(Special legislative procedure – consent)

The European Parliament,

–  having regard to the draft Council regulation (12557/2013),

–  having regard to the request for consent submitted by the Council in accordance with Article 352 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union (C7-0307/2013),

–  having regard to the opinion of the Committee on Legal Affairs on the proposed legal basis,

–  having regard to Rules 81(1) and 37 of its Rules of Procedure,

–  having regard to the report of the Committee on Culture and Education and the opinions of the Committee on Budgets, the Committee on Civil Liberties, Justice and Home Affairs and the Committee on Constitutional Affairs (A7-0424/2012),

1.  Consents to the draft Council regulation;

2.  Approves the statement annexed to this resolution;

3.  Instructs its President to forward its position to the Council, the Commission and the national parliaments.

Statement of the European Parliament

The European Parliament reaffirms its conviction that this Regulation pursues also the objectives linked to culture and history as enshrined in Article 167 TFEU. Therefore a dual legal basis entailing the ordinary legislative procedure should have been applied to this dossier. The only reason why the European Parliament gave up its position on the dual legal basis and hence its claim on codecision and accepted the consent procedure - in accordance with the Commission's proposal based on Article 352 TFEU - was its desire to avoid a complete procedural deadlock and a consequent delay in the entry into force of the Programme. The European Parliament draws attention to its determination not to allow such a situation to arise again.