European Union
Due to the economic crisis, an increase in the budget of the LIFE+ financial instrument is highly unlikely, as stated by MEPs during a discussion by the European Parliament’s Environment Committee on the EC’s funding proposal for 2014-20. In its proposal of December 2011, the Commission had announced its intention to spend €3.2bn on LIFE+.
Although the proposal of environmental NGOs for allocation of 1% of the EU budget to LIFE was seriously taken into consideration, many MEPs, like Chris Davies (UK) argued that "unfortunately, money does not fall from the sky". In a more pro-environment tone, MEP João Ferreira from Portugal stated that even the commission's proposed increase to €3.2bn, or about 0.3% of the EU budget, is not sufficient to address major challenges such as biodiversity loss and argued that LIFE “is a very cost-efficient programme,".
Source: ENDS Europe