''In the midst of the economic crisis, European Parliament is setting an example to follow''

The European Parliament's plenary session in Strasbourg today approved its estimates of revenue and expenditure for the financial year 2010. In the midst of the economic crisis, Members of the European Parliament voted for the further reduction of the Parliament's expenditure by ?6.5m compared to the initial estimates by the Bureau, thus keeping its budget under the 20% threshold of EU's administrative expenditure.

Despite the pressures stemming from the entry into force of the new MEPs' and Assistants' Statutes, the European Parliament succeeded in restraining the overall increase of expenditures by less than 4% in comparison to last year's budget.

Margaritas Schinas MEP, the EPP-ED Spokesman on the issue, stated: "The EPP-ED Group's priorities for next year's EP Budget estimates have been confirmed in today's vote: Reinforcement of the legislative work of the House, due to the ratification of the Lisbon Treaty and the extended powers for the European Parliament it implies. Safeguard of multilingualism and equal access of all MEPs to translation and interpretation services in their mother tongue. Other priorities include improvement of the EP's image through the implementation of communication projects such as Europarl TV, the Visitors' Centre and the House of European History."

"We remain loyal to our priorities and are setting an example to follow by moderating our spending to the absolutely necessary in the midst of this economic crisis."