BETA


2012/2174(DEC) 2011 discharge: EU general budget, European Ombudsman

Progress: Procedure completed

RoleCommitteeRapporteurShadows
Lead CONT ČEŠKOVÁ Andrea (icon: ECR ECR) DEUTSCH Tamás (icon: PPE PPE), SONIK Bogusław (icon: PPE PPE), KALFIN Ivailo (icon: S&D S&D), SKYLAKAKIS Theodoros (icon: ALDE ALDE), STAES Bart (icon: Verts/ALE Verts/ALE), ANDREASEN Marta (icon: EFD EFD), EHRENHAUSER Martin (icon: NA NA)
Committee Opinion PETI
Committee Opinion REGI
Committee Opinion AFCO
Committee Opinion DEVE
Committee Opinion CULT
Committee Opinion AFET
Committee Opinion PECH
Committee Opinion AGRI
Committee Opinion ENVI
Committee Opinion EMPL
Committee Opinion BUDG
Committee Opinion ITRE
Committee Opinion JURI
Committee Opinion ECON
Committee Opinion LIBE
Committee Opinion INTA
Committee Opinion IMCO
Committee Opinion TRAN
Committee Opinion FEMM
Lead committee dossier:

Events

2013/11/16
   Final act published in Official Journal
Details

PURPOSE: to grant discharge to the European Ombudsman for the financial year 2011.

NON-LEGISLATIVE ACT: Decision 2013/549/EU of the European Parliament on discharge in respect of the implementation of the European Union’s General Budget, section VIII - European Ombudsman for the financial year 2011.

CONTENT: with the present decision, and in accordance with Article 318 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union (TFEU), the European Parliament grants discharge to the European Ombudsman in respect of the implementation of the budget for the financial year 2011.

The decision is in line with the European Parliament's resolution adopted on 17 April 2013 and comprises a series of observations that form an integral part of the discharge decision (please refer to the summary of the opinion of 17 April 2013).

2013/04/17
   EP - Results of vote in Parliament
2013/04/17
   EP - Decision by Parliament
Details

The European Parliament adopted by 597 votes to 43 with 17 abstentions, a decision granting the European Ombudsman discharge in respect of the implementation of its budget for the financial year 2011.

In its resolution accompanying the discharge, Parliament welcomes the fact that the Court of Auditors concluded that the payments as a whole for the year ended on 31 December 2011 for administrative and other expenditure of the institutions and bodies were free from material error. It also notes that no significant weaknesses had been identified in respect to the audited topics related to the human resources and the procurement for the European Ombudsman.

At the same time, Parliament stresses that the Ombudsman's budget is purely administrative and amounted in 2011 to EUR 9 427 395 and that of the total appropriations, 92.54% were committed and 85.62% paid. It calls for further efforts to improve the utilisation rate and wants the changes made to be monitored.

Parliament invites the Ombudsman to include the following in the next annual activity report:

the percentage of unused interpretation services requested during the year; an exhaustive table of all the human resources at the Ombudsman's disposal, broken down by category, grade, sex, participation in professional training and nationality.

Parliament also calls for a sustainable increase of the percentage of decisions on admissibility taken within one month of receiving a complaint, which attained a figure of 70% in 2011. It believes that the re-structuring of the Ombudsman's office, put in place at the beginning of 2012, together with a more streamlined procedure of the Registry can contribute to a better performance of the Complaint Unit in the coming years.

Documents
2013/04/17
   EP - End of procedure in Parliament
2013/04/16
   EP - Debate in Parliament
2013/03/21
   EP - Committee report tabled for plenary
Details

The Committee on Budgetary Control adopted the report by Andrea ČEŠKOVÁ (ECR, CZ) in which it calls on the European Parliament to grant the European Ombudsman discharge in respect of the implementation of its budget for the financial year 2011.

Members welcome the fact that, on the basis of its audit work, the Court of Auditors concluded that the payments as a whole for the year ended on 31 December 2011 for administrative and other expenditure of the institutions and bodies were free from material error. They state that no significant weaknesses had been identified in respect to the audited topics related to the human resources and the procurement for the European Ombudsman.

Members also stress that the Ombudsman's budget is purely administrative and amounted in 2011 to EUR 9 427 395 and that of the total appropriations, 92.54% were committed and 85.62% paid. They call for further efforts to improve the utilisation rate and for the changes made to be monitored.

Members invite the Ombudsman to include the following in the next annual activity report:

the percentage of unused interpretation services requested during the year; an exhaustive table of all the human resources at the Ombudsman's disposal, broken down by category, grade, sex, participation in professional training and nationality;

and on an operational level, an improvement of the following:

handling of complaints received; the average duration of proceedings.

Documents
2013/03/19
   EP - Vote in committee
2013/02/27
   EP - Amendments tabled in committee
Documents
2013/02/01
   CSL - Document attached to the procedure
Details

In view of the observations made in the Court of Auditor's report, the Council calls on the European Parliament to grant discharge to all of the Union’s institutions in regard to the implementation of their respective budgets for the financial year 2011 .

