Skip to content
DRAFT REPORT (2023/2131(DEC))

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

CONT-PR-753479

Committee on Budgetary Control · Rapporteur: Luke Ming Flanagan

Official HTML ↗ PDF DOCX
✦ In shortFull text
✦ In short · AI summary of this text, generated 4 Sept 2026

Written by a language model from the full text only; every figure comes from the text. The paragraph links open the paragraph a statement rests on — check the text itself before relying on it.

This draft report concerns the discharge for the European Council and Council budget for 2022. It proposes to postpone the discharge decision and includes observations on transparency, budget management, and other issues. Parliament regrets the Council's continued refusal to cooperate in the discharge procedure, which has prevented informed scrutiny since 2009. It calls on the Council to resume negotiations and respect Parliament's prerogatives. The report notes the Council's budget was EUR 611,473,556 for 2022, a 2.9% increase from 2021. It criticizes the lack of separation between European Council and Council budgets and the increase in travel costs for the European Council President. It highlights gender imbalance in senior management and geographical imbalances among staff, and calls for measures to address these issues. It also urges the Council to improve transparency in its legislative process and implement Ombudsman recommendations.

Committee position. The rapporteur proposes to postpone the decision on granting discharge to the Secretary-General of the Council for the 2022 budget, due to the Council's lack of cooperation.

Key points

  1. Proposes to postpone the decision on granting discharge to the Secretary-General of the Council for the 2022 budget.
  2. Regrets that since 2009 the Council has refused to cooperate in the discharge procedure, preventing Parliament from making an informed decision.
  3. Notes that the Council did not answer Parliament's questionnaire of 74 questions and did not participate in the hearing arranged for 25 October 2023.
  4. Calls on the Council to resume negotiations at the highest level to break the deadlock and ensure transparency and democratic control.
  5. Suggests that a revision of the Treaties could give Parliament explicit competence to grant discharge to all Union institutions individually.
  6. Regrets that the Council does not take into account views of interested parties or OLAF recommendations in appointment procedures, and calls for independent panels of experts to check qualifications.
  7. Points out the gender imbalance in the Court of Auditors and calls on the Council to reconsider its nomination procedure, possibly requiring at least two candidates of different genders per vacancy.
  8. Urges the Council to implement Ombudsman recommendations and Court rulings on legislative transparency, and expresses concern about the European Council's increasing role in legislative files.
  9. Calls on rotating Council presidencies to stop using corporate sponsorship and on the Council to provide a budget for presidencies.
  10. Notes the Council's budget for 2022 was EUR 611,473,556, an increase of 2.9% from 2021, and criticizes the lack of separation between European Council and Council budgets.
  11. Regrets the increase in travel budget for the President of the European Council and stresses that commercial planes should be the standard option.
  12. Calls for gender balance at all levels of the General Secretariat and for information on gender, geographical distribution, and disabilities of staff.

Who is affected

  • The European Council and the Council, whose budget implementation is under scrutiny and which are asked to cooperate more with Parliament.
  • The Secretary-General of the Council, who is responsible for budget management and whose discharge is postponed.
  • The rotating Council presidencies, which are called on to stop using corporate sponsorship.
  • The Court of Auditors, whose appointment procedure is criticized for gender imbalance.
  • Staff of the General Secretariat of the Council, who are affected by calls for gender balance and transparency on disabilities.

Figures and deadlines

  • EUR 611,473,556: the Council's budget for 2022, an increase of 2.9% compared to 2021.
  • 2.9%: increase in the Council's budget from 2021 to 2022, compared to 0.6% from 2020 to 2021.
  • EUR 300,000: reduction in mission costs for the General Secretariat and equivalent increase for European Council staff.
  • 18 out of 112: missions by the President of the European Council using commercial planes between 2019 and December 2022.
  • 3,029: posts assigned to the Council in 2022, same as 2021, with changes in distribution among categories.
  • 57%: women among Council staff, but only 35% in senior management.
  • 527: Belgian members of staff, equivalent to 17%, while Cypriots are 0.2% and Luxembourgish 0.3%.
  • EUR 48,115,000: initial budget for IT systems and telecommunications in 2022, with actual payments of EUR 27,096,067.

Legal basis: Article 319 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union