[ParlTrack]

Proposal for a decision
Paragraph 1

1. ~~Grants/r~~Refuses the Secretary-General of the Council discharge for implementation of the Council's budget for the financial year 2010;

2012/09/07
Committee: CONT

Søren Bo SØNDERGAARD, Bart STAES

Proposal for a decision
Paragraph 1

1. ~~Grants the Secretary-General of the Council discharge for implementation of the Council's budget for the financial year 2010 /~~ Postpones the discharge to the Secretary- General of the Council for implementation of the Council's budget for the financial year 2010;

2012/03/07
Committee: CONT

Søren Bo SØNDERGAARD

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 1

1. Points out that, in accordance with Article 319 TFEU, ‘The European Parliament, acting on a recommendation from the Council, shall give a discharge to the Commission in respect of the implementation of the budget’Highlights the role that the TFEU gives the European Parliament in respect to the budget discharge;

2012/09/07
Committee: CONT

Søren Bo SØNDERGAARD

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 7

7. Notes the Council's reply that the amounts for the budget lines for interpretation and delegations' travel expenses should be more in line with the real consumption and calls for better budgetary planning in order to prevent a recurrence of present practices in the future;deleted

2012/09/07
Committee: CONT

Søren Bo SØNDERGAARD, Bart STAES

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 1

1. ~~Welcomes~~Takes note of the fact that, in its annual report for 2010, the Court of Auditors concluded, based on its audit work, that the payments as a whole for the year ended 31 December 2010 for the administrative and other expenses of the institutions and bodies were free from material error; points out that the most likely error rate as regards administrative expenditure in general is estimated at 0.4% (paragraphs 7.9 and 7.10);

2012/03/07
Committee: CONT

Søren Bo SØNDERGAARD, Bart STAES

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 2

2. Acknowledges receipt of a series of documents for the 2010 discharge procedure (final financial statements for 2010, including the accounts, the financial activity report and the summary of the 2010 internal audits); still awaiting all necessary documents for a discharge (including the full 2010 internal audit);

2012/03/07
Committee: CONT

Søren Bo SØNDERGAARD

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 13

13. Regrets that ~~no response to~~the Council refuse to answer thoese questions ~~has yet been received~~;

2012/09/07
Committee: CONT

Søren Bo SØNDERGAARD, Bart STAES

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 3

3. ~~Welcomes the fact that the Council submitted the abovementioned documents to Parliament; hopes that the~~Hopes that the Parliament will receive the full annual activity report that will also provide a comprehensive overview of all human resources available to the Council, broken down by category, grade, gender, participation in vocational training and nationality;

2012/03/07
Committee: CONT

Søren Bo SØNDERGAARD

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 14 a (new)

14 a. Deplores the fact that the attitude of the Council obstructs democratic control as well as transparency and accountability vis-à-vis the European taxpayers;

2012/09/07
Committee: CONT

Søren Bo SØNDERGAARD

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 16

16. ~~Thanks the Danish Presidency for its constructive input throughout the 2010 discharge procedure; r~~Regrets, however, that the Danish Presidency has not been able to maintain the achievements of the Spanish and Swedish presidencies, which were steps in the right direction;

2012/09/07
Committee: CONT

Søren Bo SØNDERGAARD

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 20 – point a

(a) an official meeting on the basis of a written questionnaire~~, possibly held ‘in camera’,~~ between representatives of the Council and of Parliament's committee responsible for the discharge procedure, in order to answer committee members' questions. The meeting should be attended by the Secretary-General of the Council, the bureau of the committee responsible for the discharge procedure, the rapporteur and the members representing the political groups (coordinators and/or shadow rapporteurs);

2012/09/07
Committee: CONT

Søren Bo SØNDERGAARD

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 20 – point b – indent 4 a (new)

- the publication of the internal budget decisions of the Council;