Overall, the Council’s remarks are positive in regard to the expenditure of the institutions since it notes that, again in 2011, the administrative expenditure of EU institutions and bodies remained free from material error and that their supervisory and control systems continued to comply with the requirements of the Financial Regulation.

Nevertheless, the Council regrets that in some institutions weaknesses were still detected in the payment of social allowances to staff members , in the employment contracts for non-permanent staff and in procurement procedures.

It welcomes the measures already taken and encourages the institutions concerned to address the remaining weaknesses pointed out by the Court.

The Council notes the Court's recommendations that the institutions concerned should ensure that staff regularly deliver documents on their personal situation, that the relevant provisions are applied when concluding, extending or modifying employment contracts with non-permanent staff, and that the authorising officers further improve guidance and appropriate checks concerning procurement procedures.

Documents
2013/01/25
   EP - Committee draft report
Documents
2012/09/13
   EP - Committee referral announced in Parliament
2012/09/06
   CofA - Court of Auditors: opinion, report
Details

OBJECTIVE: presentation of the Report of the Court of Auditors on the 2011 budget (section VIII – European Ombudsman).

CONTENT: the Court of Auditors published its 35th Annual Report on the implementation of the EU budget for the 2011 financial year .

In accordance with the tasks and objectives conferred on the Court of Auditors by the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union, it provides under the discharge procedure, for both the European Parliament and Council, a statement of assurance (“DAS”) about the reliability of the accounts and the legality and regularity of the transactions of each institution, body or agency of the EU, based on an independent external audit.

The audit also focuses on the budget implementation of the European Ombudsman.

On the basis of its audit work, the Court considers that payments for “Administrative and other expenditure” policy are, overall, significantly error-free. The estimated error rate is 0.1 %.

The Court, however, draws attention to the errors and weaknesses which did not affect the Court’s conclusion. The Court examined a sample of procurement procedures and noted several weaknesses in the application of selection and award criteria, some of which had an impact on the results of the procedure. Other weaknesses relate to the organisation of cross border competition, to the management of automatic award procedures and to the respect of provisions as regards the drafting and filing of tendering documents.

The Court also detects weaknesses when it reviewed a sample of calculations and payments of social allowances as well as a sample of employment contracts concluded with temporary agents.

The Court therefore recommends that the institutions and bodies of the EU take steps to: (i) guarantee that staff deliver, at appropriate intervals, documents confirming their personal situation and implement a system for the timely monitoring of these documents; (ii) ensure that authorising officers improve the design, coordination and performance of procurement procedures through appropriate checks and better guidance.

The Court also makes a number of comments specific to each institution or body of the European Union. These observations do not affect the positive overall appraisal given that they do not significantly affect overall administrative expenditure. However, in the specific case of the audit of the European Ombudsman, the Court’s audit did not identify any significant weakness .

2012/07/25
   EC - Non-legislative basic document
Details

PURPOSE: presentation by the Commission of the consolidated annual accounts of the European Union for the financial year 2011, as part of the 2011 discharge procedure.

Analysis of the accounts of the EU Institutions: Section VIII – European Ombudsman .

Legal reminder: the consolidated annual accounts of the European Union for the year 2011 have been prepared on the basis of the information presented by the institutions and bodies under Article 129.2 of the Financial Regulation applicable to the general budget of the European Union. They were prepared in accordance with Title VII of this Financial Regulation and with the accounting principles, rules and methods set out in the notes to the financial statements.

The objective of the financial statements is to provide information about the financial position, performance and cashflow of an entity that is useful to a wide range of users. The objective is to provide information useful for decision making, and to demonstrate the accountability of the entity for the resources entrusted to it.

1) Purpose: the document helps to bring insight into the EU budget mechanism and the way in which the budget has been managed and spent in 2011 . It recalls that the European Union's operational expenditure covers the various headings of the financial framework and takes different forms, depending on how the money is paid out and managed. In accordance with the Financial Regulation, the Commission implements the general budget using the following methods: direct or indirect centralised management (by means of bodies or agencies of public law or other); decentralised management where the Commission delegates certain tasks for the implementation of the budget to third countries; and, thirdly, shared management where budget implementation tasks are delegated to Member States, in areas such as agricultural expenditure and structural actions.

The document also presents the different financial actors involved in the budget process (accounting officers, internal officers and authorising officers) and recalls their respective roles in the context of the tasks of sound financial management.

Amongst the other legal elements relating to the implementation of the EU budget presented in this document, the paper focuses on the following issues:

accounting principles applicable to the management of EU spending (business continuity, consistency of accounting methods, comparability of information ...); consolidation methods of figures for all major controlled entities (the consolidated financial statements of the EU comprise all significant controlled entities –institutions, organisations and agencies, this being 50 controlled entities, 5 joint ventures and 4 associates. In comparison with 2010, the scope of consolidation has been extended by 7 controlled entities (one institution, 6 agencies); the recognition of financial assets in the EU (tangible and intangible assets, financial assets and other miscellaneous investments); the way in which EU public expenditure is committed and spent, including pre-financing (cash advances intended for the benefit of an EU organ); the means of recovery following irregularities detected; the modus operandi of the accounting system; the audit process followed by the European Parliament's granting of the discharge.

