Budgetary Control committee asks to postpone the granting of 2024 discharge to the Council

On Monday, the Budgetary Control Committee—following a scrutiny process—recommended discharge for most of the institutions assessed, with the exception of the Council.

MEPs from the Committee on Budgetary Control (CONT) recommended postponing the granting of discharge to the Council for the 2024 budgetary year, with 27 votes against discharge, one in favour and one abstention. In the accompanying resolution, MEPs deplore the Council’s refusal to cooperate with the discharge procedure, which has led to a refusal of discharge for the institution every year since 2011.

Members gave a favourable opinion on the European Parliament’s management of the EU budget in 2024, with 21 votes in favour of granting discharge and eight against, with one abstention.

CONT members also recommended granting discharge to the following EU institutions:

European External Action Service — 22 in favour/6 against/1 abstention

European Court of Justice — 24/5/0

European Court of Auditors — 26/1/1

European Economic and Social Committee — 26/3/0

Committee of the Regions — 25/3/0

European Ombudsman — 24/2/3

European Data Protection Supervisor — 25/3/1

European Public Prosecutors Office — 24/2/3

CONT members recommended granting discharge to the following joint undertakings:

Clean Aviation Joint Undertaking (22/3/2)

Circular Bio-based Europe Joint Undertaking (21/3/2)

Clean Hydrogen Joint Undertaking (22/3/2)

Europe’s Rail Joint Undertaking (22/3/2)

European Cybersecurity Competence Centre (22/3/2)

European High-Performance Computing Joint Undertaking (22/3/2)

European Joint Undertaking for ITER and the Development of Fusion Energy (20/5/2)

Global Health EDCTP3 Joint Undertaking (22/3/2)

Innovative Health Initiative Joint Undertaking (22/3/2)

Chips Joint Undertaking (23/3/2)

Single European Sky ATM Research 3 Joint Undertaking (22/2/2)

Smart Networks and Services Joint Undertaking (21/3/3)

Next steps

The second batch of discharge reports will be voted on by the Budgetary Control Committee during its meeting on March 23-24. Plenary votes on all discharge decisions are scheduled for the April 2026 session in Strasbourg.

Background

The EU’s so-called “discharge procedure” is a key mechanism through which the European Parliament exercises democratic oversight over the budget’s implementation. It serves to hold the European Commission and other EU institutions accountable for the management and disbursement of EU funds.

Based on reports from the Commission and the European Court of Auditors (ECA), CONT reviews the financial management of the EU budget in a given financial year, considers irregularities and holds hearings with the relevant officials. CONT then recommends whether to grant or refuse budgetary “discharge”. The full Parliament votes to approve or reject these decisions — refusal of discharge may result in remedial actions, stricter financial controls, or political consequences.