Brussels, 22/03/2012 (Agence Europe) - The European Parliament's budget for 2013 should be frozen in real terms, confirmed the budgets committee on Wednesday 21 March, in a vote on budget guidelines negotiated by Parliament's political bodies. MEPs also reiterated their demand for a single seat for Parliament and sought to prevent Parliament funding going to non-democratic parties. The report by Derek Vaughan (S&D, UK) on the forecast revenue and spending of the European Parliament for the financial year 2013 will be examined in plenary on Wednesday 28 March.
The Parliament's budget will increase in 2013 by 1.9% compared with 2012, in line with the wishes of Budget Commissioner Janusz Lewandowski. A further €8.5 million will be added for covering costs relating to the arrival of Croatian MEPs.
Derek Vaughan, who will steer the budget proposal through Parliament, was pleased with the outcome of the internal negotiations, saying: “We have managed to bring the initial estimates down by €9.3 million, resulting in an increase limited to EU27 inflation. We have frozen members' allowances and even cut MEPs' travel costs that were already frozen for this year. We also agreed to look for possibilities for further savings in the course of this year, on which we can decide in the autumn when we vote on the entire budget.”
Single seat. A majority of committee members called on the Council of Ministers to act on the Parliament's request that it (Parliament) should have only one seat for members and officials, instead of three (Strasbourg, Brussels and Luxembourg). The budgets committee underlines that Parliament should have the right to decide its own working arrangements which, they say, is not the case at present.
Non-democratic parties. Committee members also sought to ensure that the European Parliament grants no money to parties that do not fully respect the EU's founding principles and the Charter of Human Rights. They fear that the principles of liberty, democracy, respect for human rights and fundamental freedoms and the rule of law are not being fully respected by all parties requesting funding of the budget for political parties and foundations. (LC/transl.jl)