Parliament threatens delay to treaty signing over accession money

Date: 03/04/03

By Martin Banks

THE European Parliament is threatening to delay giving its approval, scheduled for next week, of the treaty opening the EU's doors to ten new states.

MEPs say they are reacting to a fait accompli by the Council of Ministers, which has agreed on the amount of subsidies be paid to the accession countries without consulting the Parliament.

Parliament's President Pat Cox has accused the Council of making a "monumental" error.

The row has been triggered by an annex to the accession treaty, which specifies details of EU aid the new members will be entitled to receive until 2006.

This was drawn up without Parliament's consent in violation of a long-standing decree giving Parliament a right to approve budget-related decisions.

Members insist that specific sums should not be written into treaties since that demeans their own legislative role.

Under an agreement reached between EU heads of state at December's Copenhagen summit, the ten states expected to join the Union next year will be paid €25.1 billion in 2004-2006.

In addition, Parliament is warning that enlargement may require an extra €600m to be budgeted for the period up to 2006.

MEPs must give their formal assent to the treaty for enlargement to take place and failure to do so could plunge the whole process into turmoil.

The next key move will come when the matter is discussed by the assembly's budgets committee on Monday (7 April), two days before Parliament votes on the treaty in its next plenary session in Strasbourg.

The committee chairman, Terry Wynn, has said he will refuse to support the treaty - and is not the only rebel.

Another member, who declined to be named, said he would do the same unless the Parliament "got satisfaction".

Liberal group leader Graham Watson said: "Council should be in no doubt about Parliament's unity and seriousness of intent in this dispute.

"What Council has done amounts to tearing up the inter-institutional agreement on budgetary discipline."

He added: "In the absence of such an agreement, Parliament can make life very difficult indeed for the Council unless that is resolved."

The deputy chairman of the budgets committee, German Christian Democrat Reimer Böge, however, said he hoped MEPs would still approvethe treaty.

While discounting the likelihood of any veto of the treaty, Parliamentary sources say MEPs want Greek Finance Minister Nikos Christodoulakis to give an assurance at the next budgets committee meeting that the assembly will, in future, be fully consulted over budget-related issues.

Cox said: "This is a very serious matter. The Council has broken an agreement which has worked very well for many years.

"While I don't believe this should stand in the way of enlargement, it could have major consequences for the future."

A Council official was unable to explain why the Parliament had not been consulted over on the enlargement budget.

He added: "It has certainly caused a lot of trouble for the Council and we are now having to deal with the fall-out.

"I do not think there is a risk Parliament will refuse to ratify the treaty but there is a risk that it will denounce the current inter-institutional agreement on budgets.

"This is obviously something the Council would wish to avoid."

Greece, which holds the EU's presidency, has scheduled a grand enlargement ceremony under the ruins of the Acropolis in Athens.

The treaties covering next year's expansion are due to be signed there on 16 April.

The prospective members have begun holding referendums on joining the EU, with Malta and Slovenia already backing accession.

Hungary votes on accession next week (12 April).

The European Parliament is threatening to delay giving its approval, scheduled for 9 April 2003, of the treaty opening the EU's doors to ten new states. The row has been triggered by an annex to the accession treaty, which specifies details of EU aid the new members will be entitled to receive until 2006.