The EU Council’s original unilateral 1970 resolution on the ‘Gentlemen’s Agreement’ on the scrutiny of budgetary expenditure has in practice been consolidated by an agreement between the European Parliament and the Council with binding effects for both institutions, according to an opinion of the EU Council’s Legal Service dated 28 February and obtained by EUROPE.
At its meeting on 16 November 2022, and in the context of the follow-up discussion on the Conciliation Committee agreement for the adoption of the EU budget for 2023 (see EUROPE 13063/8), the Committee of Representatives of the Member States to the EU (Coreper) requested the opinion of the Council’s Legal Service on the nature, legal effects and further application of the Gentlemen’s Agreement between the Council and the Parliament on the expenditure estimates of these institutions.
This arrangement originally stems from a Council resolution of 22 April 1970 in which the Council undertook, in the context of the conclusion of the Luxembourg Treaty reforming the budgetary procedure, “not to make amendments to the estimate of expenditure of the European Parliament”. Although unilateral, this Council declaration has since been analysed as a mutual commitment by the two arms of the budgetary authority not to amend the expenditure of each institution.
The opinion of the Legal Service shows that the scope of the Gentlemen’s Agreement “has been expanded over time” from the obligation not to modify the expenditure estimates of the other arm of the budgetary authority in the framework of the budgetary procedure under Article 314 TFEU to a number of budgetary control procedures set out in the Financial Regulation and in the Staff Regulations.
The Gentlemen’s Agreement can be “amended and/or repealed and replaced by a new Interinstitutional Agreement between the same parties”, according to the Council’s Legal Service.
The Council could, as a last resort, “unilaterally withdraw” from the Gentlemen’s Agreement after exhausting all reasonable means to negotiate in good faith an alternative agreement with the Parliament.
The Council shall act in this case by a reinforced qualified majority, which shall be obtained if two conditions are fulfilled simultaneously: - at least 72% of Member States have voted in favour - at least 20 out of 27; - Member States supporting the proposal represent at least 65% of the EU population.
Link to the opinion: https://aeur.eu/f/5nm (Original version in French by Lionel Changeur)