Press release
Lisbon Treaty: Parliament's new budget powers must be respected from day one
Budget - 12-11-2009 - 11:59
Plenary sessions
Plenary sessions
The European Parliament's beefed-up powers over the EU budget should apply in full from the day the Lisbon Treaty enters into force, without waiting for detailed supplementary legislation, say MEPs. On Thursday they voted to give the EP delegation on the 2010 budget a mandate to negotiate transitional rules to ensure Parliament can play its new budgetary role straight away.
"We need to adopt very quickly the transitional measures needed to move from one treaty to another in the budgetary field", said rapporteur Alain Lamassoure in the debate preceding today's vote.
"From the beginning of 2010, an initial supplementary budget will be needed to give all the institutions concerned the financial resources to exercise the new powers laid down by the Lisbon Treaty. We need a simplified procedure".
When the Lisbon Treaty enters into force Parliament will become jointly responsible for the entire EU budget, together with EU governments. Until now Parliament has not had the final say on 'compulsory expenditure’, such as spending relating to agriculture or international agreements. To implement these new rights, the EU institutions need to adopt a new interinstitutional agreement, a new financial regulation and a regulation containing the multiannual financial framework known as the "financial perspective".
Parliament is asking for transitional rules on four areas, so it can take operational decisions until all the supplementing budget legislation is in place:
1. The procedure for transfer requests
2. Amending budgets
3. The timetable of preparatory meetings between the three institutions
4. The arrangements for resorting to "provisional twelfths" if the institutions do not reach agreement on the 2010 budget.
Today's resolution, adopted by 576 votes to 39 with 20 abstentions, gives the EP delegation to the budget conciliation meetings a mandate to agree on transitional guidelines with the Council and the Commission. Talks will start during today's trialogue and hopefully an agreement will be reached at next week's conciliation meeting.
REF.: 20091110IPR64199
Further information :
- Report on transitional procedural guidelines on budgetary matters in view of the entry into force of the Lisbon treaty
- Text adopted will be available here (click on 12 November)
- Profile of rapporteur Alain Lamassoure (EPP, FR)
- Financial aspects of the Lisbon Treaty - Report by Catherine Guy-Quint (PES, FR)
- Midterm review of the 2007-2013 financial framework - Report by Reimer Böge (EPP, DE)