EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT/COMMISSION: TWO INSTITUTIONS AGREE TERMS OF MUTUAL COOPERATION.

Parliament President Josep Borrell said with the agreement the Commission and the assembly showed that they "wish to work in a climate of mutual trust", have an efficient working relationship and be transparent towards the public. Margot Wallstrom, Commission Vice-president for inter-institutional relations, said the new agreement "includes many elements which are positive for both institutions and pave the way for better future cooperation".

The document, which runs to 19 pages in French, sets out a wide range of rules of engagement for the two institutions.

But the most difficult issue to be resolved was the question of how to deal with new Commissioners who join the team of President Jose Manuel Barroso in mid-mandate, as will happen, for example, when Romania and Bulgaria join the EU in 2007 (see Europe Information 2952, Section I).

While MEPs wanted guarantees that they will be able to submit newcomers to the usual procedure of a hearing by the relevant Parliamentary committee followed by approval in the plenary, this is not specifically spelt out in the agreement. Instead, it says that the EP will carry out its own procedures "with the utmost dispatch" to ensure that the Commission President is informed of the assembly's position before a new Commissioner takes office. There is an implicit understanding that this means that a newcomer would go through the hearing procedure. But as the right to appoint the Commission belongs solely to the Council under the current Treaties, it could not be spelt out in the agreement.

In a case where the Commission President decides to change a Commissioner's portfolio, the President pledges to notify the Parliament and, if there are substantial changes affecting an individual Commissioner, he or she should undergo a hearing. This provision, however, extends an existing commitment made by the previous Commission under Romano Prodi to the previous Parliament.

The agreement also sets out what happens if the Parliament expresses a lack of confidence in an individual member of the Commission. In line with a commitment made by Barroso when the EP finally approved his reshuffled line-up of Commissioners in November, the Commission President "shall either request that member to resign or explain his or her decisions to Parliament". Of course, the Parliament has the option at that stage to call for a vote of no confidence in the entire Commission. The text also says that the EP should have given the matter...