EU needs more money to tackle future challenges

Commenting on today's informal summit of EU Heads of State and Government, Ska Keller, President of the Greens/EFA Group in the European Parliament, said:

"A strong European Union needs more money to tackle its future challenges and invest in education and climate change. Making the payment of EU money conditional on the reception of refugees would be counterproductive. It is not only the governments that benefit from European Union payments, but also civil society. Such an approach would mean future projects which benefit the citizens would lack the necessary money. It would be more sensible to pay more money to the communities that are doing a great deal for the reception and integration of refugees.

"Leading candidates for the 2019 European elections will help build a common European public sphere and enhance democracy. The Member States must realise that they cannot ignore the European Parliament on the question of the next EU Commission President."