Resolution on the ongoing negotiations on the 2011 budget

The European Parliament adopted by 486 to 64 and 21 abstentions a resolution on EU action on the ongoing negotiations on the 2011 budget, which follow the Parliament-Council Conciliation Committee’s failure to agree on a joint text for the 2011 budget on 15 November. The resolution had been tabled by the EPP, S&D, ALDE and Greens/ALE groups. Whilst expressing its readiness to facilitate an agreement on the 2011 budget and related elements within a very tight time frame, Parliament insists that certain conditions are met by the Commission and the Council:

• an agreement on genuine flexibility mechanisms which comply with the existing principles for revisions, as laid down in the IIA of 17 May 2006, to be decided by Parliament and by qualified majority in the Council, allowing proper future financing of the policies, for 2011 and subsequent years, stemming from the new competences conferred on the EU by the Treaty of Lisbon and from the Europe 2020 project;
• a commitment by the Commission to present by 1 July 2011 substantive proposals on new own resources for the EU, and a commitment by the Council to discuss these proposals with Parliament within the negotiating process for the next multiannual financial framework (MFF), in line with Declaration No 3 on the Review of the Financial Framework of the IIA of 17 May 2006;
• an agreement between the three institutions on a method for working together which includes participation by Parliament in the process of negotiating the next MFF and participation of MEPs in relevant meetings, and regular deliberations held at the level of the Presidents of Parliament, the Council and the Commission, in accordance with the provisions of Articles 324 and 312(5) of the TFEU.

Members recall that the Council's position on the draft budget has limited payment appropriations to an amount that represents an increase of 2.91% over the 2010 budget, and that Parliament agreed on a ‘seven-point strategy’ aimed at implementing the provisions of the Treaty of Lisbon, supported by budgetary amendments, while showing its willingness to confirm the level of payments in the context of an overall agreement.

Lastly, Parliament welcomes the Commission's commitments on European Added Value and the consequences of the Lisbon Treaty for the EU budget, and to a precise time frame for own resources.