What changed

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P10_TA(2025)0079

1. PROPOSAL FOR A EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT DECISION

Discharge 2023: EU general budget - European Council and Council

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

Committee on Budgetary Control

(2024/2021(DEC))

PE764.997

1. European Parliament decision of 7 May 2025 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 (2024/2021(DEC))

The European Parliament,

– having regard to the general budget of the European Union for the financial year 2023,

3. Instructs its President to forward this decision and the resolution forming an integral part of it to the European Council, the Council, the Commission, the European Ombudsman, the European Data Protection Supervisor and the Court of Auditors, and to arrange for their publication in the Official Journal of the European Union (L series).

2. MOTION FOR A EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT RESOLUTION

2. European Parliament resolution of 7 May 2025 with observations forming an integral part of the decision 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 (2024/2021(DEC))

with observations forming an integral part of the decision 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

The European Parliament,

(2024/2021(DEC))

– having regard to its decision 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,

B. whereas, under Article 319 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union (TFEU), the Parliament has the sole responsibility of granting discharge in respect of the implementation of the general budget of the Union, and whereas the budget of the European Council and of the Council is a section of the Union budget;

C. whereas, pursuant to Article 15(1) of the Treaty on European Union,Union (TEU), the European Council is not to exercise legislative functions;

D. whereas, under Article 317 TFEU, the Commission is to implement the Union budget on its own responsibility, having regard to the principles of sound financial management, and whereas, under the framework in place, the Commission is to confer on the other Union institutions the requisite powers for the implementation of the sections of the budget relating to them;

E. whereas, under Articles 235(4) and 240(2) TFEU, the European Council and the Council (the ‘Council’) are assisted by the General Secretariat of the Council (the ‘Secretariat’), and whereas the Secretary-General of the Council is wholly responsible for the sound management of the appropriations entered in Section II of the Union budget;

F. whereas, over the course of more than twenty20 years, Parliament has been implementing the well-established and respected practice of granting discharge to all Union institutions, bodies, offices and agencies, and whereas the Commission supports that the practice of giving discharge to each Union institution, body, office and agency for its administrative expenditure should continue to be pursued;

G. whereas, according to Article 59(1) of the Financial Regulation, the Commission shall confer on the other Union Institutions the requisite powers for the implementation of the sections of the budget relating to them;

J. whereas Article 15(3) TFEU requires the EU institutions to ensure in their Rules of Procedure that their proceedings are transparent, while in several of its inquiries and decisions Ombudsman has criticised the Council for its lack of transparency suggesting that the Council has failed fully to grasp the critical link between democracy and the transparency of decision-making;

K. whereas the case law of the Court of Justice of the European Union confirms the right of taxpayers and of the public to be kept informed about the use of public revenue and that the General Court in in its judgment of 25 January 2023 in Case T-163/21,T-163/21 , De Capitani v Council, stated on transparency within the Union legislative process that documents produced by the Council in its working groups are not of technical nature but legislative and are therefore subject to access to documents requests;

1. Notes that the budget of the Council falls under MFF headingHeading 7, ‘European public administration’, which amounted to EUR 12,3 billion in 2023 (representing 6,4%6,4 % of the total Union budget); notes that the Council’s budget of approximately EUR 0,6 billion represents approximately 5,2%5,2 % of the total administrative expenditure of the Union;

2. Welcomes that the Court of Auditors (the ‘Court’), in its Annual Report for the financial year 2023 examined a sample of 70 transactions under Administration, 10 more than were examined in 2022; further notes that the Court writes that administrative expenditure comprises expenditure on human resources, including expenditure on pensions, which in 2023 accounted for about 70 % of the total administrative expenditure, and expenditure on buildings, equipment, energy, communications and information technology, and that its work over many years indicates that, overall, this spending is low risk;

9. Underlines that Article 59(1) of the Financial Regulation states that the Commission shall confer on the other Union Institutions the requisite powers for the implementation of the sections of the budget relating to them and, therefore, finds it incomprehensible that the Council believes it appropriate that discharge should be granted to the Commission for the implementation of the Council budget;

10. Stresses the well-established and respected practice followed by Parliament over the course of more than twenty20 years of granting discharge to all Union institutions, bodies, offices and agencies, including the European Council and Council; recalls that the Commission has declared its inability to oversee the implementation of the budgets of the other Union institutions; stresses the reiterated view of the Commission that the practice of giving discharge to each Union institution for their administrative expenditure and implementation of the EU budget should continue to be pursued directly by Parliament to preserve the compliance of the principle of sound financial management;

