24/06/2025 (Agence Europe) – On Tuesday 24 June, the European Parliament’s Committee on Legal Affairs (JURI) ruled in favour of referring the Council of the European Union to the Court of Justice of the European Union for adopting the ‘SAFE’ instrument, which will allow Member States to increase their military spending by granting European loans (see EUROPE 13649/23), on the basis of Article 122 of the TFEU Treaty, thereby excluding Parliament from the decision-making process. In a press release, the S&D group criticised the Commission for ignoring “legal options that would have successfully involved the Parliament”. “This is not an isolated incident. Throughout President von der Leyen’s second term, the Parliament has been treated less as a democratic partner and more as a hurdle”, commented Germany’s René Repasi, who felt that decisions at European level were “increasingly being made within small circles”. (MB)