2022 discharge: General budget of the EU - European Council and Council

PURPOSE: discharge in respect of the implementation of the general budget of the European Union for the financial year 2022, Section II – European Council and Council.

NON-LEGISLATIVE ACT: Decision (EU) 2024/3090 of the European Parliament on discharge in respect of the implementation of the general budget of the European Union for the financial year 2022, Section II – European Council and Council.

CONTENT: the European Parliament decided to refuse discharge to the Secretary-General of the Council in respect of the implementation of the budget of the European Council and of the Council for the financial year 2022.

Parliament deeply regrets that since 2009, and again for the financial year 2022, Council continues to refuse to cooperate with Parliament on the discharge procedure, preventing Parliament from taking an informed decision based on a serious and thorough scrutiny of the implementation of the Council’s budget and thereby compelling Parliament to refuse discharge. It also deplored that for more than a decade, the Council has shown that it does not have any political willingness to collaborate with Parliament in the context of the annual discharge procedure.

Parliament stressed that all other Union institutions recognise and understand the principle that, given the delegation of power concerning the implementation of the budget, Parliament has the right and obligation to scrutinise their budgets and their implementation in the discharge procedure. It therefore expressed its strong disapproval of the Council’s continued refusal to cooperate with Parliament in this regard.

The Council is called on to resume negotiations with Parliament at the highest level as soon as possible in order to break the deadlock and find a solution while respecting the respective roles of Parliament and the Council in the discharge procedure and ensuring transparency and proper democratic control of budget implementation.