[2012 Budget] To come: conciliation

The European parliament vote on the 2012 budget is coming up, the Parliament committee in charge of budget changed the Council proposition heavily, to restore the increase put froward by the Commission.

This difference between Parliament and Council will trigger the negotiation phase called Conciliation, the aim of which being to smooth the differences out between the two budget and find common ground to get a budget for the Union. This procedure is described in the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union, title II, chapter 2, article 314.

Here comes a summary of the procedure:

When the European Parliament vote amendments to the budget drafted by the Council:

• The council can accept the changes. The budget is adopted.
• Or, a conciliation committee is called to find a common position. The Commission plays the role of mediator during the negotiations.

The conciliation Committee has 21 days to make a proposal.

• If the Council and Parliament accept this proposal, the budget is adopted.
• If at least one of the two institutions reject the proposal, the Commission must present a new draft budget.
• If the Parliament reject the conciliation proposal and confirm its changes with a majority of at least 3/5^th, those are adopted.

It is the Parliament president who declare the budget adopted.

If the Conciliation Committee fails to propose a new budget, the Commission must present a new draft.

If no budget has been adopted when the year starts, credits are renewed monthly with an amount of one twelfth of the previous budget ; all overdraft asked by the Commission must be accepted by the Council and validated by the Parliament.

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