Amending budget 1/2010: impact of the entry into force of the Lisbon Treaty for the European Parliament

PURPOSE: presentation of the draft amending budget No 1 to the general budget 2010 with a view to providing additional financial resources to the European Parliament’s budget to finance the consequences of the entry into force of the Lisbon Treaty.

CONTENT: during the 2010 budget procedure, it was agreed that priority for the use of the available margin of heading 5 would be given to financing additional expenditure directly stemming from the entry into force of the Lisbon Treaty amending the Treaty on European Union and the Treaty establishing the European Community. This implied that the corresponding additional expenditure would have to be dealt with, if necessary, through an amending budget after the adoption of the original 2010 budget. It was emphasised that, in such a case and to the fullest possible extent, reorganisation of existing resources should be fully examined before any call for additional resources was made.

Draft Amending Budget (DAB) No 1 for the year 2010 covers the impact related to the entry into force of the Lisbon Treaty for the European Parliament as adopted in its draft statement of estimates.

The net financial impact of this amending budget is EUR 9.4 million in additional commitments and payments appropriations under heading 5 of the multiannual financial framework.

Impact related to the entry into force of the Lisbon Treaty for the European Parliament: the entry into force of the Lisbon Treaty will have an impact, directly or indirectly, on the entire range of European Parliament services. The additional budgetary and human resources necessary to enable Parliament to fulfil its new role as co-legislator on equal footing with the Council will be provided for through this amending budget for 2010.

The European Parliament emphasises legislative excellence as its priority and the need to provide the Members, committees and political groups with the necessary means to achieve it, it has been proposed to focus on the enhancement of the support offered to Members, who will thus be able to strengthen their role as legislators.

Therefore, the proposal concerns the following:

• reinforcement of the committees' secretariats by creation of 70 additional posts and of the Directorate for the Relations with National Parliaments by the creation of 5 additional posts, for a total of 75 additional posts;
• reinforcement of personal assistance to Members through an increase in their secretariat allowances;
• reinforcement of the assisting capacity of Political Groups through the creation of 75 additional temporary posts.

The necessary appropriations of these proposed measures amount to EUR 13.4 million, of which EUR 4 million are coming from the buildings reserve and EUR 9.4 million are requested as additional appropriations.