Brussels – Today, the European Commission presented its draft budget for 2023, proposing EUR 16 781,9 for Heading 6 – Neighbourhood and the world, out of which EUR 11 970,8 will be financing the Neighbourhood, Development and International Cooperation Instrument. Approximately 88% of the flexibility instrument, nearly EUR 453 million, has been attributed to Heading 6 to support refugees in Turkey.

In reaction, Guadalupe de las Casas Escardó, Acting EU Director at the ONE Campaign, said: 

A status quo budget for an exceptional moment in time simply won’t do. Just over 100 days since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, fragile supply chains and escalating fuel and fertiliser prices have pushed an additional 58 million people into hunger. An estimated 346 million people in Africa are currently affected by the food crisis. We must not be plagued by a short memory, but instead hold onto what Covid taught us – we cannot outmanoeuvre transnational crises without looking beyond our own continent’s borders. 

The 2023 budget must be equipped to respond to growing food insecurity, to close access gaps to essential health tools and to restimulate economic development in lower-income countries. This requires further increases to the thematic programmes of the NDICI, which have faced disproportionate pressure due to COVID-19.

ENDS

The full budget proposal can be found here.