Dive into the Budget Committee and the 2010 budget marathon

How will the money you give to the EU be spent? Those decisions will be hammered out by the European Parliament and EU ministers over the next few months. This complex exercise is overseen by Members of the Budget Committee, while the Budgetary Control Committee checks the money is used properly. Here we look at some of the priorities of these two powerful bodies over the next few months.
2010 budget

In July, the budget committee said it wanted the 2010 budget to focus on an economic recovery plan for growth and employment and extra money for research and energy.

But MEPs don't want the recovery plan to be funded at the expense of other policies, like competitiveness and cohesion. They want a budget that reflects the current crisis - namely on that secures jobs and the EU's external frontiers.

During the September plenary sitting, the Swedish Presidency of the Union presented the 2010 budget to MEPs. The committee will discuss and vote on the budget between 28-30 September, before it goes before all the MEPs in October.  

Parliament's guide

Hungarian Christian Democrat László Surján will guide the 2010 budget through parliament. “The European budget for 2010 has to contribute to the recovery of the European economy, has to provide help to answer the problems in the milk industry and make the Union become an effective player contributing to solving the different problems of the World,” he said.

“In practice this means that the €120 billion suggested by the Council to achieve the aims of the European Union is not sufficient,” Mr Surján said. “The European Parliament considers providing assistance to micro-enterprises through the system of microcredit's essential, since this type of help ensures survival for masses of European families.”

Budgetary control: “protecting European tax-payers' interests”

Signing off on expenditure and closing the budgetary process for previous years is an essential part of parliament's oversight work. The Chair of the Budgetary Control Committee, Italian Liberal Luigi de Magistris, said, “the committee aims to protect European tax-payers' interests, checking that their money is well spent, without waste, and evaluating the real costs/benefits in the implementation of European policies”.

He added, “strengthening this committee's role in the continuous struggle against frauds and irregularities will affirm the absolute necessity of respecting legality...to protect European citizens, especially the weakest ones.”

Timetable

In April, parliament postponed its sign-off on EU spending for 2007, because of concerns about spending on external policy and judicial and law enforcement. The new vote, taking into account Council's reaction, will be in plenary in October.

MEPs will receive a report from the Court of Auditors on 2008 budget spending in the autumn. They will vote on the so-called “discharge” in plenary in April.

Treaty of Lisbon

If the Treaty of Lisbon comes into force, the legal and operational budgetary procedures will change. The EP's full budgetary powers will be extended to include agricultural spending, some 40% of the budget over which, national ministers currently have the final say, there will be a shortened timetable and multi-annual financial programming will be in the Treaty.

If the Treaty of Lisbon comes into force, the EP will prepare the new procedure for 2011 with the Council and Commission.

Alain Lamassoure, the French Chair of the Budget Committee told us, “the Treaty of Lisbon will give the European Parliament the power to fix as a last resort the level and the content of the community budget, which represents about €130 billion. Our priority will be to finance the new competences given to the Union by the Treaty of Lisbon, notably in the field of energy, external policies and sustainable development.”