MATTHEWS v. THE UNITED KINGDOM JUDGMENT 9 Article 203 makes provision for the budget of the Community. In particular, after the procedure for making modifications and amendments to the draft budget, it is open to the European Parliament to reject the draft budget and to ask for a new budget to be submitted (Article 203(8)). Article 206 provides for parliamentary involvement in the process of discharging the European Commission in respect of the implementation of the budget. In particular, the European Parliament may ask to hear the European Commission give evidence on the execution of expenditure, and the European Commission is required to submit information to the European Parliament if so requested. Further, the European Commission is required to take all appropriate steps to act on the observations of the European Parliament in this connection. D. Elections and the European Parliament 17. Article 138(3) of the EEC Treaty provided, in 1976, that the European Parliament was to draw up proposals for elections. The Council was required to “lay down the appropriate provisions, which it [was to] recommend to Member States for adoption in accordance with their respective constitutional requirements”. Identical provision was made in the European Coal and Steel Community Treaty and the European Atomic Energy Community Treaty. 18. In accordance with Article 138(3), Council Decision 76/787 (“the Council Decision”), signed by the President of the Council of the European Communities and the then member States’ foreign ministers, laid down such provisions. The specific provisions were set out in an Act Concerning the Election of the Representatives of the European Parliament by Direct Universal Suffrage of 20 September 1976 (“the 1976 Act”), signed by the respective foreign ministers, which was attached to the Council Decision. Article 15 of the 1976 Act provides that “Annexes I to III shall form an integral part of this Act”. Annex II to the 1976 Act states that “The United Kingdom will apply the provisions of this Act only in respect of the United Kingdom”. E. The application of the Convention to Gibraltar 19. By a declaration dated 23 October 1953, the United Kingdom, pursuant to former Article 63 of the Convention, extended the Convention to Gibraltar. Protocol No. 1 applies to Gibraltar by virtue of a declaration made under Article 4 of Protocol No. 1 on 25 February 1988.