At the first meeting of the European Parliament’s Committee on Budgets this year, MEP Victor Negrescu, chief negotiator for the EU 2025 budget, unveiled details of the first financial transfer to fund the REPowerEU plan, which supports the green transition and limits the EU’s dependence on Russian fossil fuels by reducing energy waste, producing clean energy and diversifying supply.
The European Commission has proposed to mobilize €564.4 million from the Brexit Adjustment Reserve (BAR) to support REPowerEU actions. Under the recently adopted regulations, member states may transfer part or the entire amount of the funds allocated from the Brexit Adjustment Reserve to the Recovery and Resilience Facility (RRF). So far, €1.5 billion of the total €2.1 billion planned has been transferred, with the remaining €0.6 billion to be distributed by 2025.
The funds from this transfer will be allocated as follows:
- Belgium: €126.7 million
- Bulgaria: € 6 million
- Denmark: €26.7 million
- Ireland: €73.1 million
- Cyprus: €31.2 million
- Luxembourg: € 128.5 million (commitments) and € 75.6 million (payments)
- Malta: € 26 million
- Netherlands: € 133.1 million
- Sweden: €13.1 million (commitments) and €66 million (payments)
The European Parliament, through its negotiator-in-chief, Victor Negrescu, succeeded in securing for the 2025 EU budget consistent support for tackling problems in areas such as health, humanitarian aid, border management and climate action.
“I have negotiated a record budget of almost €200 billion for 2025. I have convinced the member states and found money for education and health as well as for defence and agriculture,” said Victor Negrescu.
This year’s EU budget also includes extra money beyond what was proposed by the Commission or member states for important programmes:
- austerity measures were blocked and €1.52 billion proposed to be cut by the EU Council were recovered;
- additional funds to make it easier for citizens to repatriate their social rights and pensions back home and to support social dialogue mechanisms;
- an additional €422 million for education and youth, bringing the Erasmus+ budget to a total of €4.3 billion;
- an additional €45 million for research, innovation and health;
- an increase of €30 million in funding for agriculture, in particular for young farmers, as well as the recovery of substantial amounts unused in previous years, resulting in a record total of €39.9 billion for the European Agricultural Guarantee Fund;
- an additional €5 million for nature, biodiversity and climate action;
- a €10 million increase in allocations for programs dedicated to the management of the EU’s external borders, in particular for the Schengen enlargement with Romania and Bulgaria;
- an extra €6 million for military mobility;
- €50 million added to humanitarian aid.
In this context, the vice-president of the European legislative, Victor Negrescu emphasized the importance of the efficient use of European funds: ”Now, my objective is to make sure that all funds are used efficiently and reach the beneficiaries who need these resources”.
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