On Thursday 1 July, the MEPs on the European Parliament’s Committees on Budgets (BUDG) and Budgetary Control (CONT) said that future guidelines for the application of the general regime of conditionality for the protection of the Union budget were unnecessary and even counterproductive.
The committees adopted (by 53 votes in favour, 11 against and 2 abstentions) a report by Eider Gardiazabal Rubial (S&D, Spain) and Petri Sarvamaa (EPP, Finland) on the need for guidelines on this text, which links the disbursement of EU budget funds to respect for the Rule of law.
MEPs regret “that the Commission intended to create guidelines for the application of the Regulation” and believe that the text of the Regulation is clear and needs no further interpretation.
The members of these committees take note of the draft guidelines that the Commission shared with the European Parliament and the Member States in mid-June. MEPs stress that the guidelines are not legally binding and that the process of creating guidelines “must not lead to any further delay in the implementation of the Regulation”. They also call on the Commission to develop a “clear, precise and user-friendly system” for lodging complaints under the Regulation.
Violations of the Rule of law must be addressed without delay. MEPs call on the Commission to investigate promptly any potential violations of the principles of the Rule of law “which undermine or are likely to undermine the sound financial management of the EU budget”, stressing that “the situation in some Member States already warrants immediate action”. The Commission should inform the European Parliament of the first cases under investigation by October 2021, they add.
Finally, MEPs criticise the Commission for failing to meet the deadline set by the European Parliament to implement the Regulation and adopt the guidelines by 1 June 2021. They welcome the letter of 23 June from the President of the European Parliament stating that if the Commission fails to respond within the time limits set out in the Treaties, the European Parliament will bring an action before the Court of Justice of the European Union (see EUROPE 12747/20).
Ongoing consultation process. The Commission attaches great importance to consulting the European Parliament and the Member States on the guidelines; the institution told EUROPE on Thursday 1 July. Therefore, the draft guidelines have been shared with the European Parliament and the Member States “for their views until the end of August”. “The Commission will ultimately also take the judgment of the Court of Justice into account when finalising the guidelines, insofar as relevant. As reiterated by President Ursula von der Leyen, any breach occurring after 1 January 2021 will be covered - no case will be lost”, says the Commission.
Link to the compromise amendments tabled: https://bit.ly/2Uer3xl (Original version in French by Lionel Changeur)