By Thea Pieridou
Head of the Press Office of the European Parliament in Cyprus
It is very difficult to fully assess how our society has been affected and how many other things might still change because of the coronavirus pandemic we went through in 2020. The European Parliament did not stop functioning for a moment, no plenary session was canceled and when the measures were prohibitive for the movement of MEPs, the plenary sessions, the work of the parliamentary committees, and the voting after the speeches of the MEPs, took place remotely. During 2020, the European Parliament discussed and adopted a wide range of important issues concerning both Cyprus and the European family as a whole.
1.Covid-19
2. Climate and environment
3. Long-term EU budget.
Statement by EP President David Maria Sassoli: "The humanity of our fellow citizens is our greatest advantage"
1. COVID - 19
The common European response to COVID-19 was and is crucial for the duration of the restrictive measures and beyond.
· The EP has approved a budget €37 billion to combat COVID-19 (March 2020)
MEPs voted to make the €37 billion available to the European Investment Bank.
· EP 'stop' on empty flights amid COVID-19 pandemic (March 2020)
Many airlines had been pushed to fly empty planes since the end of January so as not to miss their take-off and landing slots for the next period. MEPs voted to temporarily suspend the 'use it or lose it' rule less than two weeks after the Commission's proposal was submitted
· Extension of the scope of the EU Solidarity Fund for public health emergencies (March 2020)
The EP has made €800 million available for the member countries to be spent on public health, including the provision of medical coverage, as well as measures to prevent, monitor and control the spread of diseases.
· Strengthening the EU response to the impact of the crisis (April 2020)
MEPs adopted additional measures under emergency procedures to provide European funding directly and in an extremely flexible manner to combat the effects of the pandemic. The proposals adopted were as follows:
· 'Green light' from the EP for €3 billion for health (April 2020)
The EP approved EUR 3,08 billion, allocated directly to strengthen health systems in the EU Member States. This initiative enabled the EU to buy medical equipment, masks and respirators, to finance cross-border transport of equipment and patients, hire more doctors and nurses to cover areas where such were in need across the EU, and help Member States build mobile hospital units.
· Relaxation of rules on lending to households and businesses (June 2020)
The EP approved temporary one-off changes to make it easier for banks to increase lending flows to businesses and households and absorb losses.
· Increase in support to farmers from the European Agricultural Fund for Rural Development (June 2020)
The support measure adopted by the EP has enabled Member States to provide, in one-off form, financial support to farmers and small businesses in the countryside adversely affected by the coronavirus pandemic.
· Another €47.5 billion to the regions to deal with the effects of the pandemic (December 2020)
The EP approved the REACT-EU initiative, a package of measures with a budget of €47,5 billion. This is intended to help address the immediate consequences of the coronavirus crisis in the EU regions. A total of €37,5 billion is foreseen for 2021 and another €10 billion for 2022.
2. Climate and environment
· Lead in plastics: health and environmental hazard (February 2020)
By 394 votes in favour, MEPs rejected the Commission's proposal which was not in line with the 'safe levels' imposed by the existing framework on the concentration of lead in PVC-type plastics and stressed that alternatives are available.
· Climate Neutrality by 2050 (October 2020)
The European Parliament has approved its mandate in view of the negotiations on new EU climate protection legislation. The new law aims to turn political promises to achieve EU climate neutrality by 2050 into a legally binding obligation. All Member States must be climate neutral by 2050 according to the EP, which calls for ambitious greenhouse gas emission reduction targets for 2030 and 2040.
The European Parliament played an important role in promoting more ambitious EU climate legislation by declaring a climate emergency on 28 November 2019.
· Rules for better tap water and less plastics approved by Parliament (December 2020)
The aim of the new rules is to ensure high quality tap water across the EU and also to call on Member States to further improve access to drinking water by installing water supply dispensers in public places. This development is in response to the request of more than 1.8 million Europeans who signed the first successful European Citizens' Initiative under the title'Right2Water'. The new rules aim to reduce the consumption of bottled water, which will help reduce plastic waste and save EU households more than €600 million a year.
3. Long-term EU budget (Multiannual Financial Framework or simply MFF) and Next Generation EU Recovery Plan
· EU own resources vote: EP 'green light' on Recovery Plan (September 2020)
With rapid procedures, MEPs adopted their legislative opinion on the own resources decision by speeding up the process for the EU central legislative act to restart the economy to enter into force. The European Commission is now authorised to raise €750 billion from financial markets and make them available to the Recovery Plan.
· The rule of law as a condition for European funding: adoption of the mechanism by the EP (December 2020)
The EP adopted a regulation to protect European funds from abuse by EU governments that violate the rule of law. Under the new regulation, there will be no disbursements from the European budget for countries where proven violations of the rule of law jeopardise the management of European funds.
· Parliament approves EU MFF (2021-2027) (December 2020)
The EP has given its approval to the next Multiannual Financial Framework (MFF) so that EU support reaches citizens from the beginning of 2021. In conjunction with the Next Generation EU Recovery Plan, the total amount of the EU budget for 2021-2027 is €1,8 trillion.
Thanks to the European Parliament, there is an additional €16 billion in aid for key EU programmes. This translates into a tripling of the EU4Health fund, ensures the equivalent of an additional year of funding for Erasmus+ and ensures that research funding continues to increase.
It is worth noting that €1 billion was allocated from the European Structural and Investment Funds to Cyprus for the period 2014-2020 and an additional €310.4 million came in from 2014 to the end of 2019 through the EU Competitive Programmes.
Cyprus will receive up to €2.7 billion euros in grants from the new EU budget for the years 2021 to 2027 and the Next Generation EU programme, and up to €2 billion in low-interest loans to boost its economy from the Next Generation EU and SURE programmes.
