‘Parliament must have budget final say’

By Dana Spinant and Martin Banks

Date: 11/12/03

EUROPEAN Parliament leaders warn that the new Italian proposal on budgetary decisions is "unacceptable" as it denies the assembly the final say over the adoption of the EU's 100 billion euro budget.

Speaking to this paper on the eve of the Brussels summit, German conservative MEP Elmar Brok, one of the assembly's two representatives on the intergovernmental conference (IGC), said: "The Parliament would be crazy to accept it. The Italian proposal still weakens Parliament's position and gives the Council the final say. Every parliament since parliaments were invented has had overall budgetary rights."

Brok prefers the version put forward by the draft constitution drawn up by the Convention, "because that is a better-balanced proposal". Under this, Parliament would make the final decision over the budget.

However, a majority of member states, led by the UK and France, oppose this because they fear the Parliament would uncontrollably increase the EU's expenditure. All but three countries - Greece, Belgium and Luxembourg - claimed member states should have the final say over the budget.

The Italian presidency's compromise seeks to put the onus on both Parliament and Council of Ministers to come up with a deal, by making it difficult for one side to override the other. Under the plan, if Parliament and member states do not agree with the budget proposal, they would go through a conciliation procedure to find a way forward.

The Parliament would need a three-fifths majority to amend the budget. If such a majority is not achieved, the budget agreed by member states would stand.

But if the EU countries dislike the Parliament's amendments, they could reject them by qualified majority vote and ask the Commission to table new spending plans. Equally, the Parliament could decide by a three-fifths majority to reject the member states' version and ask the Commission to draft a new budget.

MEPs believe an Italian proposal on budgetary decisions is 'unacceptable' because the European Parliament would not have the final say over the adoption of the European Union's budget.