European Council Conclusions: A Rolling Check-List of Commitments to Date

Štúdia 28-06-2016

This eighth edition of the overview of European Council conclusions, presented in the form of a Rolling Check-List of Commitments to Date, is a product of the European Council Oversight Unit within the European Parliamentary Research Service (EPRS), the European Parliament's in-house research service and think-tank. As part of its work, the unit maintains a rolling database of all the European Council's commitments and responsibilities, which is updated and published regularly, with an indication of follow-up given to date.The European Council became a formal Union institution, with a full-time President, under the Treaty of Lisbon. Although it does not exercise legislative functions, the European Council's role – to 'provide the Union with the necessary impetus for its development' and to define its 'general political directions and priorities' – has developed rapidly over the past seven years. As an example of setting overall priorities for the Union, on 26-27 June 2014, the European Council adopted a Strategic Agenda to 'guide the institutions in annual and multiannual programming, as well as in legislative planning' in the 2014-19 institutional cycle.The European Parliament is strongly committed to the principle of Better Law-Making, and particularly to the effective use of impact assessment and evaluation throughout the legislative cycle. It is in this spirit that enhanced powers for stronger executive bodies can and should be balanced by greater scrutiny and oversight, especially in respect of the implementation of EU law and policies. The Parliament's administrative capacity to support parliamentary committees and individual Members in exercising ex-post scrutiny and oversight of the executive has accordingly been enhanced in order to provide stronger and deeper analysis of the transposition, implementation and enforcement of EU secondary law, and more generally, of the impact, operation, effectiveness and delivery of EU law and policy in practice. In this context, since June 2014, the European Council Oversight Unit has been monitoring and analysing the delivery on commitments made by the European Council in the conclusions of its meetings, as well as its various responsibilities either in law or on the basis of intergovernmental agreements. This compendium is designed to assist the Parliament in exercising its important oversight role in the months and years ahead.