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Governments are tightening their belts - and want the EU to do the same
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The EU's 2011 budget could be frozen at this year's level unless EU officials manage to reach a deal on Monday.
The "conciliation" talks were suspended last Thursday as no agreement was reached on the European Parliament's role in future budget discussions.
MEPs say they are willing to accept the EU governments' figure of a 2.9% budget increase - lower than the 6% that the parliament had voted for.
But MEPs want their role in setting future EU budgets to be clarified.
French MEP Alain Lamassoure, the parliament's lead negotiator, said "we are proposing a political agreement on working together to avoid future budgetary crises and to ensure sustainable financing for future policies".
MEPs argue that the Lisbon Treaty gives them an equal say in budget discussions with the member states' governments - collectively called the Council. But the procedure enshrining the parliament's new budgetary powers is not yet clear.
The European Commission drafts the budget, but that is only the first stage in a long negotiating process. The Commission, like the parliament, wanted the budget increase to be 6%.
If no deal is reached on Monday the Commission could be asked to draft a new 2011 budget, but there would be little time for the parliament and Council to adopt it.
The Conciliation Committee talks involve 27 officials from the Council and 27 MEPs, representing all the EU member states.
If the 27-nation EU enters 2011 without an agreed budget it will have to finance each budget item month-by-month - and each month's calculation will be one-twelfth of the 2010 budget figure.
That means the EU will find it hard to finance its new diplomatic service, due to be launched next month - the European External Action Service (EEAS).
Funding of the EEAS has been set at 475.8m euros (£404m) for 2011. The initial staffing is 1,643 posts, of whom 1,114 would be Commission officials, 411 from the Council and 118 would be newly created jobs.
The Lisbon Treaty gave MEPs real power to influence the budget, for the first time in the EU's history.
This article is from the BBC News website. © British Broadcasting Corporation, The BBC is not responsible for the content of external internet sites.
Governments are tightening their belts - and want the EU to do the same Related stories
The EU's 2011 budget could be frozen at this year's level unless EU officials manage to reach a deal on Monday.
The "conciliation" talks were suspended last Thursday as no agreement was reached on the European Parliament's role in future budget discussions.
MEPs say they are willing to accept the EU governments' figure of a 2.9% budget increase - lower than the 6% that the parliament had voted for.
But MEPs want their role in setting future EU budgets to be clarified.
French MEP Alain Lamassoure, the parliament's lead negotiator, said "we are proposing a political agreement on working together to avoid future budgetary crises and to ensure sustainable financing for future policies".
MEPs argue that the Lisbon Treaty gives them an equal say in budget discussions with the member states' governments - collectively called the Council. But the procedure enshrining the parliament's new budgetary powers is not yet clear.
The European Commission drafts the budget, but that is only the first stage in a long negotiating process. The Commission, like the parliament, wanted the budget increase to be 6%.
If no deal is reached on Monday the Commission could be asked to draft a new 2011 budget, but there would be little time for the parliament and Council to adopt it.
The Conciliation Committee talks involve 27 officials from the Council and 27 MEPs, representing all the EU member states.
If the 27-nation EU enters 2011 without an agreed budget it will have to finance each budget item month-by-month - and each month's calculation will be one-twelfth of the 2010 budget figure.
That means the EU will find it hard to finance its new diplomatic service, due to be launched next month - the European External Action Service (EEAS).
Funding of the EEAS has been set at 475.8m euros (£404m) for 2011. The initial staffing is 1,643 posts, of whom 1,114 would be Commission officials, 411 from the Council and 118 would be newly created jobs.
The Lisbon Treaty gave MEPs real power to influence the budget, for the first time in the EU's history.
This article is from the BBC News website. © British Broadcasting Corporation, The BBC is not responsible for the content of external internet sites.