11. Stresses that the current situation implies that Parliament can only check the reports of the Court and of the Ombudsman as well as the publicly available information on the Council’s website due to the Council’s persistent lack of cooperation with Parliament; underlines that this lack of cooperation undermines Parliament'sParliament’s ability to effectively fulfil its oversight role and to make an informed decision on granting discharge;

12. Deplores that the Council, for more than a decade, has shown that it does not have any political willingness to collaborate with Parliament in the context of the annual discharge procedure; underlines that this attitude has had a lasting negative effect on both institutions, has discredited the management and democratic scrutiny of the Union budget and has damaged the trust of citizens in the Union as a transparent entity; underlines that the Council must adhere to the same standards of accountability it expects from other Union institutions;

13. Reiterates that the Council’s continued refusal to engage in the discharge procedure is an unacceptable breach of democratic accountability. Calls for legal and procedural amendments to withhold budgetary appropriations to any Union institution that fails to comply with transparency obligations;

14. Recalls that the case-law of the Court of Justice of the European Union supports the right of taxpayers and the public to be kept informed about the use of public revenue; demands, therefore, full respect for Parliament’s prerogative and role as guarantor of the democratic accountability principle; calls on the Council to duly follow up on the recommendations adopted by Parliament in the context of the discharge procedure and insists on the full application of article 14Article (&)14(1) TEU;

15. Calls on the Council to resume negotiations with Parliament without undue delay and to actively engage with Parliament at the highest level as soon as possible involving the Secretaries-General and the Presidents of both institutions, in order to break the deadlock and resolve the long-standing discharge impasse, while respecting the respective roles of Parliament and the Council in the discharge procedure and ensuring transparency, credibility and proper democratic control of budget implementation; requests that Commission and the Council legal services provide an opinion on potential Treaty-based solutions to enforce Council’s accountability in the discharge procedure;

20. Notes the Council’s tradition of not questioning the appointments of individual Member States for most positions;

21. Recalls that, pursuant to Article 286(2) TFEU, the Council appoints the members of the Court of Auditors, in accordance with proposals made by each Member State, after consultation with Parliament; recalls that, on the basis of this prerequisite, Parliament delivers an opinion on the candidates; regrets that the Council has repeatedly disregarded Parliament’s recommendations in its consultative role regarding the appointment of the members of the Court; recalls that although Parliament’s opinion is non-binding on the Council, candidates who received an unfavourable opinion withdrew their candidatures by accepting Parliament'sParliament’s decision, thereby recognising the role of Parliament as the democratic supervisory authority linked to the safeguarding of the Union budget; calls on the Council to recognise Parliament’s role by cooperating in the discharge procedure;

22. Recalls that the judges and advocates-general of the Court of Justice of the European Union are appointed by common accord of the governments of the Member statesStates after consultation of a panel responsible for giving an opinion on prospective candidates'candidates’ suitability to perform the duties concerned;

23. Calls on the rotating Council Presidencies to stop using corporate sponsorship to contribute to covering their expenses as this runs the risk of creating conflicts of interest, in line with the conclusions of the workshop held by Parliament’s Committee on Budgetary Control on 27 June 2023; notes that, in her decision of 9 September 2024 on the strategic initiative on sponsorship of the presidency of the Council of the European Union, the European Ombudsman encouraged the Council to take stock of how the non-binding rules adopted by the Council for the use of sponsorship by its presidency (the Guidance) have been implemented and to explore other possible measures that could help mitigate the risks associated with the use of sponsorship; reiterates its call on the Council to provide a budget for the Council Presidencies to ensure adequate and uniform standards of efficiency and effectiveness in the work in the Council in general;

24. Expresses deep concern over the Hungarian government'sgovernment’s misuse of its role in the EU Presidency to pursue bilateral engagements that contradict the Union'sUnion’s core values, such as Prime Minister Viktor Orbán’s meetings with Russian President Vladimir Putin, despite Union sanctions and the International Criminal Court arrest warrant against the latter for war crimes; notes with alarm similar engagements with other authoritarian leaders, undermining the EU’s credibility; calls on the Council to firmly condemn such actions and to take all necessary measures to ensure that Member States holding the Presidency act in alignment with EU principles, safeguarding the Union'sUnion’s integrity and values;

Budgetary and financial management

27. Notes that the overall implementation rate of the Council’s budget in 2023 was 97,0 %; notes that almost EUR 20 million in appropriations were cancelled at the end of 2023, half of which originated from the staff expenditure budget line;