To recap, the final control is the discharge of the budget for a given financial year . The discharge represents the political aspect of the external control of budget implementation and is the decision by which the European Parliament, acting on a Council recommendation, "releases" the Commission from its responsibility for management of a given budget by marking the end of that budget's existence. When granting the discharge, Parliament may highlight some observations that it considers important, often by recommending that the Commission takes action on the aspects in question .

The document also details specific expenditure of the institutions, in particular: i) pensions of former Members and officials of institutions; ii) joint sickness insurance scheme and iii) buildings.

Lastly, the document presents a series of tables and detailed technical indicators on (i) the balance sheet; (ii) the economic outturn account; (iii) cashflow tables; (iv) technical annexes concerning the financial statements.

2) Implementation of appropriations under Section VIII of the budget for the financial year 2011: the document comprises a series of detailed tables, the most important concerning the implementation of the budget. Concerning the Ombudsman’s expenditure, the table on the financial and budgetary implementation of this institution is presented as follows (information drawn from the European Ombudsman’s Report on the Budgetary and Financial Management 2011 ).

Budgeted appropriations 2011: EUR 9.427 million; Commitments: EUR 8.724 million (rate of commitments entered into: 92.54%); Payments: EUR 8.072 million.

3) Budget 2011 - conclusions: in more general and political terms, the Ombudsman’s budgetary implementation for the financial year 2011 was chiefly marked by the following activities (see European Ombudsman Annual Report 2011 ).

The budgetary implementation was also marked by:

a fall in the total number of complaints to the Ombudsman for the third year in a row (the number has dropped from 3406 in 2008 to 2510 in 2011); in more than 65% of cases, it was possible to open an inquiry into the case by transferring it to a competent body; the publication of a special Eurobarometer on citizens’ rights and the performance of the EU administration which confirmed the importance citizens attach to their fundamental right to complain; efforts to inform, advise and guide citizens by publishing a specific booklet information and improving the website; greater cooperation with national ombudsmen (European Network of Ombudsmen); improvement of inquiry procedures by making them more citizen-friendly and the introduction of a new type of inquiry (clarificatory inquiry) which enables complainants to clarify their complaint; promoting a culture of service in the EU institutions (in 2011, the number of cases fell overall); improvement in interinstitutional administrative cooperation to avoid unnecessary duplications of staff (in the European Parliament for accounting, technical services concerning telecommunications, translation and interpretation; the Official Publications Office; the Paymaster’s Office (PMO) of the European Union as regards pensions; the Translation Centre).

2012/07/24
   EC - Non-legislative basic document published
Details

PURPOSE: presentation by the Commission of the consolidated annual accounts of the European Union for the financial year 2011, as part of the 2011 discharge procedure.

Analysis of the accounts of the EU Institutions: Section VIII – European Ombudsman .

Legal reminder: the consolidated annual accounts of the European Union for the year 2011 have been prepared on the basis of the information presented by the institutions and bodies under Article 129.2 of the Financial Regulation applicable to the general budget of the European Union. They were prepared in accordance with Title VII of this Financial Regulation and with the accounting principles, rules and methods set out in the notes to the financial statements.

The objective of the financial statements is to provide information about the financial position, performance and cashflow of an entity that is useful to a wide range of users. The objective is to provide information useful for decision making, and to demonstrate the accountability of the entity for the resources entrusted to it.

1) Purpose: the document helps to bring insight into the EU budget mechanism and the way in which the budget has been managed and spent in 2011 . It recalls that the European Union's operational expenditure covers the various headings of the financial framework and takes different forms, depending on how the money is paid out and managed. In accordance with the Financial Regulation, the Commission implements the general budget using the following methods: direct or indirect centralised management (by means of bodies or agencies of public law or other); decentralised management where the Commission delegates certain tasks for the implementation of the budget to third countries; and, thirdly, shared management where budget implementation tasks are delegated to Member States, in areas such as agricultural expenditure and structural actions.

The document also presents the different financial actors involved in the budget process (accounting officers, internal officers and authorising officers) and recalls their respective roles in the context of the tasks of sound financial management.

Amongst the other legal elements relating to the implementation of the EU budget presented in this document, the paper focuses on the following issues:

accounting principles applicable to the management of EU spending (business continuity, consistency of accounting methods, comparability of information ...); consolidation methods of figures for all major controlled entities (the consolidated financial statements of the EU comprise all significant controlled entities –institutions, organisations and agencies, this being 50 controlled entities, 5 joint ventures and 4 associates. In comparison with 2010, the scope of consolidation has been extended by 7 controlled entities (one institution, 6 agencies); the recognition of financial assets in the EU (tangible and intangible assets, financial assets and other miscellaneous investments); the way in which EU public expenditure is committed and spent, including pre-financing (cash advances intended for the benefit of an EU organ); the means of recovery following irregularities detected; the modus operandi of the accounting system; the audit process followed by the European Parliament's granting of the discharge.

