of the national recovery and resilience plans in the context of the challenges generated by the war in Ukraine and the need to include a chapter dedicated to the REPowerEU programme, aimed at helping to shorten the timeframe for the European Commission to consider the changes requested by Member States and also to help Romania to fulfill its obligations to access European funds available under the Recovery and Resilience Facility;
- proposed solutions to support the projects delayed by the pandemic and the war in Ukraine, and to save significant amounts from the unused funds of the financial period 2014-2020, solutions supported by the President of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen;
Romania’s accession to the Schengen area
- initiated, together with PES activists Romania and the Social Democratic Party, the campaign #RomâniiMerităÎnSchengen, aimed at collecting by which over 40,000 messages of support from Romanian citizens in favour of this goal were collected, with the possibility of sending them addressed to European leaders via postcards. The initiative is a follow-up to the #RomâaniaCereÎnSchengen campaign of 2015, which collected tens of thousands of signatures for a subsequent petition submitted to the European institutions, leading to a resolution of support from the European Parliament;
- displayed in front of the EU Council and the European Commission, together with colleagues from PES activists Romania, pro-European messages on Schengen accession of Romania, in all EU languages, to show Romanians’ support for this goal;
- urged the European Commission and the EU Council to urgently submit a timetable for Romania’s accession to the Schengen area after the negative vote expressed by Austria on 8 December in the Justice and Home Affairs Council;
- as Vice-President of the Party of European Socialists (PES), called on the European Social Democrat leaders to raise the issue of Romania’s accession to the Schengen area at the European winter summit.
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