Brussels, 15/11/2010 (Agence Europe) - In the evening of Monday 15 November, the EU institutions will attempt to reach “common agreement” on the EU's budget for next year, after the breakdown of talks on Thursday (see EUROPE 10255). Before the final meeting of the Conciliation Committee on Monday between the European Parliament and the EU Council of Ministers, all the member states agreed to examine at the ECOFIN Council (Budget) a draft statement about the EP's demands, which is a step in the right direction.
The EP is calling for a “political agreement” on how the EU institutions should work together to avoid new budget crises and to ensure the sustainable financing of future policies. It wants to discuss implemental of the Lisbon Treaty and will agree to restrict the rise in the 2011 budget on the 2010 budget to 2.91%, as called for by a dozen EU member states. Failure in the negotiations would force the European Commission to unveil a new draft budget (under Article 314, paragraph 8 of the EU Treaty) and the issue may therefore end up on the negotiating table at the European Council next month.
Article 315 of the European Treaty states: “If, at the beginning of a financial year, the budget has not yet been definitively adopted, a sum equivalent to not more than one twelfth of the budget appropriations for the preceding financial year may be spent each month; that sum shall not, however, exceed one twelfth of the appropriations provided for in the same chapter of the draft budget”. Therefore, until there is a decision on the 2011 budget, the budget for next year will be frozen, month by month, at its 2010 level. This is likely to mean new financial problems for the European diplomatic corps (EEAS), the new European financial supervision agencies and the ITER experimental thermonuclear reactor programme. (L.C./transl.fl)