Brussels, 27/10/2011 (Agence Europe) - The EU Council of Ministers confirmed on Thursday 27 October that it could not accept all the amendments put down by the European Parliament (EP) on the 2012 EU budget (see EUROPE 10483). This means that a three-week conciliation period will start on 1 November, “aimed at bridging the gap” between the respective EP and Council positions.
In line with the position it adopted on 25 July, the Council wishes to limit the increase in payments to 2.02%, compared to 2011, which, it believes, would make it possible to meet the dual challenge of, firstly, supporting targeted growth investments to prevent Europe from slipping further into a crisis and, secondly, taking account of the current budgetary constraints in the member states. The payments rise advocated by the Council “corresponds almost exactly to the latest available Commission inflation forecast of 2% for the EU in 2012, which means that in real terms the Council's position would lead to an EU budget freeze”, the Council states.
The Council is calling for a total budget of €129.088 billion for 2012. The European Parliament asked for a 5.23% increase in payments, bringing the total amount to €133.139 billion. The Commission proposed an increase of 4.9% to €132.739 billion.
The Conciliation Committee will also consider draft amending letters nos. 2 and 3 for 2012 which cover the budgetary needs of €13.1 million for the preparation of Croatia's accession and adapt the draft budget for 2012 to a new Commission estimate, notably of the agricultural expenditure (- €83.4 million) for next year. Furthermore, conciliation will include draft amending budget no. 6 for 2011, the net effect of which would be to reduce member states' EU contributions by €726.6 million. The financing of the additional needs of the International Thermonuclear Experimental Reactor (ITER) project in 2012 and 2013 (€1.3 billion in commitments) will also be discussed during the coming weeks without being linked to the former issues.
The Conciliation Committee is composed of the 27 members of the Council and an equal number of members of the European Parliament. It will meet on 8 November and on 18 November, the same days as the ECOFIN-Budget Council. These meetings will be preceded by trialogues (i.e. meetings of representatives of the Polish Presidency, the European Parliament and the Commission) on 3 November, 10 November and 14 November.
If conciliation is successful, the Council and the European Parliament will have 14 days to formally adopt the agreement, following finalisation of the text. The budget will be adopted unless the Council or the European Parliament rejects it. If the conciliation fails, the Commission will be required to submit a new draft budget. Should the budget not be adopted at the beginning of 2012, a sum equivalent to not more than one twelfth of the budget appropriations for 2011 or of the draft budget proposed by the Commission, whichever is smaller, may be spent each month for each chapter of the budget. The budgetary procedure under the Lisbon Treaty puts the Council and the European Parliament on an equal footing with regard to adoption of the whole of the EU budget. Under the Nice Treaty, the European Parliament had the last word on the so-called non-compulsory expenditure which, in the EU 2009, accounted for around two thirds of the budget, while the Council had the final say on so-called compulsory expenditure (essentially agricultural expenditure). (LC/transl.rt)