B4-1204/95

Resolution on the transparency of Council decisions and the Community's legislative procedures

The European Parliament,

- having regard to the Council Resolution of 8 June 1993 on the quality of drafting of Community legislation,

- having regard to the interinstitutional declaration on democracy, transparency and subsidiarity of 25 October 1993,

- having regard to the case law of the Court of Justice of the European Communities and in particular the judgments of 18 February 1970 in Case 38/69, 15 April 1986 in Case 237/84, and 26 February 1991 in Case 292/89 (([1970] ECR 47, [1986] ECR 125, [1991] ECR 774.)),

A. having regard to the duty of loyal cooperation the institutions owe to one another under the EC Treaty,

B. having regard to the commitments made by the European Councils of 1992 to a more open Community and the conclusions of the Edinburgh European Council of 12 December 1992,

C. whereas Parliament supported the cases introduced against the Council by J. Carvel and Guardian Newspapers (T-194/94) and the Netherlands (C-58/94) on account of the lack of transparency in the Council's work,

1. Notes the Code of Conduct adopted by the Council on 2 October 1995 on the publishing of Council minutes and statements in the minutes;

2. Notes that statements made in the Council minutes are without any legal value but may lead to confusion, uncertainty and a lack of transparency in the making of Community law;

3. Notes that the number of such statements in the minutes of the Council is out of all proportion in recent cases (e.g. the 31 statements on the 1995 common position on data protection);

4. Condemns the practice by the Council of making unilateral statements on pending legislation in its minutes, in particular in the codecision procedure where the European Parliament and Council are co-legislators;

5. Condemns the practice of the Commission in associating itself with Council declarations on the implementation or interpretation of pending legislation, thereby failing in its duties as guardian of the treaties, and calls on the Commission not to associate itself with such statements;

6. Considers that the practice of appending declarations to legislative acts is a technique more appropriate to international agreements than to legislation proper and should henceforth be avoided in acts adopted jointly by Parliament and the Council (codecision procedure);

7. Categorically refuses to accept any declaration by the Council and/or Commission, whether published or not, which has not obtained Parliament's prior consent;

8. Notes however that when, in very exceptional cases, the European Parliament and the Council, in the conciliation procedure, agree on a joint recommendation, for example envisaging future action, such a declaration is acceptable, if it is published in the Official Journal;

9. Calls for the publication of all such authorized declarations, in the interests of achieving transparency of Community legislation;

10. Regrets that the abovementioned Code of Conduct is a simple code of good intentions, much too general, subject to derogations and without any legal force;

11. Instructs its President to forward this resolution to the Council and the Commission.