We have recently published some pointers to follow theevolution of the community budget for the upcoming 2021-2027 programming period.
As the political debate and the technical and legislative process run their course, we publish here a brief analysis of the community programs and the related financial envelope under the European Commission’s first proposed financial framework.
As highlighted by the slogan chosen by the European Commission (“A modern budget serving a Union that protects, empowers and defends“) the proposal denotes a growing focus on the Union’s global challenges (security and crisis response capacity), further strengthening the commitment to the search, of theinnovation and of the competitiveness, the digital agenda, the environment, European values and social inclusion.
Compared to the current community programs we point out some interesting new features:
- an InvestEU Fund dedicated to mobilizing new public and private investment through a system of loans, guarantees, equity and other market instruments;
- a Digital Europe Program, dedicated to the enhancement of high-performance information and data systems, artificial intelligence, cybersecurity, advanced digital skills and the large-scale application of digital technologies in all economic sectors;
- The further strengthening of Horizon2020 (Horizon Europe);
- the creation of a Single Market Program, which takes up the legacy of COSME by further enhancing it and integrating it with other complementary instruments previously included in other SME and private sector instruments;
- the creation of a “plus” European Social Fund that includes, in addition to the former ESF and the youth employment initiative(Youth Guarantee), the European Aid for the Indigent Fund, the Employment and Social Innovation Program (EaSI) and the Health program;
- the general strengthening of all external cooperation programs and the gathering of many of the previous geographic and thematic programs into a single Neighborhood, Development and International Cooperation Instrument.
Here is the PDF document containing the main budget items and community programs planned for 2021-2027. Proposed Regulations, currently under discussion, are available for almost all of them.