28. Notes that, in accordance with Article 29 of the Financial Regulation, the Council carried out 41 budgetary transfers in 2023 for a cumulated amount of EUR 6,5 million; notes further that three of those transfers required that the budgetary authority be informed in accordance with Article 29(2), for the purpose of reinforcing various budget lines including “Fitting-out‘Fitting-out and installation work”,work’, “Water,‘Water, gas, electricity and heating”,heating’, “Acquisition‘Acquisition of equipment and software”software’ and “Cost‘Cost of renting, maintenance and repair of service cars”;cars’;

29. Calls on the Council to publish an annual breakdown of travel and representation expenses of senior officials, including the President of the European Council, the High Representative,Representative andof the GeneralUnion for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy, and the Secretariat, in a user-friendly format accessible to the public;

30. Notes that appropriations carried over from 2023 to 2024 totalled EUR 85,5 million covering mainly computer systems, cost of interpretation provided in 2023, for which invoices have not been yet agreed with the European Commission services at the time of the closure, buildings, information and communication, audio-visualaudiovisual and conference equipment, other staff expenditure: and transport;

31. Expresses concern over insufficient control mechanisms regarding the Council’s use of consultancy services and external contractors; calls for full disclosure of all contracts exceeding EUR 50,000,50 000, detailing the scope, deliverables, and awarded entities, to prevent potential misuse of public funds;

32. Notes that the average time for payments of invoices decreased from 18 to 13 days from 2022 to 2023, well below the maximum time-limit of 30 days, thus avoiding interest on late payments;

38. Notes the Secretariat launched 17 open procurement procedures, 12 new negotiated procedures, as well as 21 inter-institutional procedures (any value) with the Council not in the lead; notes that, by the end of 2023, 41 contracts were signed, compared to 42 in 2022, and 47 Lots (any category) were being worked on; notes that contracts were awarded for a total amount of EUR 124,1 million in 2023, which corresponds to 19,15 % of the Council’s annual budget; notes, that out of the total contracted amount, 0,5 % was committed in low and middle value contracts, 58 % in specific contracts under framework contracts where Council is the sole contracting authority and 69,5 % in specific contracts awarded under inter-institutional framework contracts;

39. Notes that the Council transmitted its annual report on internal audits carried out in 2023 to the discharge authority, in accordance with Article 118 of the financialFinancial regulation;Regulation; notes that, at the end of 2023, 81 % of the recommendations issued during the years 2020-2022 had been implemented, 18 % were still open and for 1 %, risk had been accepted by management or the recommendations were no longer applicable; notes that four internal audits planned in the 2023 work programme were concluded during the year and two were still ongoing at the end of 2023; notes that the internal auditor issued high priority recommendations in three audits of the 2023 work programme related to transport services, IOLAN servers and core services and IOLAN endpoint systems;

Human resources, equality and staff well-being

40. Notes that, out of 3 116 members of staff at the end of 2023, 79 % were permanent staff, 12,8%12,8 % were temporary staff, 7,2%7,2 % were contractual agents and 1%1 % were seconded national experts; notes that the repartition of permanent and temporary staff between job categories remained stable with 1 474,25 administrators (AD), 1 159 assistants (AST) and 230 secretaries (AST-SC) in 2023, compared to 1 519, 1 284 and 190 in 2022; notes that the occupation rate of the establishment plan was 97,4 % at the end of 2023;

41. Notes that, given the Council’s lack of cooperation with Parliament, observations in this section primarily rely on aggregated information published on the Council’s website which provides limited detail;

43. Regrets the lack of publicly available information concerning the gender and geographical distribution of staff in the Secretariat; calls on the Council to provide information to Parliament on gender balance, geographical distribution and disabilities of its members of staff and on the related internal policies; encourages the Council to promote geographical balance of its staff by offering a wider pool of candidates from underrepresented Member States;

44. Welcomes the Secretariat’s efforts in 2023 to attract and retain a qualified and younger workforce through various initiatives such as the recruitment of eight junior policy administrators under the new Junior Policy Team programme, the revision of the internal mobility rules and the participation of 41 of the Secretariat’s members of staff in an Interinstitutional Job Shadowing Exercise; emphasizes that traineeships should be remunerated in compliance with the European Parliament'sParliament’s resolution of 14 June 2023 on Quality Traineeships in the Union (2020/2005(INL)), which calls for all internships in Europe to be paid; regrets the lack of information on the implementation of the Council’s Employer Branding Action Plan prepared in 2023;

