In its technical aspects, the recasting of the Financial Regulations, approved today during the first reading by the European Parliament in the Strasbourg plenary session, simplifies procedures and lays the foundation for a new governance of the EU budget in times of crisis.

Parliament, after a compromise in which the Liberals and Democrats had much influence, and amended the original proposal on two crucial points: first securing the legal guarantee that the EU budget provides to the current European Financial Stability Fund (EFSF) and the future European Stability Mechanism (ESM); and secondly giving the possibility to carry over the budget surpluses in commitment and payments from one year to year the next. This provision reflects a recurring request of the ALDE group who believes that this carry-over from the budget to be more consistent than the reimbursement to Member States because it reduces the request for credit for the following year.

Another satisfaction for ALDE: the now binding obligation on Member States to provide annual statements certifying the national financial management of EU subsidies. Jan Mulder (VVD, Netherlands), Chairman of the Committee on Budgetary Control, who is at the origin of this innovation, to date only effective on a voluntary basis said: "The National Declaration is an indispensable instrument. The Annual Report of the Court of Auditors details the main expenditures managed by Member States and their failure leads the Court to refuse discharge for execution of the accounts to the Commission which is ultimately responsible. We can only deplore our repeated requests for a National Declaration that have remained unanswered; it is high time to make it binding."