To recap, the final control is the discharge of the budget for a given financial year . The discharge represents the political aspect of the external control of budget implementation and is the decision by which the European Parliament, acting on a Council recommendation, "releases" the Commission from its responsibility for management of a given budget by marking the end of that budget's existence. When granting the discharge, Parliament may highlight some observations that it considers important, often by recommending that the Commission takes action on the aspects in question .

The document also details specific expenditure of the institutions, in particular: i) pensions of former Members and officials of institutions; ii) joint sickness insurance scheme and iii) buildings.

Lastly, the document presents a series of tables and detailed technical indicators on (i) the balance sheet; (ii) the economic outturn account; (iii) cashflow tables; (iv) technical annexes concerning the financial statements.

2) Implementation of appropriations under Section VIII of the budget for the financial year 2011: the document comprises a series of detailed tables, the most important concerning the implementation of the budget. Concerning the Ombudsman’s expenditure, the table on the financial and budgetary implementation of this institution is presented as follows (information drawn from the European Ombudsman’s Report on the Budgetary and Financial Management 2011 ).

Budgeted appropriations 2011: EUR 9.427 million; Commitments: EUR 8.724 million (rate of commitments entered into: 92.54%); Payments: EUR 8.072 million.

3) Budget 2011 - conclusions: in more general and political terms, the Ombudsman’s budgetary implementation for the financial year 2011 was chiefly marked by the following activities (see European Ombudsman Annual Report 2011 ).

The budgetary implementation was also marked by:

a fall in the total number of complaints to the Ombudsman for the third year in a row (the number has dropped from 3406 in 2008 to 2510 in 2011); in more than 65% of cases, it was possible to open an inquiry into the case by transferring it to a competent body; the publication of a special Eurobarometer on citizens’ rights and the performance of the EU administration which confirmed the importance citizens attach to their fundamental right to complain; efforts to inform, advise and guide citizens by publishing a specific booklet information and improving the website; greater cooperation with national ombudsmen (European Network of Ombudsmen); improvement of inquiry procedures by making them more citizen-friendly and the introduction of a new type of inquiry (clarificatory inquiry) which enables complainants to clarify their complaint; promoting a culture of service in the EU institutions (in 2011, the number of cases fell overall); improvement in interinstitutional administrative cooperation to avoid unnecessary duplications of staff (in the European Parliament for accounting, technical services concerning telecommunications, translation and interpretation; the Official Publications Office; the Paymaster’s Office (PMO) of the European Union as regards pensions; the Translation Centre).

2012/02/29
   EP - ČEŠKOVÁ Andrea (ECR) appointed as rapporteur in CONT

Documents

Votes

A7-0094/2013 - Andrea Češková - Décision (ensemble du texte) #

2013/04/17 Outcome: +: 597, -: 43, 0: 17
DE FR IT ES PL RO PT BE SE EL HU NL BG AT SK IE GB DK FI LT LV SI CY CZ EE LU MT
Total
86
66
63
48
41
29
20
20
18
20
22
25
16
18
13
11
51
13
11
10
8
8
6
20
5
5
3
icon: PPE PPE
244

Denmark PPE

For (1)

1
2

Czechia PPE

2

Estonia PPE

For (1)

1

Luxembourg PPE

Against (1)

3

Malta PPE

For (1)

1
icon: S&D S&D
172

Netherlands S&D

3

Finland S&D

For (1)

1

Latvia S&D

1

Slovenia S&D

2

Estonia S&D

For (1)

1

Luxembourg S&D

For (1)

1
icon: ALDE ALDE
74

Greece ALDE

1

Slovakia ALDE

For (1)

1
3

Lithuania ALDE

1

Latvia ALDE

For (1)

1

Slovenia ALDE

2

Luxembourg ALDE

For (1)

1
icon: Verts/ALE Verts/ALE
51

Spain Verts/ALE

2

Portugal Verts/ALE

For (1)

1
3

Greece Verts/ALE

1

Netherlands Verts/ALE

3

Austria Verts/ALE

2

United Kingdom Verts/ALE

5

Denmark Verts/ALE

2

Finland Verts/ALE

2

Latvia Verts/ALE

1
icon: GUE/NGL GUE/NGL
34

Spain GUE/NGL

For (1)

1

Sweden GUE/NGL

1

Greece GUE/NGL

3

Netherlands GUE/NGL

2

Ireland GUE/NGL

For (1)

1

United Kingdom GUE/NGL

1

Denmark GUE/NGL

1

Latvia GUE/NGL

For (1)

1
icon: EFD EFD
27

Poland EFD

Against (1)

3

Greece EFD

2

Netherlands EFD

For (1)

1

Slovakia EFD

For (1)

1

Denmark EFD

Against (1)

1

Finland EFD

Abstain (1)

1

Lithuania EFD

2
icon: NI NI
27

Spain NI

1

Belgium NI

For (1)

1

Hungary NI

For (1)

3

Bulgaria NI

For (1)

1
icon: ECR ECR
27

Belgium ECR

Against (1)

1

Hungary ECR

Against (1)

1

Netherlands ECR

Against (1)

1

Denmark ECR

For (1)

1

Lithuania ECR

Against (1)