2012/09/07
Committee: CONT

Søren Bo SØNDERGAARD, Bart STAES

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 8

8. Regrets the difficulties encountered in the discharge procedures for the 2007, 2008 and 2009 financial years, which were due to the unwillingness of the Council to engage in an open and formal dialogue with the Committee on Budgetary Control as well as to answer the questions of the Committee; points out that Parliament refused to grant the Secretary-General of the Council discharge for implementation of the Council budget for the financial year 2009 for the reasons set out in its resolutions of 10 May 2011 and 25 October 2011;

2012/03/07
Committee: CONT

Søren Bo SØNDERGAARD, Bart STAES

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 8 a (new)

8a. Reiterates that the Parliament is still waiting for the reply of the Council on the actions and request for documents set out in the two above mentioned resolutions; calls on the Secretary-General of the Council to provide Parliament's committee responsible for the discharge procedure with comprehensive written answers to the following questions: (a) with regard to previous Council discharge debates in Parliament's committee responsible for the discharge procedure, the Council did not attend these meetings regularly, however, it is considered of utmost importance that the Council attends in order to reply to committee members' questions referring to the Council discharge. Does the Council agree to attend future debates on the Council discharge in Parliament's committee responsible for the discharge procedure? (b) why does the Council change the presentation/the format of the internal audit every year? Why is the internal audit so short, generic and unclear every year? Will the Council for the 2010 discharge onwards please present the internal audit in (a) language(s) other than French? (c) has an external audit been carried out? If so, may Parliament's committee responsible for the discharge procedure see it? If an external audit does not exist, why has the Council chosen not to make one? (d) until now, the activity of the Council implied co-financing with the Commission, which has experienced an increase after the entry into force of the Treaty of Lisbon. What audit and control systems have been put in place to ensure full transparency? Given that the Treaty of Lisbon increased the co-financing with the Commission, what is the Council's understanding of 'respond to the appropriate enquiries'? (e) the Court of Auditors, in its annual report 2009, found that in two out of six procurement procedures audited, the Council did not respect the rules of the Financial Regulation for the publication of the outcome of the procedure. Has the Council scrutinised more samples of similar procurements? Has the internal procedure been streamlined in order to avoid similar cases in the future? (f) staff of European Union Special Representatives (EUSRs): Please indicate the staff (all staff, establishment plan and others) — number of posts, grade — for the EUSRs in the Council for 2009. In which way and when will the EUSRs-staff posts be allocated between the Council and the European External Action Service (EEAS)? What was the travel budget for each of the EUSRs? How many of the EUSRs' staff were transferred on 1 January 2011 to the EEAS? How many will remain with the Council and why? (g) the Council highlights budgetary questions concerning the consequences of the Treaty of Lisbon in point 2.2 in the financial activity report (11327/10, FIN 278). Has the Council solved the problems concerning Mr Solana's expenditures? What part of the expenditures falls under the Council budget and what part falls under the Commission budget? (h) what were the operational expenditures, administrative expenditures, staff, buildings, etc. envisaged by the Council for 2009 in order to set up the High Representative/Vice President of the Commission (HR/VP)? (i) the HR/VP came into office on 1 December 2009. How was the cost distributed between the Council and the Commission (for staff, travel, etc.)? How did the Council prepare the budget for the HR/VP for 2010? Which budget lines and sums were reserved for her activities? (j) how will office space released in the process of staff transfer to the EEAS influence Council's plans on buildings? Have arrangements been made for the subsequent use of such office space? What is the anticipated cost for the removals? When were calls for tenders for the removals (if any) published? (k) what was the administrative and operational expenditure related to the Common Foreign and Security Policy (CFSP)/Common Security and Defence Policy (CSDP) tasks, which were at least part- financed from the Union budget in 2009? What was the total amount of CFSP expenditure in 2009? Could the Council identify at least the main missions and their cost in 2009? (l) what was the cost of meetings for Council working groups on CFSP/CSDP in Brussels and elsewhere and where did these meetings take place? (m) what was the administrative expenditure relating to the implementation of the European Security and Defence Policy (ESDP)/CSDP military operations? What share of the total amount of expenditures arising from military operations has been charged to the Union budget? (n) what was the administrative expenditure implemented for the operation of the 'ATHENA' mechanism, how many posts were needed for that mechanism, will any of the posts in question be transferred to the EEAS? To whom will the postholders report? (o) there is a low occupation rate of posts in the Council's establishment plan (91 % in 2009, 90 % in 