andMr. R. Ryan asked the Minister for Foreign Affairs to outline the inter-institutional problems which exist in relation to the EEC budget and the best method for their solution.
Written Answers. - EEC Budget.
271.
The respective roles of the institutions in the budgetary procedure are set out in the Treaties.
The general difficulty which arose is that while amendments made by the Parliament to the draft budget stand accepted in Council if they are supported by at least 18 votes, any necessary overall increase in expenditure requires the support of 41 votes. Thus there may be incompatibility between these two sets of voting. The Council, therefore, in its discussion on this matter, considered ways and means of reorganising its internal procedure for considering Parliament's amendments to the draft budget, to ensure compatibility between its action on the amendments and the increase in expenditure which it is prepared to accept.
The Budget Council, at its meeting on 22 March 1979 adopted a draft supplementary and amending budget which it is hoped will enable the 1979 budget to be implemented. The draft supplementary and amending budget has now been forwarded to the European Parliament for its consideration.
The Council also held an exchange of views on the internal procedure it will in future follow when examining amendments to the draft budget and when fixing the maximum rate of increase in expenditure. Eight delegations, including Ireland, undertook as far as the Council itself is concerned, to apply certain provisions with a view to establishing compatibility between the Council's attitude to the European Parliament's amendments and its attitude to the increasing of expenditure. I have arranged to have the press release issued after the Council meeting giving a summary of the decisions taken and the text of the provisions referred to above tabled for the information of Deputies.
It is hoped that these developments will resolve the problems referred to.