45. Notes that, in 2023, the 2020-2023 Psychosocial Risk Prevention plan was the subject of a review, the results of which have been taken into account in preparing a new Risk Prevention plan and updating the Psychosocial Intervention Plan as part of the Council’s initiatives to promote staff wellbeing, both individually and as teams or units; notes that several forms of support and courses were offered to members of staff and managers of the Secretariat, such as a dedicated management training session on psychological safety, Guidance for Managers on mental health, specific workshops on psychosocial risk prevention organised on demand and stress management workshops for the Spanish and Belgian Council Presidencies;

47. Regrets that two key components of the ethical framework of the Council, the ‘Guide to Ethics and Conduct’ for Secretariat staff and the ‘Code of Conduct for the President of the European Council’, are available on the Council’s website without further guidance or date of publication; criticises that, despite several requests by Parliament, the code of conduct for the President of the European Council has not been brought in line with those of Parliament and the Commission, in particular in terms of post term-of-office activities; calls on forthwith rectification of foregoing deficiencies;

48. Reiterates that ethical conduct contributes to sound financial management and increases public trust and that, as stressed by the Court in its Special Report No 13/2019, there is scope for improvement in the ethical frameworks of the Union institutions; recalls in particular the recommendation issued by the Court with regard to improving the Council’s ethical framework; expresses concern about the lack of a common Union ethical framework governing the work of the representatives of Member States in the Council as identified by the Court;

49. Notes that, as part of the implementation of the Secretary-General’s Decision 23/2021 concerning psychological and sexual harassment at work, several actions were taken in 2023 such as the publication on the Secretariat’s intranet of the Guide to preventing harassment in the workplace, awareness-raising activities for newcomers regarding the zero tolerance approach of the Council and the organisation of compulsory trainings on anti-harassment and inappropriate behaviour for new managers and staff with management responsibilities;

51. Urges the Council to establish stricter post-term employment rules for senior officials, including an extended cooling-off period and mandatory public disclosure of private-sector affiliations; calls on the Council to make the participation of Member States’ Permanent Representations in the EU Transparency Register mandatory;

52. Regrets the fact that the participation of the Member States’ Permanent Representatives in the mandatory transparency register, set up by the interinstitutional agreement of 20 May 2021 between Parliament, the Council and the Commission, is completely voluntary as the application of the conditionality principle is left to the discretion of each Member State’s Permanent Representation; notes that only eight Member States and the Union institutions abide by the best practice of applying a mandatory broad-scope definition of lobbyist in their regulatory framework and insists that all Permanent Representations should take an active part in the mandatory transparency register before, during and after their Member State’s presidency of the Council; calls for stronger and harmonized ethics rules on conflicts of interest, revolving doors, and lobbying transparency; recalls Parliament’s position that Member State representatives who benefit directly from Union subsidies through the businesses they own should not be allowed to participate in policy or budgetary discussions and votes related to those subsidies; regrets that the Council does not fully use the mandatory transparency register or accept proposals to improve it; reiterates its call on the Council to refrain from engaging with unregistered lobbyists;

53. Regrets that the Council does not fully utilise the mandatory transparency register beyond its current limitations, rejecting any recommendation for improvements; reiterates its call on the Council to refuse to meet with unregistered lobbyists;

Digitalisation

59. Notes that, in 2023, the Secretariat continued to pursue its goal of digital transformation, in line with its Digital Strategy priorities for 2022-2025; notes, that out of 113 digitalisation projects in the annual work plan, concerning, in particular, the areas of shared services, policy, legal and IT, 37 % were completed at the end of the year while 8 % were cancelled or merged and 38%38 % were still ongoing; notes that more diversified training courses were organised, including specific courses for the electronic signature of contracts and to promote FIORI, the new user experience of SAP;

60. Urges the Council to accelerate the implementation of secure digital voting and document-sharing systems to enhance efficiency, accountability, and reduce unnecessary paper-based processes;

Cybersecurity and data protection

63. Notes that, in 2023, the European Data Protection Supervisor (EDPS) issued a Supervisory Opinion in accordance with Article 57(1)(g) of Regulation (EU) 2018/1725 of the European Parliament and of the Council relating to the need to conduct a data protection impact assessment concerning the project of the Secretariat regarding the use of centralised human resource analytics and reporting services and the establishment a data warehouse; notes that the EDPS did not report any investigation or complaint concerning the Council in 2023;

