MIL-OSI Europe: Written question – Strengthening oversight of taxpayer funds by expanding the Committee on Budgetary Control’s access to awarded contracts – E-000846/2025

Question for written answer  E-000846/2025
to the Commission
Rule 144
Dick Erixon (ECR), Charlie Weimers (ECR), Beatrice Timgren (ECR), Sebastian Tynkkynen (ECR), Kristoffer Storm (ECR)

The European Parliament’s Committee on Budgetary Control reviews contracts awarded by Commission Directorates-General as part of the annual discharge procedure, the final approval of the budget implementation for a specific year.

Despite media reporting that all contracts are examined[1], under current working arrangements the Committee can only examine a very limited selection of awarded contracts. This restriction is justified as necessary to keep documentation requests ‘manageable’ for both the Commission and Parliament and to ensure delivery of contracts in a ‘reasonable’ timeframe.[2]

However, this limited access means that only a small fraction of awarded contracts undergo scrutiny, raising concerns about transparency and accountability in EU spending.

Given the challenging fiscal situation in many Member States and growing public demand for greater transparency and oversight of public expenditure:

• 1.Does the Commission acknowledge the need to make more contracts and supporting documentation available to the Committee on Budgetary Control?
• 2.Will the Commission reassess the current working arrangements, explore mechanisms to enhance access and ensure that budgetary constraints do not prevent broader scrutiny of awarded contracts?

Submitted: 26.2.2025

• [1] https://www.politico.eu/newsletter/brussels-playbook/europes-trump-precautionary-principle/.
• [2] CONT Committee Secretariat email of 11 February 2025: Lists with grant agreements of DG DEFIS, DG RTD, DG ENV, DG CLIMA, DG AGRI, DG JUST and DG HOME.