Abstract
This chapter reflects on the use made by the European Parliament (EP) of its budgetary prerogatives granted by the successive treaties and developed in the interinstitutional agreements over the last decades. Through the emergence of interinstitutional cooperation and soft law to solve conflicts, the EP managed to support evolving legislation and to obtain new competences. The chapter explores how the EP has battled for maintaining the balance of powers between the two arms of the budgetary authority but also sometimes between its legislative and budgetary branches. It concludes that the power game to consolidate a fully fledged part of the budgetary authority continues and faces new challenges in the aftermath of Lisbon.
Anne Vitrey de Gardebosc, Former Director for Budgetary Affairs, European Parliament.
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Notes
- 1.
For a more detailed account, see De Feo (2017a)
- 2.
Initially, the NCE amounted to approximately 3% of the budget, including staff salaries and rents.
- 3.
French acronym ‘Montant Estimé Nécessaire’ (MEN).
- 4.
This point refers to the ‘reverse point’ described notably by G. Benedetto (2017).
- 5.
For the adoption of international fisheries agreements, Parliament’s consent is required.
- 6.
The scope of this EU assistance was broadened by the establishment of the ACE (Action communautaire pour l’Environnement) financial instrument from 1984 to 1987 and ACE II until July 1991.
- 7.
1996 budget by Rapporteur Florenz (Parliament’s resolution of 5 April 1995 on the guidelines for the 1996 budget).
- 8.
Following the proposal of the general rapporteur for the budget, L. J. Brinkhorst.
- 9.
Although lower than the amount initially proposed by the Commission (€3.8 billion), the €3.1 billion available under the AMIF for 2014–2020 still represent an increase from the €2.1 billion for 2007–2013 (D’Alfonso, AMIF, 2015, 6).
- 10.
Reste à liquider (RAL): the sum of outstanding commitments not yet translated into payments.
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Vitrey de Gardebosc, A., Mesdag, F. (2019). The European Parliament’s Contribution to the EU Budget: A Power Game. In: Costa, O. (eds) The European Parliament in Times of EU Crisis. European Administrative Governance. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-97391-3_9
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