Text · Opinion parliamentary committee
On discharge in respect of the implementation of the general budget of the European Union for the financial year 2023, Section II – European Council and Council
Document AFCO-AD-766587 · 2024/2021(DEC)
- Kind
- Opinion parliamentary committee AFCO-AD-766587
- Date
- 29 January 2025
- Committee
- Committee on Constitutional Affairs
- Rapporteur
- Sven Simon
- Dossier
- 2024/2021(DEC)
More facts (3)
- Formats
- Official page PDF Word
- Subject matter
- BUDG
- Reference
- 2024/2021(DEC)
In short
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The Committee on Constitutional Affairs opinion on the 2023 budget discharge for the European Council and Council calls for full respect of Parliament's prerogatives and regrets the Council's refusal to cooperate in the discharge procedure for over a decade. It asks the Council to implement Parliament's recommendations, resume negotiations on a memorandum of understanding, split the budgets of the two institutions, and support Treaty changes to give Parliament explicit discharge powers over all institutions.
Position. The Committee on Constitutional Affairs proposes that the Committee on Budgetary Control incorporate these calls into its motion for a resolution on discharge for 2023.
Key points
- Calls for full respect of Parliament's prerogatives in the annual budgetary procedure and insists on the full application of Article 14(1) TEU.
- Regrets the Council's continuing refusal to engage in sincere cooperation in the discharge procedure for more than a decade, which prevents Parliament from carrying out its duties properly.
- Regrets that this lack of cooperation is also reflected in other files, such as Treaty revision, Parliament's right of inquiry, and reform of European electoral law.
- Considers that the lack of cooperation from the European Council and Council sends a negative signal to citizens of the Union.
- Calls on the Council to implement Parliament's recommendations on the budget discharge procedure and to resume negotiations on the memorandum of understanding on interinstitutional cooperation.
- Reiterates that the budgets of the European Council and Council should be divided into two separate budgets to improve transparency, expenditure efficiency, and accountability.
- Stresses that the next Treaty revision should render the discharge procedure clearer and more transparent, explicitly empowering Parliament in Article 319 TFEU to grant discharge to all institutions individually.
- Urges the Council to actively engage with Parliament to improve the current situation through better interinstitutional cooperation within the existing framework.
Who is affected
Text
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Opinion
The Committee on Constitutional Affairs calls on the Committee on Budgetary Control, as the committee responsible, to incorporate the following into its motion for a resolution:
1.Calls for full respect of Parliament's prerogatives in the annual budgetary procedure and insists on the full application of article 14 (1) TEU;
2.Regrets the Council’s continuing refusal to engage in sincere cooperation in the framework of the discharge procedure for more than a decade, which prevents Parliament from carrying out its duties properly and taking informed decisions; regrets that this is also reflected in other important files, such as the revision of the Treaties, the European Parliament’s right of inquiry and the reform of the European electoral law;
3.Considers that the lack of cooperation from the European Council and from the Council with the discharge authority sends a negative signal to citizens of the Union;
4.Calls on the Council to implement the recommendations adopted by the European Parliament on the budget discharge procedure and to resume negotiations on the memorandum of understanding on the interinstitutional cooperation on that matter;
5.Reiterates that the budget of the European Council and of the Council should be divided into two separate budgets, as recommended by Parliament in its recent discharge resolutions, in order to improve transparency, expenditure efficiency and accountability of each institution;
6.Stresses that the next revision of the Treaties should render the discharge procedure clearer and more transparent, in particular by empowering the European Parliament explicitly in Article 319 TFEU to grant discharge to all institutions, bodies, offices and agencies individually, as reflected in its resolution of 22 November 2023 on proposals for the amendment of the Treaties; underlines that pending such a revision, the current situation should be improved through better interinstitutional cooperation within the current framework and urges the Council to actively engage with the Parliament in addressing the current situation.
Back matter, 2
Parts that accompany the text rather than belong to it: explanatory statement, annexes, opinions appended by other committees. Collapsed.
Annex: entities or persons from whom the rapporteur has received input 1 block
Information on adoption by committee asked for opinion 1 block
| Date adopted | 29.1.2025 | |
| Result of final vote | +: –: 0: | 22 4 3 |
| Members present for the final vote | Gerolf Annemans, Brando Benifei, Gabriele Bischoff, Salvatore De Meo, Vasile Dîncu, Klára Dobrev, Nikolas Farantouris, Daniel Freund, Jean-Paul Garraud, Charles Goerens, Sandro Gozi, Patryk Jaki, Ľubica Karvašová, Emmanouil Kefalogiannis, Juan Fernando López Aguilar, Nicola Procaccini, Thijs Reuten, Bartłomiej Sienkiewicz, Sven Simon, Anthony Smith, Reinier Van Lanschot, Alexandre Varaut, Adrián Vázquez Lázara, Sabine Verheyen, Loránt Vincze, Charlie Weimers | |
| Substitutes present for the final vote | Kamila Gasiuk-Pihowicz, Fabrice Leggeri, Liudas Mažylis |
Procedure pages and committee votes
How the committees handled the text and how their members voted on it. Collapsed.
Final vote by roll call in committee asked for opinion 3 blocks
22 · For
- EPP
- Salvatore De Meo, Kamila Gasiuk-Pihowicz, Emmanouil Kefalogiannis, Liudas Mažylis, Bartłomiej Sienkiewicz, Sven Simon, Sabine Verheyen, Loránt Vincze, Adrián Vázquez Lázara
- Renew
- Charles Goerens, Sandro Gozi, Ľubica Karvašová
- S&D
- Brando Benifei, Gabriele Bischoff, Vasile Dîncu, Klára Dobrev, Juan Fernando López Aguilar, Thijs Reuten
- The Left
- Nikolas Farantouris, Anthony Smith
- Greens
- Daniel Freund, Reinier Van Lanschot
Connections
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Sources & citation
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- Data source
- Licensed CC BY 4.0.
- Retrieved
- 25 September 2026
Cite as
European Parliament (2025). “OPINION on discharge in respect of the implementation of the general budget of the European Union for the financial year 2023, Section II – European Council and Council”. Text, 29 January 2025. docId AFCO-AD-766587. EU Parl Watch Research. https://news.eu-parl.st-solutions.dev/texts/AFCO-AD-766587 (retrieved 25 September 2026). Data: EP Open Data API: document record, https://data.europarl.europa.eu/api/v2/documents/AFCO-AD-766587 (CC BY 4.0).
BibTeX
@misc{epw-text-afco-ad-766587,
author = {{European Parliament}},
title = {{OPINION on discharge in respect of the implementation of the general budget of the European Union for the financial year 2023, Section II – European Council and Council}},
year = {2025},
date = {2025-01-29},
howpublished = {\url{https://news.eu-parl.st-solutions.dev/texts/AFCO-AD-766587}},
url = {https://news.eu-parl.st-solutions.dev/texts/AFCO-AD-766587},
urldate = {2026-09-25},
publisher = {EU Parl Watch Research},
note = {Text. docId AFCO-AD-766587. Data: EP Open Data API: document record (CC BY 4.0)}
}