OBJECTIVE: granting of discharge for implementing the EU’s general budget for 2003 – Court of Justice.

LEGISLATIVE ACT: Decision 2005/533/EC of the European Parliament concerning the discharge for implementing the general budget of the EU for the 2003 financial year (Section IV – Court of Justice).

CONTENT: With this Decision the European Parliament grants the Registrar of the Court of Justice discharge in respect of the implementation of the budget for the 2003 financial year. It records its comments in the accompanying resolution. (Please refer to the summary of the opinion of 12/04/2005).

The European Parliament adopted a resolution drafted by Alexander STUBB (EPP-ED, FI) g ranting the Registrar of the Court of Justice discharge in respect of the implementation of the budget for the 2003 financial year. (Please see the summary of 17/03/2005.) The European Court of Justice (ECJ) administered a budget of EUR 150 599 614, of which 99.34 % had been committed and 93.32 % spent by 31 December 2003.

Parliament is concerned about the growing backlog of cases in 2003, although initial indicative figures for 2004 show, with regard to the Court of Justice, a slight improvement. The cases at the Court of Justice mainly concerned environment and consumer law, agriculture, approximation of laws, social policy and taxation. Cases lasted on average two years.

With regard to the Court of First Instance, the main cases covered included actions for annulment, staff cases and intellectual property. Cases lasted on average a year and a half.

Parliament expects the ECJ to set performance targets and to establish action plans to achieve them, with a view to reducing the time span needed to bring pending cases to a conclusion in the years to come.

The European Parliament adopted a resolution drafted by Alexander STUBB (EPP-ED, FI) g ranting the Registrar of the Court of Justice discharge in respect of the implementation of the budget for the 2003 financial year. (Please see the summary of 17/03/2005.) The European Court of Justice (ECJ) administered a budget of EUR 150 599 614, of which 99.34 % had been committed and 93.32 % spent by 31 December 2003.

Parliament is concerned about the growing backlog of cases in 2003, although initial indicative figures for 2004 show, with regard to the Court of Justice, a slight improvement. The cases at the Court of Justice mainly concerned environment and consumer law, agriculture, approximation of laws, social policy and taxation. Cases lasted on average two years.

With regard to the Court of First Instance, the main cases covered included actions for annulment, staff cases and intellectual property. Cases lasted on average a year and a half.

Parliament expects the ECJ to set performance targets and to establish action plans to achieve them, with a view to reducing the time span needed to bring pending cases to a conclusion in the years to come.

EP: decision of committee responsible, 1st reading/single reading

Commenting on the follow-up of the 2002 discharge procedure, MEPs remained alarmed about the growing backlog of cases in 2003, despite a slight improvement indicated for 2004. They welcomed certain improvements, such as the creation of a Civil Service Tribunal (26% of the cases before the Court of First Instance) and the introduction of selective publication of ECJ judgments and orders. The ECJ was urged to set performance targets and establish action plans aimed at reducing the time-span needed to draw pending cases to a close for the years to come.

The committee welcomed the steps taken by the Court on the use of official cars for members, and recognised that "the new provisions are transparent and represent an improvement of the situation". It nevertheless felt that the private use of official cars, which the new provisions still allowed, represented "an undisclosed benefit-in-kind" which was inappropriate.

Lastly, the committee asked the ECJ to evaluate the implications of the new Financial Regulation for its administrative and judicial work in time for its review in 2005/2006.

PURPOSE : to present the report from the Court of Auditors on the implementation of the budget for the financial year 2003 (Other institutions – Court of Justice).

CONTENT : in its 27 th Annual Report on the 2003 financial year, the Court states that, on the whole, the institutions have made a considerable effort to adapt their supervisory systems and controls to the requirements of the new Financial Regulation. Nevertheless, most of them have not succeeded to implement the changes necessary and weakness have been stated in terms of the legality and regularity of the underlying transactions. These discrepancies do not however jeopardise the positive character of the State of Assurance (DAS) on the implementation of the budget for the other institutions.

