Speeches

Madam President, in a very tense budgetary context, the European Union has used trust funds to respond to extremely serious crises. This practice is light years away from the budgetary orthodoxy of the European Parliament. The majority of the European Parliament finally supported this approach, first and foremost to enable the EU not to remain indifferent to the suffering and misery to which refugees and migrants were exposed. What is a far cry from humanitarian imperatives is in fact a budgetary anomaly. With NDICI-Global Europe, our new instrument for financing the EU’s external policy, and with the EU’s humanitarian policy for the coming years, we can hopefully leave the practice of Trust Funds behind in the near future. The creation of new trust funds in the future should be a last resort. The EU's Multiannual Financial Framework is a timid return to normal. However, we must go further. Crises must be addressed in a more strategic framework and the exception must not be made the rule. If the underfunding of humanitarian action were to remain chronic and for many, there is every reason to believe that this will be the case, the European Union budget should be endowed with sufficient resources to respond to situations of distress with respect for Parliament’s budgetary prerogatives. Pending the implementation of the trust funds, we must try to deal with and improve the scrutiny of the European Parliament.