Council Decision (EU) 2019/654 of 15 April 2019

What it is

to amend the European Investment Bank’s statute based on the special legislative procedure laid down in Article 308 TFEU. ROLE OF THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT: the Council adopts the act after consulting the European Parliament but without being obliged to follow its opinion. BACKGROUND: Article 308 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union, pursuant to which the European Investment Bank may request the Council to amend the Statute by special legislative procedure. The United Kingdom is expected to withdraw from the European Union as of 30 March 2019 in accordance with the provisions of Article 50 of the Treaty on European Union. The Committee on Constitutional Affairs adopted, following Parliament’s consultation, the report by Danuta Maria HÜBNER (EPP, PL) on the proposal for a Council decision amending the Statute of the European Investment Bank. The committee recommended that the European Parliament approve the proposal. As a reminder, the aim of the proposed targeted amendments to the EIB’s statutes is to adapt the statute of the Bank to the new situation created by the withdrawal of the UK from the European Union. reduce the number of directors by one, from twenty-nine to twenty-eight , taking the United Kingdom out of the list of EIB shareholders and reducing the capital of the EIB by the amount of the share of the United Kingdom; increase the number of alternate Directors of the EIB so that the number is at least equal to the number of Member States, with large member States appointing two alternate directors; extend qualified majority voting in the Board of Directors and the Board of Governors to three areas: the decision on the EIB’s Operational Plan, the appointment of members of the Management Committee and the approval of the Rules of Procedure. The European Parliament adopted by 591 votes to 43, with 59 abstentions, following Parliament’s consultation, a legislative resolution on the proposal for a Council decision amending the Statute of the European Investment Bank. As a reminder, the draft Council decision seeks to adapt the statute of the Bank to the new situation created by the withdrawal of the UK from the European Union.

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