More EU aid for students, businesses, research, Cyprus

The Commission has proposed adjustments to its proposal for the 2014 EU budget. The changes mainly reflect the political agreement reached on the Multiannual Financial Framework (MFF) 2014-2020 between the leaders of the European Parliament, Council and Commission on 27-28 June.
Reflecting the need to urgently tackle youth unemployment and strengthen research, the funding will be increased by EUR 130 mln for Erasmus+ (EU's new programme for education, training and youth), by EUR 30 mln for COSME (promoting entrepreneurship, in particular for SMEs) and by EUR 200 mln for Horizon 2020 (research and innovation).
"2014 will be the first year of the new MFF and I want the EU budget to boost troubled economies from day one", said EU budget Commissioner Janusz Lewandowski. "I therefore propose to put even more funds for science and research programmes and to support the companies. These changes will bring more jobs, especially for the young. I'm also glad to express Europe's solidarity with Cyprus to mitigate the impact of its painful adjustment through investing EUR 200 mln more in its economy," he added.
The EUR 200 mln the Commission proposes to grant to Cyprus (of which EUR 100 mln in 2014) will be invested in energy efficiency, support for small and medium-sized enterprises and to create or maintain jobs that otherwise could be lost. Financing will be provided through the Structural Funds and the Flexibility Instrument which enables extra funding in clearly identified cases.
The proposal also covers human and financial resources needed for the creation of a new generation of joint technology initiatives (public-private and/or public-public partnerships) which aim at for example providing new and more effective diagnostics and treatments, developing new and competitive bio-based value chains or developing clean energy solutions. These initiatives will be funded from the new Horizon 2020 programme.