EN United in diversity EN A8-0249/1. Amendment. Marco Valli, Rosa D Amato on behalf of the EFDD Group

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1 A8-0249/1 1 Paragraph 1 a (new) 1a. Believes that the Commission proposal should enable the EU to generate sustainable growth and jobs while ensuring the security of its citizens; stresses that the austerity measures must be ended to allow adequate and efficient responses to multiple crises simultaneously; recalls the need to respect the principle of solidarity, and calls on the Commission to save as much as possible on projects that so far have not shown real added value; stresses the importance of financing projects that ensure real economic, social and environmental added value for the Member States, as funds should not be used to finance controversial or wasteful projects; stresses that neither the EU budget nor any other financial instrument should be used to finance activities affected by organised crime or terrorism infiltration;

2 A8-0249/2 2 Paragraph 6 6. Commends the role of the European Fund for Strategic Investments (EFSI) in bridging the investment gap across the EU and between the EU s territories and helping to implement strategic investments that provide a high level of added value to the economy, the environment and society; supports, therefore, its extension until 2020; highlights the quick uptake of funds in the SME Window of EFSI and welcomes its intended scale-up; regrets, however, the lack of a holistic approach to SME funding that would allow for a clear overview of total funds available; underlines its position in the ongoing legislative negotiations that no further cuts should be incurred in existing EU programmes in order to finance this extension; considers that EFSI, whose guarantee fund is mostly financed by the EU budget, should not support entities established or incorporated in jurisdictions listed under the relevant EU policy on non-cooperative jurisdictions, or that do not effectively comply with EU or international tax standards on transparency and exchange of information; 6. Stresses that the European Fund for Strategic Investments (EFSI) has proved to be ineffective in reducing the investment gap in Europe, and that the results achieved so far are insignificant and do not deliver any additionality or economic, environmental and social added value in comparison with the existing EIB programmes; deplores the Commission proposal for extending the EFSI until 2020; regrets the lack of a holistic approach to SME funding that would allow for a clear overview of total funds available; underlines its position in the ongoing legislative negotiations that no further cuts should be incurred in existing EU programmes in order to finance the extension of the EFSI; considers that the EFSI, whose guarantee fund is mostly financed by the EU budget, should not support entities established or incorporated in jurisdictions listed under the relevant EU policy on non-cooperative jurisdictions, or that do not effectively comply with EU or international tax standards on transparency and exchange of information;

3 A8-0249/ Budget Mandate for the trilogue Paragraph 8 8. Notes that the Commission has not followed up on Parliament s request that it put forward an assessment and relevant proposals for an 18 th Birthday Interrail Pass for Europe ; believes that such proposals have the potential to boost European consciousness and identity; stresses, however, that any new projects must be financed by new financial resources and without impacting on existing programmes, and should be as socially inclusive as possible; reiterates its previous call on the Commission to put forward relevant proposals in this regard; 8. Notes that the Commission has not followed up on Parliament s request that it put forward an assessment and relevant proposals for an 18 th Birthday Interrail Pass for Europe ; believes that this programme should not be financed at the expense of other successful EU programmes, and should be as socially inclusive as possible; intends to call for focused financing for the programme in the 2018 budget and for an evaluation of its functioning and added value for the younger generation;

4 A8-0249/4 4 Paragraph 16 a (new) 16a. Welcomes the Draft Amending Budget (DAB) No 4 for the year 2017 to mobilise EUR from the European Union Solidarity Fund (EUSF) to provide assistance to Italy further to a series of earthquakes that took place between August 2016 and January 2017 in the regions of Abruzzo, Lazio, Marche and Umbria; asks for the prompt approval of the DAB;

5 A8-0249/5 5 Paragraph Stresses the need for the implementation of the programmes to reach full speed, and strongly believes that any abnormal build-up of unpaid bills must be avoided in the future; calls, in this context, on the Commission and the Member States to resolve, as a matter of priority, any outstanding issues linked with the delayed designation of national managing and certifying authorities, as well as other bottlenecks for the submission of payment applications; sincerely hopes that both the national authorities and the Commission have improved their estimates of the payment needs in the 2018 budget and that the proposed level of payment appropriations will be fully executed; recognises that the lengthy negotiations between the EU institutions regarding the legal bases are among the several causes of this current low implementation rate; 26. Stresses the need for the implementation of the programmes to reach full speed, and strongly believes that any abnormal build-up of unpaid bills must be avoided in the future; calls, in this context, on the Commission and the Member States to resolve, as a matter of priority, any outstanding issues linked with the delayed designation of national managing and certifying authorities, as well as other bottlenecks for the submission of payment applications; sincerely hopes that both the national authorities and the Commission have improved their estimates of the payment needs in the 2018 budget and that the proposed level of payment appropriations will be fully executed; recognises that the lengthy negotiations between the EU institutions regarding the legal bases are among the several causes of this current low implementation rate; stresses the importance of considering sustainable reconstruction and any antiseismic investment, including those cofinanced through ESI Funds and allocated to Thematic Objective 5 ( prevention, promotion of climate change adaptation, risk prevention and management ), to be excluded from the calculation of national deficits in the

6 framework of the Stability and Growth Pact;

7 A8-0249/6 6 Paragraph 35 a (new) 35a. Regrets that until now there has been no effective system for redistribution, and that this has resulted in an unequal load for some Member States, notably Italy and Greece; recalls that refugees and migrants arrived in the EU in 2016, of which arrived in Italy and in Greece, and that Italy has already received 85 % of the refugees and migrants who have reached the EU so far in 2017; regrets that Italy has so far only received EUR million from the AMIF, a sum that only covers 3 % of the country s total expenses for managing the migration crisis;

8 A8-0249/7 7 Paragraph Notes that Heading 5 expenditure is increased by 3.1 % compared to the 2017 budget, up to EUR million (+EUR million); notes that more than one third of this nominal increase is explained by additional appropriations needed for pensions (+EUR million); takes note that the additional appropriations result mostly from a growing expected number of pensioners (+4.2 %); takes note also that the number of pensioners is expected to rise further in the coming years; takes note of the rigorous approach to administrative expenditure and the nominal freeze for all non-salary-related expenditure; 48. Notes that Heading 5 expenditure is increased by 3.1 % compared to the 2017 budget, up to EUR million (+EUR million); notes that more than one third of this nominal increase is explained by additional appropriations needed for pensions (+EUR million); takes note that the additional appropriations result mostly from a growing expected number of pensioners (+4.2 %); takes note also that the number of pensioners is expected to rise further in the coming years; believes that a revision of the pension scheme for the Members of the European Parliament is necessary in order to bring their pension entitlements into line with the social security systems for ordinary citizens of individual Member States; takes note of the rigorous approach to administrative expenditure and the nominal freeze for all non-salary-related expenditure;