European Budget

Budget and the Treaties of the European Union

Description of Budget provided by the European Union Commission: All the Union's revenue and expenditure is entered in the Community budget on the basis of annual forecasts. The budget is governed by several principles, including:

• unity: (all the revenue and expenditure is brought together in a single document);

• annuality: (budget operations relate to a given budget year);

• equilibrium: (expenditure must not exceed revenue).

The Commission is responsible for submitting a preliminary draft budget to the Council, which shares budgetary authority with the European Parliament. The nature of the expenditure determines which of the two institutions has the final say, depending on whether the expenditure is compulsory (the Council decides) or not (the Parliament decides). However, quite apart from the classification of expenditure and the ensuing power-sharing, it should be remembered that, in the final analysis, it is the European Parliament that adopts or rejects the budget as a whole. Since 1993 the budget has been the subject of an interinstitutional agreement between Parliament, the Council and the Commission on budgetary discipline and improving the budgetary procedure. In 1998 the Commission presented a plan to renew the 1993 interinstitutional agreement and to consolidate all the joint declarations and interinstitutional agreements on the budget concluded since 1982. As part of the reforms proposed by the Commission in July 1997 in “Agenda 2000”, the Member States were asked to establish a multiannualfinancial perspective to cap annual Union expenditure. The European Constitution, which is currently being ratified, incorporates the financial perspective under the name of the “multiannual financial framework”, which must be respected by all the institutions. It is intended to ensure that expenditure develops in an orderly fashion and within the limits of the Union's own resources. The Constitution also does away with the current distinction under the budgetary procedure between compulsory expenditure and non-compulsory expenditure. This will allow the European Parliament to exert some influence over the budget as a whole. However, it will also mean that it will lose the right to have the final say regarding non-compulsory expenditure.

Resources

See Also

Popular Treaties Topics

• Treaties of the United Nations (UN)
• Types of Treaties
• International Treaties
• Famous Treaties
• Law of Treaties
• Numbered Treaties

Budget and the Treaties of the European Union

Description of Budget provided by the European Union Commission: All the Union's revenue and expenditure is entered in the Community budget on the basis of annual forecasts. The budget is governed by several principles, including:

• unity: (all the revenue and expenditure is brought together in a single document);

• annuality: (budget operations relate to a given budget year);

• equilibrium: (expenditure must not exceed revenue).

The Commission is responsible for submitting a preliminary draft budget to the Council, which shares budgetary authority with the European Parliament. The nature of the expenditure determines which of the two institutions has the final say, depending on whether the expenditure is compulsory (the Council decides) or not (the Parliament decides). However, quite apart from the classification of expenditure and the ensuing power-sharing, it should be remembered that, in the final analysis, it is the European Parliament that adopts or rejects the budget as a whole. Since 1993 the budget has been the subject of an interinstitutional agreement between Parliament, the Council and the Commission on budgetary discipline and improving the budgetary procedure. In 1998 the Commission presented a plan to renew the 1993 interinstitutional agreement and to consolidate all the joint declarations and interinstitutional agreements on the budget concluded since 1982. As part of the reforms proposed by the Commission in July 1997 in “Agenda 2000”, the Member States were asked to establish a multiannualfinancial perspective to cap annual Union expenditure. The European Constitution, which is currently being ratified, incorporates the financial perspective under the name of the “multiannual financial framework”, which must be respected by all the institutions. It is intended to ensure that expenditure develops in an orderly fashion and within the limits of the Union's own resources. The Constitution also does away with the current distinction under the budgetary procedure between compulsory expenditure and non-compulsory expenditure. This will allow the European Parliament to exert some influence over the budget as a whole. However, it will also mean that it will lose the right to have the final say regarding non-compulsory expenditure.

Resources

See Also

Popular Treaties Topics

• Treaties of the United Nations (UN)
• Types of Treaties
• International Treaties
• Famous Treaties
• Law of Treaties
• Numbered Treaties