The European Parliament wants to play a more active role in negotiating new rules governing EU  budget. This is one of the elements within a resolution adopted at the plenary session on 22 September where MEPs called for more flexibility in budgetary rules in order to bring a better response to new challenges facing the Union.

In its resolution, the European Parliament considers that the current budget proposal for 2007-2013, proposed by the Commission in March 2012, is deemed too rigid to provide sufficient funding to meet new challenges, including those arising out of the Lisbon Treaty, and urges the Council to enter into policy negotiations on its budget proposal for 2007-2013.

The Multiannual Financial Framework (MFF) setting annual ceilings for commitments and payments by category of expenditure, had to be revised to bring it into line with the Lisbon Treaty. MEPs believe that this regulation, which can not be adopted by the Council without the approval of Parliament, is too technical and insufficient for Parliament to give its consent

The Parliament considers that the Council proposal does not add the resources necessary to deliver initiatives that were not foreseen when the current MFF was adopted in 2006. The most obvious ones are the new priorities included in the Lisbon Treaty, like the external action service, climate change, energy, civil protection, sports and space. But even before the addition of these new priorities, the annual budgets could only be agreed by exhausting the existing margins, Parliament's resolution says, adding that for the coming years, the remaining margins under the ceilings of the framework are estimated to be negligible.

To meet current and future needs, Parliament would like to see wider margins and reserves built into the framework. This means more flexibility to make changes within and between budget headings.

Parliament also calls on the Council and the Commission to consider rejigging the budget by establishing positive and negative priorities, bearing in mind the EU's added value. Commission and Council should finally come up with the long-awaited mid-term review (due in 2009), of all the aspects of EU spending and resources, so that a real policy debate can be held on future priorities.