In February 1984, the European Commission calls for greater budgetary discipline within the Community, since that will go some way towards correcting budgetary imbalances and increasing the Communities’ own resources.

In June 1980, writing in the Dutch European Movement’s monthly publication Nieuw Europa, Piet Dankert, Vice-President of the European Parliament, comments on the role that Parliament plays in discussions regarding the approval of the European Communities’ budget.

In an article in the December 1979 edition of the monthly publication 30 Jours d’Europe, Pascal Fontaine, senior lecturer at the Paris Institute of Political Studies, considers the significance and the results of the first elections to the European Parliament by direct universal suffrage. He also refers to the issues addressed by the European Parliament and the fields in which the European Communities have been involved in the past year.

In its edition of 30 November 1987, the German weekly magazine Der Spiegel discusses what is at stake at the meeting of the European Council to be held on 4 and 5 December 1987 in Copenhagen and analyses the consequences of the budgetary crisis which is currently affecting the European Community.

In December 1992, the Dutch journal Internationale Spectator comments on the Delors II Package, in particular the financial measures required for the entry into force of the Maastricht Treaty.

On 12 December 1992, the Edinburgh European Council adopts a series of measures enabling the objectives related to the signing of the Maastricht Treaty to be implemented.

In June 1992, in the monthly journal Crocodile, Joan Colom i Naval, MEP and member of the European Parliament’s Committee on Budgets, criticises the restrictive attitude adopted at the Lisbon European Council towards the financing of the objectives agreed in Maastricht.

On 11 February 1992, Jacques Delors, President of the Commission of the European Communities, sets out to the European Parliament the issues surrounding the ‘Delors II Package’ on the financial measures required for the entry into force of the Maastricht Treaty.

In April 1993, in an article in the monthly publication Revue du Marché commun et de l’Union européenne, Philippe Jouret, administrator at the Commission of the European Communities in the Directorate General for Budget, analyses the question of the financing of the Community budget and the proposals contained in the ‘Delors II Package’.