During the plenary session in Strasbourg on Tuesday, 23 April, MEPs voted in favour of postponing the 2022 discharge for the Council budget, as they have every year since 2009, by 539 votes in favour, 26 against, and 29 abstentions.
The chamber also adopted the related motion for a resolution, which recommends postponing the discharge to the Council and laments the EU Council’s “malpractice of non-cooperation with the Parliament”, which prevents the latter from “[making] an informed decision on granting discharge”.
MEPs also approved the amendment proposed by Jozef Mihál (Renew Europe, Slovak) and Siegfried Mureşan (EPP, Romanian), on behalf of their respective groups, that draws attention to Member States’ delay in supplying Ukraine with artillery rounds and calls on them to expedite their efforts.
Initially scheduled for this past 11 April, the plenary vote on the Council discharge had been postponed following a request made by MEP Guy Verhofstadt (Renew Europe, Belgian) (see EUROPE 13389/10), who had called for it to be postponed until the EU27 had reached agreement on the issue of delivering Patriot missile systems to Ukraine. (Original version in French by Isalia Stieffatre)