Financial Programming and Budget

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Visitors select education and cultural heritage as priority for EU budget

Viviane Reding, vice-president and commissioner for justice, fundamental rights and citizenship.

During the Open Doors Day of the EU institutions in Brussels, a light-hearted poll on the priorities for the EU budget was conducted, revealing that two out of ten respondents would choose to invest most of the EU resources in education and cultural heritage. The second and third highest-voted EU budget priorities were job opportunities as well as peace and stability in the world.

On 4 May the Open Doors Day team of the Directorate-General for Budget asked more than one thousand visitors to the Commission’s Berlaymont building to indicate 3 out of 12 policy areas funded by the EU budget as the ones they considered most important. Students, parents with children, seniors, visitors from abroad all actively voiced their opinion. Based on their selections the figures below show how these policy areas were prioritised by them.

The results of this improvised public consultation seem to echo the words of Janusz Lewandowski, EU Commissioner for Financial Programming and Budget, who said that "pooling our resources together through a more focused EU budget for investment in growth and jobs will deliver bigger impacts at a time when Europe needs it most"1.

It is worth noting that the Commission’s proposal for the next Multiannual Financial Framework for the years 2014-2020 contains an allocation of €15.2 billion towards the area of education (two-thirds more than for the years 2007-2013). This funding is to be complemented by important support for education and training in the Structural Funds.

 

 

Total

1

Education and cultural heritage

674

2

Job opportunities

564

3

Peace and stability in the world

327

4

Research and innovation

316

5

Environment and climate change

310

6

Development and humanitarian aid

309

7

Agriculture and fishing

265

8

Consumer rights and health protection

206

9

Transport and infrastructure

151

10

Security and fight against organised crime

149

11

Energy and digital networks

146

12

Response to natural disasters or effects of globalisation

86

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Source: Directorate-General for Budget public opinion poll

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