S&D MEP Victor Negrescu’s report on special legislative procedures, defining the necessity to apply the principle of loyal cooperation in the European decision-making process and calling for the legal justification of all vetoes, including the Austrian government’s veto on Romania’s accession to the Schengen area, has been voted in the Constitutional Affairs Committee (AFCO) of the European Parliament.

The report includes the following:

• legally defines the principle of loyal cooperation;
• demands legal justification for vetoes on the basis of the European Treaties and the Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union;
• imposes a time limit on the formulation of an EU Council position;
• requires the introduction of special legislative mechanisms when there is an inter-institutional conflict which may go as far as changing the voting procedure in the EU Council or requiring an opinion of the European Parliament.

The document highlights the fact that blocking European decisions at the level of the Council, based on purely political arguments, is regrettable, and calls on the European Commission to review the Interinstitutional Agreement on Better Law-Making with the objective of reestablishing institutional balance and loyal cooperation in special legislative procedures, with a special focus on legal justifications of Council vetoes and the possibility to invalidate them of the Court of Justice of the EU.

One such instance mentioned in the report by the MEP refers to the accession of Romania and Bulgaria to the Schengen area which has been delayed for 12 years and which has been blocked by an unjustified veto. The report also referred to the right of inquiry and the unblocking of negotiations with the Council and the Commission, the electoral law and the postponement of the start of negotiations on Parliament’s report, but it also mentions Parliament’s composition, “where there are significant delays in the work of the Council”.

Therefore, 114 amendments were tabled and the Rapporteur Victor Negrescu drafted 8 compromises in agreement with the groups. The majority of amendments called to strengthen the role of the European Parliament in special legislative procedures (SPLs) and supported the opening of negotiations with the other EU institutions to foster full respect of the principles of institutional balance and mutual sincere cooperation.

The Romanian MEP’s report will be voted in the European Parliament’s plenary session in December.