This is the reason that in paragraph 1 of its report for 2003, the Parliament expressly stated "Although satisfied with the manner in which the High Representative/Secretary General of the Council has indeed kept Parliament fully informed of progress regarding the main CFSP issues, emphatically rejects the a posteriori approach followed by the Council so far of merely submitting a descriptive list of CFSP activities carried out in the previous year, and considers such a practice as clearly infringing Article 21 of the Treaty on European Union and the Interinstitutional Agreement of 6 May 1999 as far as prior consultation of the European Parliament is concerned;" The Parliament instead requested the Council, "... to discontinue the existing practice and to replace it with an a priori approach whereby Parliament is consulted at the beginning of each year on the main aspects and basic choices envisaged by the Council for that year both on global and horizontal issues, as well as on the priorities planned for the different geographical areas; further asks the Council to subsequently report on whether and, if so, how Parliament's contribution has been taken into account;"
This is the reason that in paragraph 1 of its report for 2003, the Parliament expressly stated "Although satisfied with the manner in which the High Representative/Secretary General of the Council has indeed kept Parliament fully informed of progress regarding the main CFSP issues, emphatically rejects the a posteriori approach followed by the Council so far of merely submitting a descriptive list of CFSP activities carried out in the previous year, and considers such a practice as clearly infringing Article 21 of the Treaty on European Union and the Interinstitutional Agreement of 6 May 1999 as far as prior consultation of the European Parliament is concerned;" The Parliament instead requested the Council, "... to discontinue the existing practice and to replace it with an a priori approach whereby Parliament is consulted at the beginning of each year on the main aspects and basic choices envisaged by the Council for that year both on global and horizontal issues, as well as on the priorities planned for the different geographical areas; further asks the Council to subsequently report on whether and, if so, how Parliament's contribution has been taken into account;"