Written by Rafał Mańko.
Article 122 of the Treaty on Functioning of the European Union (TFEU) provides for two legal bases, enabling the Council to adopt measures based on a European Commission proposal, without involving the European Parliament in any way. Article 122(1) addresses economic difficulties faced by Member States, and Article 122(2) specifically addresses financial assistance to Member States. It is understood that the Council may resort to Article 122 TFEU in exceptional circumstances. A recent example of the use of Article 122 TFEU is the Commission’s 19 March 2025 proposal to establish the security action for Europe (SAFE), aimed at mobilising the Union budget to support and accelerate national investment in defence.
Considered jointly, the two legal bases enshrined in Article 122 TFEU are seen as the basis of an EU ’emergency law’. They have been praised for enabling the Union to react swiftly to unfolding crises, but at the same time, bypassing the European Parliament is seen as limiting democratic legitimacy. In its 2020 resolution on the COVID‑19 pandemic, Parliament called for limiting the use of Article 122 TFEU, and called upon the Commission and Council to revise the Interinstitutional Agreement on Better Law-Making to increase Parliament’s role in crisis management decision-making and to enhance the use of the ordinary legislative procedure for adopting emergency response instruments. In this vein, in December 2020, Parliament, Council and the Commission adopted a joint declaration on budgetary scrutiny of new proposals based on Article 122 TFEU with potential appreciable implications for the Union budget. It supplements the Treaty framework by providing for the possibility of budgetary scrutiny of such proposals, with Parliament playing an active role. Moreover, the recent reform of Parliament’s rules of procedure has inserted a new Rule 138, under which the Commission will be invited to make a statement to Parliament explaining the reasons for the choice of Article 122 TFEU as legal basis.
Read the complete briefing on ‘Legal bases in Article 122 TFEU: Tackling emergencies through executive acts‘ in the Think Tank pages of the European Parliament.
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