European Parliament will call for improvements in research, health and climate

No consent in the present form / Very important step for Europe but not good enough for unconditional consent

EPP MEP Peter Liese describes the outcome of the EU summit on the budget and recovery plan as a "very important step for Europe". "It is important that Europe is able to act in this difficult time and that we help the countries most affected by the Corona crisis. It is also essential for the EU economy that these countries get back on their feet. That is why I am sure that the European Parliament will support the agreement in principle, but we will of course exercise our rights and demand changes in those areas where the result is simply not good enough. I am very grateful to Angela Merkel for not only helping to bring a compromise in the Council, but also for making it clear in the morning, after the end of the negotiations, that the European Parliament must give its support before the package can enter into force," Liese said.

The EPP spokesperson for environment and health stressed that, in addition to improvements to the very weak rule of law mechanism, the Parliament wants to push through changes in three areas in particular. "I will make every effort to ensure that we welcome the agreement in principle at our plenary session on Thursday, but reject it in its present form. In addition to the very weak rule of law mechanism, there are three main areas where improvements need to be made:

1. Research. Even before the Corona crisis, the Parliament had called for the EU's research budget to be increased to €120 billion. After last night's decision, we are dramatically below that. In order to create sustainable jobs, fight climate change and develop better therapies, e.g. against cancer, we need European research cooperation and the COVID-19 crisis has once again made clear how important European research cooperation is. Well over 100 teams throughout Europe are working to combat the crisis, for example on developing a vaccine using European research methods. It is irresponsible to cut back on this now, even in comparison with the Commission's original proposal.

(2) The European Commission has proposed that a separate health programme should be adopted with a budget of around EUR 9.4 billion. This has been drastically reduced to EUR 1.7 billion. It has to be admitted that it is still more than the EU has had available for health in the current period, but no one can deny that we currently have much greater tasks.

3. The European Parliament must play a much stronger role in the recovery  plan. Parliament's involvement is not sufficient. We must be more involved in the use of the funds and the link between investment and climate protection must be strengthened. It is regrettable that the proposal of the European Commission and the Franco-German initiative, namely that all countries benefiting from the programme must be carbon neutral by 2050, have failed due to Poland's resistance. Here too, Parliament will make improvements. It is inevitable that the European Union will now take on a great deal of debt, but we owe it to the young generation that we then at least set the right course so that the next generation will not be left with a mountain of debt and on top a destroyed environment," concluded Liese.