Austria's nomination of Dr Harald Wögerbauer to join the European Court of Auditors was approved by Parliament in a plenary vote on Tuesday. Dr Wögerbauer replaces Mr Hubert Weber, who resigned after serving on the Court for 15 years.

Austria's nomination of Dr Harald Wögerbauer's to join the European Court of Auditors was approved by the Budgetary Control Committee on Thursday 3 March. Dr Wögerbauer would replace Mr Hubert Weber, who resigned from the Court after serving on it for 15 years. Parliament will put the nomination to a plenary vote on Tuesday 8 March.

The European Parliament should vote to restrict its own budget in 2012, reflecting austerity in EU Member States, said the Budgets Committee on Thursday, as it voted guidelines for the 2012 budget. The EP budget should now enter a post Lisbon Treaty "consolidation phase", with no increase in 2012 beyond inflation, it added.

Following the events in Tunisia and Egypt, and an appeal from High Representative Catherine Ashton for extra funding for the Mediterranean region, Parliament voted on Thursday to increase by €1 billion until the end of 2013 the ceiling on European Investment Bank lending for infrastructure and small and medium-sized companies in the region.

All EU regions should be able to benefit from EU cohesion (regional policy) funding, argued Policy Challenges Committee MEPs at a debate Thursday with regional and social policy Commissioners Johannes Hahn and László Andor, on the EU's long-term budget after 2013. Both Commissioners said that their respective budgets should remain at least as large as they are now, but they acknowledged that spending could be better co-ordinated.

Parliament voted on Thursday to close the financial accounts of the European Police College (CEPOL) for 2008, thus completing the discharge procedure for the financial year 2008.

EU budgetary resources are likely to be scarce after 2013, and so must be used sparingly. The EU Commissioners for energy, development, transport and research, plus an EU External Action Service representative, were quizzed by the Policy Challenges Committee Tuesday on where they feel the money should go.

Parliament's Budgetary Control Committee voted on Thursday to close the financial accounts of the European Police College (CEPOL) for 2008. The closure of accounts is the last step in finalising the discharge procedure for financial 2008.

EP President Jerzy Buzek will meet European Commission President José Manuel Barroso and Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán for the Council Presidency on Wednesday morning for a discussion on the future long-term budget framework for the EU after 2013. The Treaty indicates that a series of such meetings should be held as these plans are developed.

Can and should EU try to keep its farm spending at today's levels, so as to improve conditions for farmers and ward off the threat of a food supply crisis? Or will the agriculture budget have to shrink to make room for more investment in research, economic growth-promoting measures and Member States' demands for substantial cuts in overall EU spending? The Policy Challenges Committee aired these issues in a lively debate with agriculture Commissioner Dacian Cioloş on Thursday.