Roberta Metsola, President of the European Parliament, and Ursula von der Leyen, President of the European Commission, reviewed the agreement for greater inclusion of parliamentarians in EU lawmaking, according to Euractiv.
The agreement sets out nine political principles that will guide the revision of the 2010 Interinstitutional Framework Agreement. It was last revised in 2018.
The European Parliament hopes that the Commission will be kept on a shorter leash with the new review. A spokesperson for Parliament President said in a written statement:
This agreement means greater scrutiny of the Commission to Parliament (…) and equal treatment of Parliament and the Council. It was important to have this part agreed before the hearings and the vote on the new college of Commissioners.
According to Monday’s agreement, the Commission agrees to strengthen “its political responsibility by ensuring the presence of commissioners in Parliament.” Under EU rules, lawmakers can invite commissioners to address parliament, but they are not obliged to attend.
The new agreement states that the European Commission must refrain from using Article 122 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union. The Commission must also “provide comprehensive justification and information” if it does so.
Article 122 allows the Commission and Member States to bypass Parliament in the legislative process concerning economic measures during a state of emergency. It was often used for emergency economic measures at the height of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Since then, the trend has continued as the Commission used the article to introduce an excess profits tax in the energy sector. Work on the technical details of the Framework Agreement revision will begin immediately, according to a European Commission press release.
