From the website of the European Parliament:
“Last December the European Parliament adopted the final EU budget for 2010, which will be €141.4 billion in commitments and €122.9 billion in payments. In this focus we look at how the EU budget is adopted, how the money is collected and how it is used.
The main challenge for this year’s budget was to find the funding for the already agreed but not yet financed economic recovery plan, which will cost the EU €2.4 billion for the year 2010.This article was taken from the Europarl website.
The 2010 budget is the last one agreed under the Nice Treaty rules. Under the Lisbon Treaty the Parliament will decide on the entire EU budget together with the Council. Until now the EP has not had the final say on “compulsory expenditure”, such as spending relating to agriculture or international agreements. The difference between compulsory and noncompulsory expenditure disappears under the Lisbon Treaty.
In addition, the Lisbon Treaty simplifies the decision-taking procedure and makes the longterm budget plan, or “financial perspectives”, legally binding.