1
AmendmentsDossier
10 2012/2174(DEC)
2013/02/26 CONT 10 amendments...
source: PE-506.050

History

(these mark the time of scraping, not the official date of the change)

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activities
  • date: 2012-07-25T00:00:00 docs: url: http://www.europarl.europa.eu/RegData/docs_autres_institutions/commission_europeenne/com/2012/0436/COM_COM(2012)0436_EN.pdf title: COM(2012)0436 type: Non-legislative basic document published celexid: CELEX:52012DC0436:EN body: EC commission: DG: url: http://ec.europa.eu/dgs/budget/ title: Budget Commissioner: ŠEMETA Algirdas type: Non-legislative basic document published
  • date: 2012-09-13T00:00:00 body: EP type: Committee referral announced in Parliament, 1st reading/single reading committees: body: EP responsible: False committee_full: Constitutional Affairs committee: AFCO body: EP responsible: False committee_full: Foreign Affairs committee: AFET body: EP responsible: False committee_full: Agriculture and Rural Development committee: AGRI body: EP responsible: False committee_full: Budgets committee: BUDG body: EP shadows: group: PPE name: DEUTSCH Tamás group: PPE name: SONIK Bogusław group: S&D name: KALFIN Ivailo group: ALDE name: SKYLAKAKIS Theodoros group: Verts/ALE name: STAES Bart group: GUE/NGL name: SØNDERGAARD Søren Bo group: EFD name: ANDREASEN Marta group: NI name: EHRENHAUSER Martin responsible: True committee: CONT date: 2012-02-29T00:00:00 committee_full: Budgetary Control rapporteur: group: ECR name: ČEŠKOVÁ Andrea body: EP responsible: False committee_full: Culture and Education committee: CULT body: EP responsible: False committee_full: Development committee: DEVE body: EP responsible: False committee_full: Economic and Monetary Affairs committee: ECON body: EP responsible: False committee_full: Employment and Social Affairs committee: EMPL body: EP responsible: False committee_full: Environment, Public Health and Food Safety committee: ENVI body: EP responsible: False committee_full: Women's Rights and Gender Equality committee: FEMM body: EP responsible: False committee_full: Internal Market and Consumer Protection committee: IMCO body: EP responsible: False committee_full: International Trade committee: INTA body: EP responsible: False committee_full: Industry, Research and Energy committee: ITRE body: EP responsible: False committee_full: Legal Affairs committee: JURI body: EP responsible: False committee_full: Civil Liberties, Justice and Home Affairs committee: LIBE body: EP responsible: False committee_full: Fisheries committee: PECH body: EP responsible: False committee_full: Petitions committee: PETI body: EP responsible: False committee_full: Regional Development committee: REGI body: EP responsible: False committee_full: Transport and Tourism committee: TRAN
  • date: 2013-03-19T00:00:00 body: EP type: Vote in committee, 1st reading/single reading committees: body: EP responsible: False committee_full: Constitutional Affairs committee: AFCO body: EP responsible: False committee_full: Foreign Affairs committee: AFET body: EP responsible: False committee_full: Agriculture and Rural Development committee: AGRI body: EP responsible: False committee_full: Budgets committee: BUDG body: EP shadows: group: PPE name: DEUTSCH Tamás group: PPE name: SONIK Bogusław group: S&D name: KALFIN Ivailo group: ALDE name: SKYLAKAKIS Theodoros group: Verts/ALE name: STAES Bart group: GUE/NGL name: SØNDERGAARD Søren Bo group: EFD name: ANDREASEN Marta group: NI name: EHRENHAUSER Martin responsible: True committee: CONT date: 2012-02-29T00:00:00 committee_full: Budgetary Control rapporteur: group: ECR name: ČEŠKOVÁ Andrea body: EP responsible: False committee_full: Culture and Education committee: CULT body: EP responsible: False committee_full: Development committee: DEVE body: EP responsible: False committee_full: Economic and Monetary Affairs committee: ECON body: EP responsible: False committee_full: Employment and Social Affairs committee: EMPL body: EP responsible: False committee_full: Environment, Public Health and Food Safety committee: ENVI body: EP responsible: False committee_full: Women's Rights and Gender Equality committee: FEMM body: EP responsible: False committee_full: Internal Market and Consumer Protection committee: IMCO body: EP responsible: False committee_full: International Trade committee: INTA body: EP responsible: False committee_full: Industry, Research and Energy committee: ITRE body: EP responsible: False committee_full: Legal Affairs committee: JURI body: EP responsible: False committee_full: Civil Liberties, Justice and Home Affairs committee: LIBE body: EP responsible: False committee_full: Fisheries committee: PECH body: EP responsible: False committee_full: Petitions committee: PETI body: EP responsible: False committee_full: Regional Development committee: REGI body: EP responsible: False committee_full: Transport and Tourism committee: TRAN
  • date: 2013-03-21T00:00:00 docs: url: http://www.europarl.europa.eu/sides/getDoc.do?type=REPORT&mode=XML&reference=A7-2013-94&language=EN type: Committee report tabled for plenary, single reading title: A7-0094/2013 body: EP type: Committee report tabled for plenary, single reading
  • date: 2013-04-16T00:00:00 docs: url: http://www.europarl.europa.eu/sides/getDoc.do?secondRef=TOC&language=EN&reference=20130416&type=CRE type: Debate in Parliament title: Debate in Parliament body: EP type: Debate in Parliament
  • date: 2013-04-17T00:00:00 docs: url: http://www.europarl.europa.eu/sides/getDoc.do?type=TA&language=EN&reference=P7-TA-2013-131 type: Decision by Parliament, 1st reading/single reading title: T7-0131/2013 body: EP type: Decision by Parliament, 1st reading/single reading
  • date: 2013-11-16T00:00:00 type: Final act published in Official Journal docs: url: http://eur-lex.europa.eu/smartapi/cgi/sga_doc?smartapi!celexplus!prod!CELEXnumdoc&lg=EN&numdoc=32013D0549 title: Decision 2013/549 url: http://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/TXT/?uri=OJ:L:2013:308:TOC title: OJ L 308 16.11.2013, p. 0133
