Brussels, 28/10/2010 (Agence Europe) - The Council of Ministers of the EU and the European Parliament (EP) hold very different positions on the draft Community budget for 2011. Thus it is that the conciliation procedure was opened on Wednesday 27 October, in line with the new annual EU budget adoption procedure set out in the Treaty on the Functioning of the EU (Article 314). The EP is prepared to accept a restricted budget in 2011 on condition that the Council agrees to debate new own resources and revision in 2012 of the EU's multi-annual financial programme (see EUROPE 10240).
The Council position restricts the EU budget for the next financial year to €141.7 billion in commitment appropriations (an increase of 0.2% on 2010) and €126.5 billion in payment appropriations (a 2.9% rise) given the various budgetary constraints pressing on member states and the execution of budgets in the course of previous years. The EP, however, is calling for €140.0 billion in commitment appropriations (up 1.1%) and €130.4 billion in payment appropriations (up 6.2%).
The Conciliation Committee brings together the 27 members of the Council and the same number of MEPs representing the Parliament. It has 21 days, that is, until 15 November, to come up with a text on which there is agreement. If conciliation is successful, the Council and EP have 14 days to formally adopt the agreement. The budget is then taken as adopted, unless, of course, either the Council of the EP reject it.
If the budget has not been adopted by the start of 2011, according to Article 315 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the EU, a sum equivalent to not more than one twelfth of the budget appropriations for the preceding financial year may be spent each month in respect of any chapter of the budget until such time as an agreement is reached.
The new budgetary procedure introduced by the Lisbon Treaty makes the Council and the European Parliament, the two branches of the budgetary authority, equal partners in the adoption of the EU budget as a whole. Under the Treaty of Nice, the Council had the final say on what was known as compulsory expenditure (largely, spending on agriculture), which amounted to roughly one third of the EU budget for 2009, while the EP had the final say on the remainder of the budget.
The first meeting of the Conciliation Committee for the 2011 budget was opened by EP President Jerzy Buzek and Belgian Prime Minister Yves Leterme. At this meeting, the parties agreed a timetable for coming negotiations which have to be completed by Thursday 11 November, to coincide with the European Budget Ministers' Council.
“We are ready to show good will for 2011 and accept a restricted budget,” Buzek said in his opening remarks, adding: “in exchange, we ask the Council for an institutional and political commitment on the future funding of EU policies”. MEPs hope that this commitment will be made before the end of the conciliation procedure.
Alain Lamassoure, who chairs the EP budgets committee, suggested dividing discussions into two parts: the first to discuss the size of the 2011 budget appropriations and the second to come to a political and legal agreement on the future of the EU budget. “The EU budget needs to be more flexible and we have to find new ways to fund it. In addition, the budget has to reflect the new areas of responsibility from 2011, including those that derive from the Lisbon Treaty. We are not going to be able to agree on all that during the conciliation period, but we want agreement on the framework and timetable for discussions,” he said.
The next scheduled meetings will be on 4 November (trialogue), 8 November (trialogue) and 11 November (final meeting of the Conciliation Committee). (L.C./transl.rt)