What If the European Parliament Says ‘No’?: The Strength of European Parliament’s Discharge Power
21 Pages Posted: 15 Aug 2011
Date Written: November 1, 2010
Abstract
It is often being said that the European Parliament has a powerful weapon of discharge towards European agencies. However, how powerful is it? In October 2010 the European Parliament has given the first in history negative discharge decision to a European Agency: the European Police College’s postponing discharge decision became the first refusal. In the light of this development this article discusses the strength of this powerful weapon by addressing the question: what does it mean when the European Parliament says ‘No’? The article concludes that the strength of Parliament’s discharge implications depends on cooperation with other EU institutions, though the Parliament could stretch the boundaries of existing legal lacuna to promote its agenda.
Keywords: discharge, the European Parliament, European agencies, financial accountability
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