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  • date: 2012-09-06T00:00:00 docs: url: https://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/TXT/?uri=OJ:C:2012:344:TOC title: OJ C 344 12.11.2012, p. 0001 title: N7-0127/2012 summary: OBJECTIVE: presentation of the Report of the Court of Auditors on the 2011 budget (section VIII – European Ombudsman). CONTENT: the Court of Auditors published its 35th Annual Report on the implementation of the EU budget for the 2011 financial year . In accordance with the tasks and objectives conferred on the Court of Auditors by the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union, it provides under the discharge procedure, for both the European Parliament and Council, a statement of assurance (“DAS”) about the reliability of the accounts and the legality and regularity of the transactions of each institution, body or agency of the EU, based on an independent external audit. The audit also focuses on the budget implementation of the European Ombudsman. On the basis of its audit work, the Court considers that payments for “Administrative and other expenditure” policy are, overall, significantly error-free. The estimated error rate is 0.1 %. The Court, however, draws attention to the errors and weaknesses which did not affect the Court’s conclusion. The Court examined a sample of procurement procedures and noted several weaknesses in the application of selection and award criteria, some of which had an impact on the results of the procedure. Other weaknesses relate to the organisation of cross border competition, to the management of automatic award procedures and to the respect of provisions as regards the drafting and filing of tendering documents. The Court also detects weaknesses when it reviewed a sample of calculations and payments of social allowances as well as a sample of employment contracts concluded with temporary agents. The Court therefore recommends that the institutions and bodies of the EU take steps to: (i) guarantee that staff deliver, at appropriate intervals, documents confirming their personal situation and implement a system for the timely monitoring of these documents; (ii) ensure that authorising officers improve the design, coordination and performance of procurement procedures through appropriate checks and better guidance. The Court also makes a number of comments specific to each institution or body of the European Union. These observations do not affect the positive overall appraisal given that they do not significantly affect overall administrative expenditure. However, in the specific case of the audit of the European Ombudsman, the Court’s audit did not identify any significant weakness . type: Court of Auditors: opinion, report body: CofA
  • date: 2013-01-25T00:00:00 docs: url: http://www.europarl.europa.eu/sides/getDoc.do?type=COMPARL&mode=XML&language=EN&reference=PE497.971 title: PE497.971 type: Committee draft report body: EP
  • date: 2013-02-01T00:00:00 docs: url: http://register.consilium.europa.eu/content/out?lang=EN&typ=SET&i=ADV&RESULTSET=1&DOC_ID=5752%2F13&DOC_LANCD=EN&ROWSPP=25&NRROWS=500&ORDERBY=DOC_DATE+DESC title: 05752/2013 summary: In view of the observations made in the Court of Auditor's report, the Council calls on the European Parliament to grant discharge to all of the Union’s institutions in regard to the implementation of their respective budgets for the financial year 2011 . Overall, the Council’s remarks are positive in regard to the expenditure of the institutions since it notes that, again in 2011, the administrative expenditure of EU institutions and bodies remained free from material error and that their supervisory and control systems continued to comply with the requirements of the Financial Regulation. Nevertheless, the Council regrets that in some institutions weaknesses were still detected in the payment of social allowances to staff members , in the employment contracts for non-permanent staff and in procurement procedures. It welcomes the measures already taken and encourages the institutions concerned to address the remaining weaknesses pointed out by the Court. The Council notes the Court's recommendations that the institutions concerned should ensure that staff regularly deliver documents on their personal situation, that the relevant provisions are applied when concluding, extending or modifying employment contracts with non-permanent staff, and that the authorising officers further improve guidance and appropriate checks concerning procurement procedures. type: Supplementary non-legislative basic document body: CSL
  • date: 2013-02-27T00:00:00 docs: url: http://www.europarl.europa.eu/sides/getDoc.do?type=COMPARL&mode=XML&language=EN&reference=PE506.050 title: PE506.050 type: Amendments tabled in committee body: EP
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  • date: 2012-07-25T00:00:00 type: Non-legislative basic document published body: EC docs: url: http://www.europarl.europa.eu/registre/docs_autres_institutions/commission_europeenne/com/2012/0436/COM_COM(2012)0436_EN.pdf title: COM(2012)0436 url: https://eur-lex.europa.eu/smartapi/cgi/sga_doc?smartapi!celexplus!prod!DocNumber&lg=EN&type_doc=COMfinal&an_doc=2012&nu_doc=436 title: EUR-Lex summary: PURPOSE: presentation by the Commission of the consolidated annual accounts of the European Union for the financial year 2011, as part of the 2011 discharge procedure. Analysis of the accounts of the EU Institutions: Section VIII – European Ombudsman . Legal reminder: the consolidated annual accounts of the European Union for the year 2011 have been prepared on the basis of the information presented by the institutions and bodies under Article 129.2 of the Financial Regulation applicable to the general budget of the European Union. They were