64. Expresses concern over the lack of robust safeguards against surveillance and data collection by third parties; calls for enhanced security measures, including mandatory data encryption and regular security audits of all digital communication systems used by the Council;

Buildings

66. Notes that budget line 20112 0 1 1 for “Water,‘Water, gas, electricity and heating”heating’ was reinforced by 33 % through a budgetary transfer in 2023; notes that the Secretariat continued to reduce its energy consumption, through methods such as reducing the building heating and replacing the boilers in the Justus Lipsius building;

67. Notes that key building projects were executed in 2023, such as the renovation of some meeting rooms in the LEX and Justus Lipsius buildings, the continuous renovation of office corridors in the Justus Lipsius building, improvements of facilities and infrastructure for bikes in the Council’s premises and the modernisation of the Justus Lipsius reception desks;

69. Notes that, further to an external audit performed in 2023, the EcoManagement and Audit Scheme was maintained and that Energy Performance of Buildings certificates were renewed;

70. Notes that, as part of the continuing priority efforts for sustainable mobility, facilities and infrastructures for bikes in the Secretariat premises were improved and tailored and videoconferencing facilities in the form of “meet‘meet anywhere rooms”rooms’ were renovated or put in place; notes further that efforts to on-board staff and managers in the green transformation were deployed through training and awareness-raising actions;

Interinstitutional cooperation

72. Notes that, in 2023, the overall budget for communication implemented in the course of the year, taking transfers into account, was EUR 11 871 300, i.e. 3,54 % higher than the 2022 budget;

73. Notes that the Secretariat provides communication services to the President of the European Council, whose web presence was fundamentally revamped in 2022, the President of the Eurogroup, the rotating presidency, the HighVice-President Representative-Viceof President,the Commission/High Representative of the Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy, Member States and the Secretariat; notes that 2023 saw a marked increase in collaboration between the Secretariat’s digital team and the presidencies, in particular, close editorial coordination led to increased synergies in terms of content reuse and better complementarity, which maximised the overall communication impact;

74. Notes that, according to an online survey conducted in the last quarter of 2023, 67 % of users were satisfied with their overall experience with the Council’s website, which had over 23 million visits in 2023, a 1 % increase compared to 2022, and 57 900 subscribers, compared to 51 600 in 2022.

ANNEX: ENTITIES OR PERSONS FROM WHOM THE RAPPORTEUR HAS RECEIVED INPUT

The rapporteur declares under his exclusive responsibility that he did not receive input from any entity or person to be mentioned in this Annex pursuant to Article 8 of Annex I to the Rules of Procedure.

29.1.2025

OPINION OF THE COMMITTEE ON CONSTITUTIONAL AFFAIRS

for the Committee on Budgetary Control

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

(2024/2021(DEC))

Rapporteur for opinion: Sven Simon

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.

ANNEX: ENTITIES OR PERSONS FROM WHOM THE RAPPORTEUR HAS RECEIVED INPUT

The Chair in his capacity as rapporteur for the opinion declares under his exclusive responsibility that he did not receive input from any entity or person to be mentioned in this Annex pursuant to Article 8 of Annex I to the Rules of Procedure.

INFORMATION ON ADOPTION BY COMMITTEE ASKED FOR OPINION

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

FINAL VOTE BY ROLL CALL IN COMMITTEE ASKED FOR OPINION

Key to symbols:

INFORMATION ON ADOPTION IN COMMITTEE RESPONSIBLE

Date adopted

18.3.2025

Result of final vote

+:

–:

0:

0

28

1

Members present for the final vote

Georgios Aftias, Arno Bausemer, Damian Boeselager, Gilles Boyer, Olivier Chastel, Caterina Chinnici, Tamás Deutsch, Dick Erixon, Gerben-Jan Gerbrandy, Niclas Herbst, Monika Hohlmeier, Virginie Joron, Kinga Kollár, Giuseppe Lupo, Marit Maij, Claudiu Manda, Csaba Molnár, Fidias Panayiotou, Jacek Protas, Julien Sanchez, Jonas Sjöstedt, Carla Tavares, Tomáš Zdechovský

Substitutes present for the final vote

Maria Grapini, Terry Reintke, Bert-Jan Ruissen, Annamária Vicsek

Members under Rule 216(7) present for the final vote

Valentina Palmisano, Georgiana Teodorescu

FINAL VOTE BY ROLL CALL BY THE COMMITTEE RESPONSIBLE

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