ECONOMIC CRISIS : INSTITUTIONS AT LOGGERHEADS OVER FUNDING FOR MICROFINANCE FACILITY.

The European Parliament gave its overwhelming consent, on 15 December in Strasbourg, to a report by Hungarian MEP Kinga Goncz (S&D) to amend the European Commission's proposal for a microfinance facility for employment and social inclusion. The EP says that the money (100 million over four years) should not come from the Progress' fund (an EU fund set up to protect the most vulnerable groups in society) as proposed by the Commission and backed by the Council. Rapporteur Goncz already tried earlier this year to increase the amount of money (from 100 million to 150 million) to be allocated to the microfinance...