22.12.2017   

EN

Official Journal of the European Union

C 443/1013

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having regard to the initiative emanating from a group of Member States submitted to Parliament and the Council (17043/2013),

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having regard to Article 76(b) and Article 87(2)(b) of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union, pursuant to which the draft act was submitted to Parliament (C7-0435/2013),

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having regard to Article 294(3) and (15) of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union,

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having regard to the opinion of the Commission (COM(2014)0007),

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having regard to the undertaking given by the Council representative by letter of 5 March 2014 to approve Parliament’s position, in accordance with Article 294(4) of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union,

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having regard to Rules 44 and 55 of its Rules of Procedure,

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having regard to the report of the Committee on Civil Liberties, Justice and Home Affairs (A7-0146/2014),

1.

Adopts its position at first reading hereinafter set out;

2.

Regrets that the European Parliament was not fully involved in the evaluation of the applications and that only one candidate was presented to the relevant committee, although seven applications had been submitted further to the Council Presidency's call in July 2013 for applications to provisionally host the European Police College until a long-term solution for the future of the Agency could be found. The Member States submitting candidatures were Ireland, Greece, Spain, Italy, Hungary, the Netherlands and Finland. The political agreement was confirmed at the JHA Council meeting of 8 October 2013; intends to request more information on the impact assessment of the exact location before taking its final position;

3.

Calls on the budgetary authorities to ensure that the additional costs relating to the change in the seat of CEPOL will be fully covered by the current host country and by additional Union budget and thus will not adversely affect the regular budget of CEPOL so as not to jeopardise the normal operational needs of CEPOL;

4.

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