PURPOSE: appointment of the members of the panel provided for in Article 255 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union and its Chair.

NON-LEGISLATIVE ACT: Council Decision (EU, Euratom) 2017/2262 appointing the members of the panel provided for in Article 255 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union.

CONTENT: Article 255 TFEU provides that a panel shall be set up to give an opinion on the candidates’ suitability to perform the duties of Judge and Advocate-General of the Court of Justice and of the General Court before the Governments of the Member States make appointments.

The panel is made up of seven persons chosen from former members of the Court of Justice and the General Court, members of national supreme courts and lawyers of recognised competence, one of whom is to be proposed by the European Parliament.

The following shall be appointed as members of the panel provided for in Article 255 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union for a period of four years from 1 March 2018:

Christiaan TIMMERMANS, President Simon BUSUTTIL Frank CLARKE Carlos LESMES SERRANO Maria Eugenia MARTINS OF NAZARÉ RIBEIRO Andreas VOSSKUHLE Mirosław WYRZYKOWSKI.

ENTRY INTO FORCE: 1.3.2018.

The European Parliament decided by 556 votes to 82, with 35 abstentions, to propose the appointment of Simon Busuttil to the panel set up under Article 255 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union .

Article 255 of the TFEU provides that a panel shall be set up in order to give an opinion on candidates' suitability to perform the duties of Judge and Advocate-General of the Court of Justice and the General Court before the governments of the Member States make the appointments.

The panel shall comprise seven persons chosen from among former members of the Court of Justice and the General Court, members of national supreme courts and lawyers of recognised competence, one of whom shall be proposed by the European Parliament.