Concerning the expenditure, the Court highlights that there were no significant discrepancies. It does note that the new supervisory systems and controls should have been better applied by all the institutions in order to respect the rules of the new Financial Regulation.

It should be noted that in 2003, the authorising officers by delegation have presented for the first time annual activity reports which provide very useful information on the working of the control systems. The Court would like these report to be more comprehensive so that they can be used in the framework of the annual DAS.

More specifically, as regards the execution of the Court’s budget, the Court of Auditors states that some of the most important requirements of the Financial Regulation or the implementing rules were not fully implemented. The lack of compliance with the Financial Regulation concerned the adoption of minimum control standards and the analysis of the risks associated with the management environment and the nature of the actions financed; drafting of charters describing tasks, rights and obligations of the financial actors; the definition of the scope of the mission of the internal auditor and the objectives and procedures for the exercise of the internal audit function.

PURPOSE : to present the revenue and expenditure account and the balance sheet concerning the activities of the budget for the financial year 2003 (Court of Justice).

CONTENT : this document sets out the amount of expenditure and the balance sheet for the other institutions of the Union (except the Commission) for the financial year 2003, in particular, the Court of Justice.

The document states that the Court’s 2003 budget amounted to EUR 149 598 960 committed to the height of 99.3%, an increase of 3.6% compared to 2002.

It is marked by the following elements

1) staff expenses on active duty : in the framework of pre-accession, the budget authority approved 53 permanent posts for the translation service. However, it was decided to employ the new personnel as auxiliary agents which created a deficit in the posts allocated to auxiliary staff. This sector was also marked by the superfluous expenditure for expatriation for the 53 people (amounts which revealed to be unnecessary because the agents were employed as auxiliary staff and not as statutory staff);

2) reception costs, representation and other associated costs : these costs have decreased in comparison to 2002. Medical infrastructure costs and other costs concerning missions have all been reduced;

3) real estate expenditure : this chapter was subjected to important amendments in comparison with the initial allocation : the indemnities of the leasing option of annexes A, B and C of the Court’s Palace have been increased by EUR 774 000 : it concerns a budgetary anticipation policy in which all the surplus appropriations identified at the end of the year were transferred to this post to anticipate the purchasing of these buildings by the Court;

4) costs associated with the organisation of student visits, journalists meetings, etc has risen by 8.1%;

5) expenses of certain institutions and bodies where Title 3 of the Court’s budget increases by 37% compared with 2002 to cover the lawyers fees assigned to the institution for free legal assistance.

PURPOSE : to present the revenue and expenditure account and the balance sheet concerning the activities of the budget for the financial year 2003 (Court of Justice).

CONTENT : this document sets out the amount of expenditure and the balance sheet for the other institutions of the Union (except the Commission) for the financial year 2003, in particular, the Court of Justice.

The document states that the Court’s 2003 budget amounted to EUR 149 598 960 committed to the height of 99.3%, an increase of 3.6% compared to 2002.

It is marked by the following elements

1) staff expenses on active duty : in the framework of pre-accession, the budget authority approved 53 permanent posts for the translation service. However, it was decided to employ the new personnel as auxiliary agents which created a deficit in the posts allocated to auxiliary staff. This sector was also marked by the superfluous expenditure for expatriation for the 53 people (amounts which revealed to be unnecessary because the agents were employed as auxiliary staff and not as statutory staff);

2) reception costs, representation and other associated costs : these costs have decreased in comparison to 2002. Medical infrastructure costs and other costs concerning missions have all been reduced;

3) real estate expenditure : this chapter was subjected to important amendments in comparison with the initial allocation : the indemnities of the leasing option of annexes A, B and C of the Court’s Palace have been increased by EUR 774 000 : it concerns a budgetary anticipation policy in which all the surplus appropriations identified at the end of the year were transferred to this post to anticipate the purchasing of these buildings by the Court;

4) costs associated with the organisation of student visits, journalists meetings, etc has risen by 8.1%;

5) expenses of certain institutions and bodies where Title 3 of the Court’s budget increases by 37% compared with 2002 to cover the lawyers fees assigned to the institution for free legal assistance.