budget , and , within the framework of economic , social and territorial cohesion , now exceeded expenditure on the agricultural price support policy .
In 1978 , Parliament decided that it fell within its decision-making powers of last resort to set the level of funding for the European Regional Development Fund , as non-compulsory expenditure . Parliament did this in the 1979 budgetary process , despite the Council ’ s attempt to prevent this act of parliamentary will linked to a European economic policy that was in the initial stages of development .
After that vote , Giorgio Amendola , leader of the Italian Communist Party group in the European Parliament , wrote an editorial in L ’ Unità entitled ‘ Today European democracy is born ’. He argued that budgetary power would be the basis for embryonic European parliamentarianism , just as it had been foundational for the birth of modern democracies , as they transitioned from absolute to constitutional monarchies and parliamentary assemblies .
Even more evident in its institutional potential was the act by which the
“ European elections 1984 : finding a common taste ”. Poster for the
European election 1984 in Germany | © European Union
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