This was a briefing commissioned by European Parliament, DG Internal Policies of the Union through a Negotiated Procedure No IP/D/CONT/IC/2017-038. CEPS was commissioned to write a briefing on “Democratic accountability of Council’s budget – Council executive powers” and to participate in a workshop on 30 May 2017 under the title “Council discharge – finding solutions”.
The briefing was published by the European Parliament due to its detailed work as in-depth analysis. The work was then presented at a workshop organised by the European Parliament’s Budgetary control Committee. The analysis introduced the challenges faced in delivering a discharge of the Council’s budget over the last decade, with particular regard to the Council’s executive activities. It analysed the institutional and legal constraints, and offered a number of recommendations for how to achieve more accountability regarding the Council’s budget and executive expenditure without resorting to treaty reform.
