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Discharge 2024: General budget of the EU - European Council and Council

12 October 2026

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Budgetary Control

Discharge 2024: General budget of the EU ‑ European Council and Council

Marianna Pari, Members' Research Service

At a glancePlenary sessionOctober IILast updated: 12 October 2026Reading time: 2 min.

Photograph of a person giving a thumbs down signal during a European Parliament plenary session, to indicate a vote against a motion.

Summary

In April 2026, the European Parliament decided to postpone its decision on granting discharge to the European Council and the Council for the 2024 budget owing to several critical observations. Parliament's Committee on Budgetary Control (CONT) has re‑examined the situation. However, given the Council's lack of willingness to cooperate on the discharge procedure, CONT recommends Parliament does not grant discharge to the two institutions. The vote is scheduled for the October II part‑session.

Statement of purpose

2024 discharge: General budget of the EU – European Council and Council (Section II); Discharge procedure 2025/2147(DEC); Committee responsible: CONT; Rapporteur: Pasquale Tridico (The Left, Italy).

Discharge procedure

Through the discharge procedure (Article 319 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union), the European Parliament scrutinises how the EU budget has been implemented, verifying compliance with relevant rules. Parliament has the exclusive competence to grant, postpone or ultimately refuse discharge for the execution of the EU budget for each section (Rules 102, 106(3) and Annex V of Parliament's Rules of Procedure).

The CONT committee prepares discharge reports for each EU institution, body, office and agency, taking account of the Court of Auditors' annual reports and statement of assurance, annual activity reports, Council's recommendations, hearings, and the institutions' written replies to CONT. It then makes a recommendation to the plenary, and in an accompanying motion for a resolution, presents observations for the institution concerned to address. If discharge is postponed, CONT tables a new report within six months.

Position of the Committee on Budgetary Control

In April 2026, Parliament postponed the decision to grant discharge to the European Council and the Council for the 2024 budget, regretting the Council's continued refusal to collaborate with Parliament on the discharge procedure, preventing Parliament from scrutinising and taking an informed decision on the Council's budget implementation.

On 1 October 2026, CONT voted on a second and final report. The committee notes that the Secretariat of the Council did not reply to Parliament's questionnaire, nor did it participate in the hearing organised for all institutions as part of the discharge procedure. Members underline Parliament's prerogative to grant discharge to each Union institution for the implementation of their respective section of the budget and that Council should align to the same standard of accountability. CONT calls on the Council to resume negotiations with Parliament and 'engage in a meaningful and pragmatic cooperation'.

The CONT committee considers it necessary that any future revision of the Treaty clarify the issue and enforce Council's accountability in the discharge procedure. Once again unable to make an informed decision on the institutions' discharge, CONT recalls the observations made in April 2026 and recommends refusing discharge to the European Council and the Council. Parliament has refused discharge to the Council for each financial year since 2009.

Classification

Policy areas: Budgetary Control

Regions: European Union

Committees: Budgetary Control (CONT)

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