The European Parliament decided on Wednesday 19 January to give an unfavourable opinion on the EU Council’s proposal to renew the mandate of the Pole Marek Opioła as a member of the Court of Auditors of the European Union.
The Parliament thus followed the suggestions of the European Parliament’s Committee on Budgets (see EUROPE 12866/22), giving a negative opinion on this application (534 votes against, 151 in favour and 9 abstentions). The Parliament calls on the EU Council to withdraw its proposal and to present a new one to the Parliament. The Parliament had already issued an unfavourable opinion at the end of 2020 for Mr Opioła’s first mandate (see EUROPE 12623/22).
In addition, MEPs advised to approve the renewal of the mandates of the Czech (Jan Gregor, 656 in favour, 22 against and 16 abstentions) and Latvian (Mihails Kozlovs, 630 in favour, 45 against and 19 abstentions) members.
Finally, the Parliament gave a favourable opinion (487 votes in favour, 196 against and 11 abstentions) on the nomination of Kristijan Petrovič as a Slovenian member of the European Court of Auditors.
The EU Council has the final say on these appointments and does not always follow the Parliament’s recommendations. The members of the Court of Auditors of the EU are appointed by the EU Council, after consultation of the European Parliament, for a renewable term of six years. (Original version in French by Lionel Changeur)