prepared in accordance with Title VII of this Financial Regulation and with the accounting principles, rules and methods set out in the notes to the financial statements. The objective of the financial statements is to provide information about the financial position, performance and cashflow of an entity that is useful to a wide range of users. The objective is to provide information useful for decision making, and to demonstrate the accountability of the entity for the resources entrusted to it. 1) Purpose: the document helps to bring insight into the EU budget mechanism and the way in which the budget has been managed and spent in 2011 . It recalls that the European Union's operational expenditure covers the various headings of the financial framework and takes different forms, depending on how the money is paid out and managed. In accordance with the Financial Regulation, the Commission implements the general budget using the following methods: direct or indirect centralised management (by means of bodies or agencies of public law or other); decentralised management where the Commission delegates certain tasks for the implementation of the budget to third countries; and, thirdly, shared management where budget implementation tasks are delegated to Member States, in areas such as agricultural expenditure and structural actions. The document also presents the different financial actors involved in the budget process (accounting officers, internal officers and authorising officers) and recalls their respective roles in the context of the tasks of sound financial management. Amongst the other legal elements relating to the implementation of the EU budget presented in this document, the paper focuses on the following issues: accounting principles applicable to the management of EU spending (business continuity, consistency of accounting methods, comparability of information ...); consolidation methods of figures for all major controlled entities (the consolidated financial statements of the EU comprise all significant controlled entities –institutions, organisations and agencies, this being 50 controlled entities, 5 joint ventures and 4 associates. In comparison with 2010, the scope of consolidation has been extended by 7 controlled entities (one institution, 6 agencies); the recognition of financial assets in the EU (tangible and intangible assets, financial assets and other miscellaneous investments); the way in which EU public expenditure is committed and spent, including pre-financing (cash advances intended for the benefit of an EU organ); the means of recovery following irregularities detected; the modus operandi of the accounting system; the audit process followed by the European Parliament's granting of the discharge. To recap, the final control is the discharge of the budget for a given financial year . The discharge represents the political aspect of the external control of budget implementation and is the decision by which the European Parliament, acting on a Council recommendation, "releases" the Commission from its responsibility for management of a given budget by marking the end of that budget's existence. When granting the discharge, Parliament may highlight some observations that it considers important, often by recommending that the Commission takes action on the aspects in question . The document also details specific expenditure of the institutions, in particular: i) pensions of former Members and officials of institutions; ii) joint sickness insurance scheme and iii) buildings. Lastly, the document presents a series of tables and detailed technical indicators on (i) the balance sheet; (ii) the economic outturn account; (iii) cashflow tables; (iv) technical annexes concerning the financial statements. 2) Implementation of appropriations under Section VIII of the budget for the financial year 2011: the document comprises a series of detailed tables, the most important concerning the implementation of the budget. Concerning the Ombudsman’s expenditure, the table on the financial and budgetary implementation of this institution is presented as follows (information drawn from the European Ombudsman’s Report on the Budgetary and Financial Management 2011 ). Budgeted appropriations 2011: EUR 9.427 million; Commitments: EUR 8.724 million (rate of commitments entered into: 92.54%); Payments: EUR 8.072 million. 3) Budget 2011 - conclusions: in more general and political terms, the Ombudsman’s budgetary implementation for the financial year 2011 was chiefly marked by the following activities (see European Ombudsman Annual Report 2011 ). The budgetary implementation was also marked by: a fall in the total number of complaints to the Ombudsman for the third year in a row (the number has dropped from 3406 in 2008 to 2510 in 2011); in more than 65% of cases, it was possible to open an inquiry into the case by transferring it to a competent body; the publication of a special Eurobarometer on citizens’ rights and the performance of the EU administration which confirmed the importance citizens attach to their fundamental right to complain; efforts to inform, advise and guide citizens by publishing a specific booklet information and improving the website; greater cooperation with national ombudsmen (European Network of Ombudsmen); improvement of inquiry procedures by making them more citizen-friendly and the introduction of a new type of inquiry (clarificatory inquiry) which enables complainants to clarify their complaint; promoting a culture of service in the EU institutions (in 2011, the number of cases fell overall); improvement in interinstitutional administrative cooperation to avoid unnecessary duplications of staff (in the European Parliament for accounting, technical services concerning telecommunications, translation and interpretation; the Official Publications Office; the Paymaster’s Office (PMO) of the European Union as regards pensions; the Translation Centre).
