The European Parliament is getting ready to approve the 2018 budget of the European Union, at a mini plenary session in Brussels on Thursday 30 November.
In so doing, the MEPs will be respecting the institutional calendar, which requires the Community budget to be adopted within no more than 14 days following the European Parliament/Council agreement, which was reached at the conciliation committee meeting of Saturday 18 November (see EUROPE 11908).
Under the timetable of plenary sessions, the MEPs adopted the budget in 2016 for the year 2017, however, this time it will not be possible to wait until the December plenary session in Strasbourg. However, the European Treaty requires the Parliament to approve the Community budget in Strasbourg.
In February 2017, the French authorities referred the Parliament to the Court of Justice of the EU for failing to abide by protocol no. 6 appended to the European Treaty and laying down the seat of the European institutions (see EUROPE 11724). They were not challenging either the content or the execution of the 2017 budget, which was approved by the European Parliament in early December 2016. (Original version in French by Mathieu Bion)