2008). Does this consistently low rate cause any repercussions on how the Council's General Secretariat (CGS) functions? Can the CGS perform all its functions with the current occupation rate? Are lower occupation rates specific to any particular services? What are the reasons for the persistent discrepancy? (p) what is the total number of posts assigned to the task of 'policy coordination' and administrative support (as defined in the Commission's annual staff screening reports)? What is its percentage in relation to the overall number of posts? (q) to achieve the administrative objectives in 2009 the Council added teleworking to its working procedures. How does the Council prove the efficiency of this working procedure? In addition, the Council is asked to report on further measures taken in this respect and in particular those to improve the quality of financial management as well as their impact; (r) the Council increased its posts by 15 (8 AD and 7 AST) to cover the staffing requirements of the Irish language unit. How many staff members deal with other languages (staff per language)? Are there already staff employed for and from the applicant countries? If the answer is in the affirmative — how many posts are concerned (separated per country and language)? (s) the 'Reflection Group' was established on 14 December 2007, and its members appointed on 15-16 October 2008. What were the reasons why the necessary financing could not have been envisaged and included in Budget 2009? Is a transfer in Budget 2009 from the contingency reserve to a budget position financing a structure conceived in 2007 strictly budget neutral? The Council earmarked EUR 1 060 000 for the 'Reflection Group'. How many posts can be allocated to this group? (t) the expenditures concerning travel delegations still seem to be problematic (cf. Council note 15 June 2010, SGS10 8254, II bullet, page 4). Why do these expenditures appear in so many different budget lines? (u) why does the internal audit still find it necessary to add 'les frais de voyage des délégués et les frais d'interprétation' (delegates' travelling expenses and interpretation expenses) after strong criticism in the last two resolutions from Parliament on the Council discharge? (v) the Council again has used underspending on interpretation to provide extra financing for delegations' travel expenses; as a result, actual 2009 commitments for travel expenses amounted to considerably less than the initial budget, and less than half of the amount available after the transfer (EUR 36 100 000 initial and EUR 48 100 000 available after transfer against EUR 22 700 000 committed).What were the reasons for this EUR 12 000 000 transfer (cf. the financial activity report — 11327/10, FIN 278 -point 3.3.2-VI bullet)? Why is the transfer from interpretation to delegates' travelling expenses estimated at EUR 12 000 000 by the Council at page 12 and at EUR 10 558 362 at page 13? What has the remaining amount transferred from interpretation been spent on (the total amount transferred from interpretation is EUR 17 798 362)? In addition, the Council is asked to explain the large amount of recovery orders made before 2009 and carried over to 2009 (EUR 12 300 000) as well as recoveries made from declarations relating to 2007 (EUR 6 300 000); (w) in 2009 the Council, as it did in 2008, reallocated a considerable amount of its budget to buildings, in particular, more than doubling the initial allocations to the acquisition of the Residence Palace (reallocated EUR 17 800 000 in addition to EUR 15 000 000 earmarked in Budget 2009). What are the reasons for this? Can the CGS provide concrete figures of the savings achieved as a result of this? What was the initially projected cost of the Residence Palace Building? Does the Council think the initially projected cost will be accurate or could the cost be higher than estimated? What steps are envisaged to finance the building? (x) implementation of the Council budget — appropriations carried over: Could the Council present the estimated amount and subject of the invoices which were not received by June 2010 for the year 2009 and therefore carried over? (y) the carry-over to 2010 of the appropriations of assigned revenues accrued in 2009 amounted to EUR 31 800 000. This is about 70 % of the assigned revenue for 2009. What are the reasons for this high carry-over ratio? What will happen/has happened to this revenue in 2010? (z) what does 'technical provision of EUR 25 000 000 for the launch of the European Council 2010' mean? (cf. the financial activity report — 11327/10, FIN 278 — point 3.1, IV bullet); (aa) what is the level of confidentiality of the Council budget specified by the different budget lines? (ab) can the Council point out the specific measures taken to improve the quality of the Council's financial management, in particular as regards the points raised in paragraph 5 of Parliament's resolution of 25 November 2009 accompanying its decision on discharge to the Council for the financial year 2007? (ac) Calls on the Secretary-General of the Council to provide Parliament's Committee responsible for the discharge procedure with the following documents: - the full list of budgetary transfers concerning the 2009 Council budget; - a written statement on the Council's mission expenses as carried out by the EUSRs; - the Members States' declaration for 2007 (cf. the financial activity report — 11327/10, FIN 278 — point 3.2.2, II bullet); and - the report of the 'Reflection Group' in order to understand why such a report costs EUR 1 060 000 (cf. the financial activity report — 11327/10, FIN 278 — point 2;

