THE COUNCIL OF THE EUROPEAN UNION,
Having regard to the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union,
Having regard to Decision No 445/2014/EU of the European Parliament and of the Council of 16 April 2014 establishing a Union action for the European Capitals of Culture for the years 2020 to 2033 and repealing Decision No 1622/2006/EC(1), and in particular to Article 6 thereof,
Whereas:
(1) According to Article 6 of Decision No 445/2014/EU, a panel of independent experts (‘the panel’) should be established to carry out the selection and monitoring procedures. The panel is to be composed of 10 experts appointed by the Union institutions and bodies, three of whom should be appointed by the Council for a period of three years. However, as regards the establishment of the first panel, the Council should appoint its experts for one year in order to allow for staggered replacement of experts and thus avoid the loss of experience and know-how.
(2) Each institution and body is entitled to select the experts in accordance with its respective procedures. However, according to the first subparagraph of Article 6(3) of Decision No 445/2014/EU, the experts should be selected from a pool of potential European experts proposed by the Commission.
(3) According to the fourth subparagraph of Article 6(3) of Decision No 445/2014/EU, when appointing its experts, Union institutions and bodies should ensure complementarity of the competences, a balanced geographical distribution and gender balance in the overall composition of the panel.
(4) It is appropriate for the Council to decide on the practical and procedural arrangements for the appointment of its three experts to the panel.
(5) These arrangements should be fair, non-discriminatory, transparent and easy to implement,
HAS DECIDED AS FOLLOWS: