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Boosting the European economy
The money specifically for supporting economic growth will total almost €80 billion in commitments in 2019. This includes increases in a number of flagship programmes:
€12.5 billion (+8.4% over 2018) for research and innovation under Horizon 2020, including €194 million for a new European High Performance Computing Joint Undertaking;
€2.6 billion for education under Erasmus+ (+10.4% over 2018);
€3.8 billion under the Connecting Europe Facility (CEF) (+36,4% over 2018) for infrastructure networks;
a further €233.3 million for the Youth Employment initiative to support young people living in regions where youth unemployment is high, to be matched with funds from the European Social Fund.
The Commission expects the 2014-2020 cohesion policy programmes to remain at cruising speed in 2019, after encouraging signals end of last year at €57 billion (+2.8% over 2018) and the funding for agricultural policy to remain stable at almost €60 billion (+1.2% over 2018).
Security within and beyond EU borders
Despite the limitations in the 2014-2020 long-term EU budget, the Commission is using all flexibility in the budget to make sure thatmigration and border management issues receive specific attention again this year:
reform of the common European asylum system to ensure a more efficient, fair and humane asylum policy;
new Entry-Exit System to strengthen border management;
reinforcing the European Border and Coast Guard, the EU Agency for Asylum, and other agencies which work on border and visa issues;
an additional €1.5 billion for the Facility for Refugees in Turkey to continue to provide food, education and housing to those fleeing the wars in Syria and elsewhere (a further €500 million will be provided already under the current 2018 budget, and for this reason the Commission is also proposing to amend the latter);
implementation of two major initiatives: the Partnership Framework with non-EU countries under the European Agenda on Migration and the European Fund for Sustainable Development (EFSD) to address the root causes of migration.
Supporting new initiatives
In addition to consolidating past efforts, this draft budget also includes support for new initiatives:
€103 million for the European Solidarity Corps, creating opportunities for young people to volunteer or work in projects in their own country or abroad;
€11 million for the creation of the European Labour Authority, which will help to ensure fair labour mobility inside the internal market, and simplify cooperation between national authorities;
€40 million for the extension of the Structural Reform Support Programme focusing on implementation of structural reforms in the Member States;
€245 million for the set-up of the European Defence Industrial Development Programme to support the European defence industry and move towards a European Defence Union;
€150 million to strengthen the response to earthquakes, wildfires and other disasters in Europe through a reserve of civil protection capabilities at EU level, including equipment and teams "rescEU";
€5 million is dedicated to the creation of the new European Public Prosecutor's Office to prosecute cross-border crime, including fraud, money laundering and corruption. Further steps will be taken to protect individuals and companies against cyber-attacks.