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
A-10-2025-0052
Committee on Budgetary Control · Rapporteur: Joachim Stanisław Brudziński
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- Full procedure 2024/2021
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Parliament postpones its decision on granting discharge to the Secretary-General of the Council for the 2023 budget and sets out observations in a resolution.¶¶ The resolution regrets the Council's continued refusal to cooperate in the discharge procedure since 2009, which prevents Parliament from scrutinising the Council's budget implementation.¶¶¶ It calls on the Council to resume negotiations, improve transparency, and implement recommendations on ethics, transparency, and financial management.¶¶¶
Committee position. The Committee on Budgetary Control proposes to postpone the decision on granting discharge to the Secretary-General of the Council for the 2023 budget, with observations in a resolution.¶¶
Key points
- Postpones discharge decision for the Council's 2023 budget, pending observations in the resolution.¶
- Regrets that since 2009 the Council has refused to cooperate in the discharge procedure, preventing Parliament from making an informed decision.¶
- Notes that the Council did not answer Parliament's questionnaire of 90 questions and did not participate in the hearing of 12 November 2024.¶¶
- Calls on the Council to resume negotiations and engage at the highest level to resolve the discharge impasse.¶
- Calls for legal and procedural amendments to withhold budgetary appropriations from institutions failing to comply with transparency obligations.¶
- Calls on the Council to publish annual breakdowns of travel and representation expenses of senior officials.¶
- Calls for full disclosure of consultancy contracts exceeding EUR 50,000 to prevent misuse of public funds.¶
- Urges the Council to establish stricter post-term employment rules for senior officials and make participation in the EU Transparency Register mandatory for Permanent Representations.¶
- Regrets the Council's lack of transparency in legislative processes and urges implementation of Ombudsman recommendations and Court rulings.¶
- Calls for enhanced cybersecurity measures, including mandatory data encryption and regular security audits.¶
- Calls on the Council to implement a simplified accreditation procedure for other institutions' staff access to its premises.¶
- Stresses the need to revise Article 319 TFEU to explicitly allow Parliament to grant discharge to all Union institutions individually.¶
Who is affected
- The Council and its General Secretariat, which face postponed discharge and calls for greater transparency and cooperation.¶¶
- Member States' Permanent Representations, urged to participate in the mandatory transparency register.¶
- Senior officials of the Council, subject to calls for stricter post-term employment rules and disclosure of meetings with lobbyists.¶
Figures and deadlines
- Council's budget for 2023 was EUR 647,908,757, an increase of 6% compared to 2022.¶
- Overall implementation rate of the Council's budget in 2023 was 97.0%.¶
- Almost EUR 20 million in appropriations were cancelled at the end of 2023.
- 41 budgetary transfers were carried out in 2023 for a cumulated amount of EUR 6.5 million.¶
- Appropriations carried over from 2023 to 2024 totalled EUR 85.5 million.¶
- Average payment time decreased from 18 to 13 days from 2022 to 2023.¶
- Mission expenses increased by 25% and travel expenses of delegations by 36.6% between 2022 and 2023.¶
- Contracts were awarded for a total amount of EUR 124.1 million in 2023, corresponding to 19.15% of the Council's annual budget.¶
Legal basis: Article 319 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union¶