Treaty of Amsterdam

53

9.

Article 78g(1) shall be replaced by the following:

`1. The European Parliament, acting on a recommendation from the Council which  shall act by a qualified majority, shall give a discharge to the Commission in respect of the implementation of the budget. To this end, the Council and the European Parliament in turn shall examine the accounts and the financial statement referred to in Article 78d, the annual report by the Court of Auditors together with the replies of the institutions under audit to the observations of the Court of Auditors, the statement of assurance referred to in Article 45c(1), second subparagraph, and any relevant special reports by the Court of Auditors.'

10.

The following Article shall be inserted:

`Article 96

1. Where a decision has been taken to suspend the voting rights of the representative of the government of a Member State in accordance with Article F. 1(2) of the Treaty on European Union, these voting rights shall also be suspended with regard to this Treaty.

2. Moreover, where the existence of a serious and persistent breach by a Member State of principles mentioned in Article F(1) of the Treaty on European Union has been determined in accordance with Article F. 1(1) of that Treaty, the Council, acting by a qualified majority, may decide to suspend certain of the rights deriving from the application of this Treaty to the Member State in question. In doing so, the Council shall take into account the possible consequences of such a suspension on the rights and obligations of natural and legal persons.

The obligations of the Member State in question under this Treaty shall in any case continue to be binding on that State.

3. The Council, acting by a qualified majority, may decide subsequently to vary or revoke measures taken in accordance with paragraph 2 in response to changes in the situation which led to their being imposed.

4. When taking decisions referred to in paragraphs 2 and 3, the Council shall act without taking into account the votes of the representative of the government of the Member State in question. By way of derogation from Article 28, fourth paragraph, a qualified majority shall be defined as the same proportion of the weighted votes of the members of the Council concerned as laid down in Article 28, fourth paragraph.

This paragraph shall also apply in the event of voting rights being suspended in accordance with paragraph 1. In such cases, a decision requiring unanimity shall be taken without the vote of the representative of the government of the Member State in question.'

1.

In Article 107, the following paragraph shall be added:

`The number of Members of the European Parliament shall not exceed seven hundred.'