At a conciliation meeting in Brussels on Tuesday 8 November, the Council and the European Parliament called upon the European Commission to present an initial draft compromise on the 2017 budget. This draft compromise is to be presented at the inter-institutional meeting (trialogue) to be held on Thursday 10 November.
This first meeting of the conciliation committee to discuss next year's budget did not seek to reach a compromise. The parties reiterated their positions, but the Slovak Presidency was reasonably optimistic as to a positive outcome of these negotiations on the 2017 budget (see EUROPE 11655).
On this point, the Parliament delegation asked again to deal with the adoption of the 2017 budget and the mid-term revision of the multiannual financial framework (MFF) 2014-2020 as a single package. However, the Slovak Presidency of the Council once again stressed the need to deal with the two dossiers separately, as required by the legal base.
In particular, the Parliament is calling for the initial budgets of the Connecting Europe Facility and the Horizon 2020 programme to be reinstated. Both of these programmes suffered cuts to pay for the EU's input to the European Fund for Strategic Investments (EFSI). The corresponding commitment appropriations represent an increase of €1.24 billion compared to the Commission's initial proposal. This money would be secured through a mid-term revision of the MFF, the Parliament argues. At this stage, the Council is keen to avoid reopening the debates on the financing details for the EFSI, which have already been decided upon.
As regards the youth employment initiative, the Parliament earmarked €1.5 billion for this action in 2017, whereas the Commission proposed €1 billion over the period 2017-2020.
2016 budget. As regards the 2016 budget, the Parliament repeated its preference to use amending budget no. 4 (see EUROPE 11663) as leverage to ensure that the special instruments (including the Globalisation Adjustment Fund, EU Solidarity Fund and flexibility instrument) are put above the ceilings of the MFF of the EU. Furthermore, the Parliament is soon to vote on an amendment to allow 'frontloading' under the facility for refugees in Turkey.
A further trialogue session on the 2017 budget may be held on Monday 14 November, ahead of the last conciliation committee meeting of 16 November, which will coincide with the 'budget' session of the Ecofin Council. The conciliation period will run until 17 November. If the parties cannot agree, the Commission will be required to present a new draft budget for 2017. (Original version in French by Lionel Changeur)