2012/03/07
Committee: CONT

Søren Bo SØNDERGAARD

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 23 – indent 12 – indent 1

~~– Parliament will be represented at the meeting by the Vice-President responsible for budgetary questions, the members of the Committee on Budgetary Control and the Secretary-General,~~deleted

2012/09/07
Committee: CONT

Søren Bo SØNDERGAARD

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 23 – indent 12 – indent 2

~~– the Council will be represented by the Presidency-in-Office and the Secretary- General,~~deleted

2012/09/07
Committee: CONT

Søren Bo SØNDERGAARD

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 23 – indent 13

– the Presidency-in-Office of the Council ~~will be invited to~~should actively attend the presentation of the annual report of the Court of Auditors and Parliament's debate in plenary on the discharge;

2012/09/07
Committee: CONT

Søren Bo SØNDERGAARD, Bart STAES

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 10

10. Points out that on 31 January 2012 the Chair of the Committee on Budgetary Control sent a letter to the Presidency-in- Office of the Council, stating his wish to ~~re-~~establish political dialogue and forwarding supplementary questions from the Committee on Budgetary Control on the discharge to the Council; will therefore amplify this resolution by taking the Council's replies into account;

2012/03/07
Committee: CONT

Søren Bo SØNDERGAARD

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 24

24. Calls on the Committee on Budgetary Control to enter into dialogue with the Council regarding ways in which the discharge procedure could be organised between the two institutions with due regard for their responsibilities as laid down by the Treatycontinue to put pressure on the Council with a view to establishing an effective dialogue.

2012/09/07
Committee: CONT

Søren Bo SØNDERGAARD, Bart STAES

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 11

11. Welcomes the fact that the Presidency- in-Office of the Council took part in the debates in plenary on the 2009 discharge and invites it also to take part in the debates on the 2010 discharge; regrets that the Presidency-in Office of the Council refused to participate in a formal dialogue on the 2010 discharge at the Committee meeting on the 29. February 2012;

2012/03/07
Committee: CONT

Søren Bo SØNDERGAARD

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 13

13. Is of the opinion that the efficiency and stability of the discharge procedure between Parliament and the Council would benefit from an agreement between the two institutions on the key aspects of this procedure;deleted

2012/03/07
Committee: CONT

Søren Bo SØNDERGAARD

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 14

~~14. Calls therefore on the Committee on Budgetary Control to draw up a list of the key aspects that might be included in such an agreement.~~deleted

2012/03/07
Committee: CONT

Activities of Søren Bo SØNDERGAARD related to 2011/2203(DEC)

Shadow reports (2)

Amendments (22)

ParlTrack - 2011-2024