The Chairman of the European Parliament’s Committee on Constitutional Affairs, Antonio Tajani (EPP, Italy), asked his counterpart in the Committee on Legal Affairs, Adrián Vázquez Lázara (Renew Europe, Spain), on Tuesday 26 January, to “study the possibility of legal action” against the conclusions of the December European Council on the Regulation on a general conditionality regime for the protection of the Union’s budget (see EUROPE 12620/1).
The Treaty states that the European Council “does not exercise a legislative function”, Mr Tajani said in a letter sent to Mr Vázquez Lázara and seen by EUROPE. However, the level of detail in the conclusions adopted by the EU27 would contradict this principle.
As this is a draft act under the ordinary legislative procedure, it is not for one of the institutions composed of representatives of the Member States to “unilaterally define the constituent elements of a Regulation or its interpretation”, the letter states.
Parliament fears that it will find itself “faced with a fait accompli” and therefore excluded from the legislative co-decision procedure. The institution had already said last December that the content of the European Council conclusions on this mechanism was “superfluous” (see EUROPE 12625/22).
The other objective of Parliament is to obtain a rapid implementation of the Regulation establishing a link between payment of appropriations from the EU budget and respect for the Rule of law (see EUROPE 12634/5). (Original version in French by Lionel Changeur)