On the 30th of June, the Committee on Budget of the European Parliament voted an own-initiative report on public funding for non-profit organisations. EFA, the European Patients’ Forum (EPF) and other patients’ organisations advocated for more efficiency, simplification and transparency in the use of EU funds. Access is limited, especially to public core-funding, and the draft report was not specifically addressing this.
The vote supports the simplification and harmonisation of funding procedures across EU programmes and demands greater transparency on the side of the European Commission, while recognising the role of NGOs in projects and advocacy.
Although the Members of the European Parliament (MEPs) have proposed to set up a minimum co-funding of 10 % for NGOs (while the current financial regulations do not impose any minimum; under the Horizon 2020 programme NGOs can get 100% funding), they also request the inclusion of co-funding in kind in the revision of the financial regulation, which EFA considers as positive measure.
We will continue monitoring this document underlining the importance of patients’ organisations in Europe. They make a unique contribution to the public health debate, voicing the experience and expertise of the healthcare users, their constituents. At European level, they play a role in promoting higher standards of care, better access to care and more coordination of health policies across the European Union and in EFA’s case, prevention.