In order to pave the way for next Presidency trio to focus on the content of the budget instead of the procedure, the Hungarian Presidency is aiming to reach an agreement with the European Parliament concerning its role in this process. Hungarian Minister of State for EU Affairs, Enikő Győri, stated so at a European Economic and Social Committee’s public hearing held in Brussels on 21 March.

Minister of State Győri stressed that the Hungarian Presidency will work to present a proposal by late June, which will allow to involve the European Parliament in the planning of the financial framework at an early stage. This would allow the next trio presidency made up by Poland, Denmark, and Cyprus, to focus on the contents of the multi-annual financial framework (MFF) and not be concerned by procedural aspects. The Minister of State indicated that the Hungarian Presidency considers it a priority to develop common procedural proposals, in agreement with the next presidencies, to pave the way for the negotiations with the Parliament.

The Treaty of Lisbon granted new powers to the European Parliament in the field of budgetary planning, which mean that next multi-annual financial framework will not be defined in an inter-institutional agreement, but in a regulation. Basically, the Council will have to involve the Parliament from the start, in the development of the law, in order to ensure the smooth adoption of the regulation.

As highlighted by Minister Győri, the European Union will have to face the double challenge which was already somehow at the base of the tensions that affected the adoption of the EU budget for year 2011. This challenge involves the need to cope with the new increased tasks introduced by the Lisbon Treaty and the targets set by the Europe 2020 Strategy for smart, inclusive ans sustainable growth, and ensuring a suitable financial framework to deal with them successfully, while, on the other hand, Member States are to pursue budgetary austerity, making them reluctant to spend more at European level. In this context, the Minister of State mentioned that by sending a letter to Mr Barroso, in December 2010, five Prime Ministers made it clear that they were in favour of freezing the ceiling of the MFF.

Minister Győri pointed that Hungarian Presidency considers that decisions on the financing of the budget and about expenditures, should be taken at the same time, as is pointless deciding on the size of the budget, without knowing its content. The right way of constructing a budget should therefore be based on finding out how much money the objectives set will require, and then try to ensure the resources they demand.