MEPs at the Employment and Social Affairs Committee rejected the idea of making the allocation of funds to social projects conditional upon the respect for budget discipline required by the EU stability and growth pact. For them, the European Social Fund (ESF) should account for at least 25% of EU cohesion policy funding in 2014-2020.

The European Social Fund (ESF) aims to promote high standards of employment, education and training and to support the mobility of workers. Bearing in mind this, MEPs demand to the EU Council of Ministers that at least, 25% of EU structural funding be reserved for the ESF and that at least 20% of social funding be reserved to fight poverty.

The vote celebrated on 5 of July by the Employment and Social Affairs Committee at the European Parliament backed the Commission proposal of that at least 25% of the €376 billion cohesion fund budget should be dedicated to the ESF, i.e. €84 billion. MEPs also stressed that reducing funding to support human capital development and fight social exclusion can only further penalise Member States experiencing economic or budgetary difficulties and reduce their chances of recovery in the long term.

In addition, MEPs highlighted that the ESF must step up its support for fighting social exclusion and poverty by allocating at least 20% of ESF resources in each Member State to this task. Now, following the committee vote, a team formed by MEPs will enter into negotiations with Council.