  • date: 2012-09-13T00:00:00 type: Committee referral announced in Parliament, 1st reading/single reading body: EP
  • date: 2013-03-19T00:00:00 type: Vote in committee, 1st reading/single reading body: EP
  • date: 2013-03-21T00:00:00 type: Committee report tabled for plenary, single reading body: EP docs: url: http://www.europarl.europa.eu/sides/getDoc.do?type=REPORT&mode=XML&reference=A7-2013-94&language=EN title: A7-0094/2013 summary: The Committee on Budgetary Control adopted the report by Andrea ČEŠKOVÁ (ECR, CZ) in which it calls on the European Parliament to grant the European Ombudsman discharge in respect of the implementation of its budget for the financial year 2011. Members welcome the fact that, on the basis of its audit work, the Court of Auditors concluded that the payments as a whole for the year ended on 31 December 2011 for administrative and other expenditure of the institutions and bodies were free from material error. They state that no significant weaknesses had been identified in respect to the audited topics related to the human resources and the procurement for the European Ombudsman. Members also stress that the Ombudsman's budget is purely administrative and amounted in 2011 to EUR 9 427 395 and that of the total appropriations, 92.54% were committed and 85.62% paid. They call for further efforts to improve the utilisation rate and for the changes made to be monitored. Members invite the Ombudsman to include the following in the next annual activity report: the percentage of unused interpretation services requested during the year; an exhaustive table of all the human resources at the Ombudsman's disposal, broken down by category, grade, sex, participation in professional training and nationality; and on an operational level, an improvement of the following: handling of complaints received; the average duration of proceedings.
  • date: 2013-04-16T00:00:00 type: Debate in Parliament body: EP docs: url: http://www.europarl.europa.eu/sides/getDoc.do?secondRef=TOC&language=EN&reference=20130416&type=CRE title: Debate in Parliament
  • date: 2013-04-17T00:00:00 type: Decision by Parliament, 1st reading/single reading body: EP docs: url: http://www.europarl.europa.eu/sides/getDoc.do?type=TA&language=EN&reference=P7-TA-2013-131 title: T7-0131/2013 summary: The European Parliament adopted by 597 votes to 43 with 17 abstentions, a decision granting the European Ombudsman discharge in respect of the implementation of its budget for the financial year 2011. In its resolution accompanying the discharge, Parliament welcomes the fact that the Court of Auditors concluded that the payments as a whole for the year ended on 31 December 2011 for administrative and other expenditure of the institutions and bodies were free from material error. It also notes that no significant weaknesses had been identified in respect to the audited topics related to the human resources and the procurement for the European Ombudsman. At the same time, Parliament stresses that the Ombudsman's budget is purely administrative and amounted in 2011 to EUR 9 427 395 and that of the total appropriations, 92.54% were committed and 85.62% paid. It calls for further efforts to improve the utilisation rate and wants the changes made to be monitored. Parliament invites the Ombudsman to include the following in the next annual activity report: the percentage of unused interpretation services requested during the year; an exhaustive table of all the human resources at the Ombudsman's disposal, broken down by category, grade, sex, participation in professional training and nationality. Parliament also calls for a sustainable increase of the percentage of decisions on admissibility taken within one month of receiving a complaint, which attained a figure of 70% in 2011. It believes that the re-structuring of the Ombudsman's office, put in place at the beginning of 2012, together with a more streamlined procedure of the Registry can contribute to a better performance of the Complaint Unit in the coming years.
  • date: 2013-04-17T00:00:00 type: End of procedure in Parliament body: EP
  • date: 2013-11-16T00:00:00 type: Final act published in Official Journal summary: PURPOSE: to grant discharge to the European Ombudsman for the financial year 2011. NON-LEGISLATIVE ACT: Decision 2013/549/EU of the European Parliament on discharge in respect of the implementation of the European Union’s General Budget, section VIII - European Ombudsman for the financial year 2011. CONTENT: with the present decision, and in accordance with Article 318 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union (TFEU), the European Parliament grants discharge to the European Ombudsman in respect of the implementation of the budget for the financial year 2011. The decision is in line with the European Parliament's resolution adopted on 17 April 2013 and comprises a series of observations that form an integral part of the discharge decision (please refer to the summary of the opinion of 17 April 2013). docs: title: Decision 2013/549 url: https://eur-lex.europa.eu/smartapi/cgi/sga_doc?smartapi!celexplus!prod!CELEXnumdoc&lg=EN&numdoc=32013D0549 title: OJ L 308 16.11.2013, p. 0133 url: https://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/TXT/?uri=OJ:L:2013:308:TOC
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In view of the observations made in the Court of Auditor's report, the Council calls on the European Parliament to grant discharge to all of the Union’s institutions in regard to the implementation of their respective budgets for the financial year 2011.

Overall, the Council’s remarks are positive in regard to the expenditure of the institutions since it notes that, again in 2011, the administrative expenditure of EU institutions and bodies remained free from material error and that their supervisory and control systems continued to comply with the requirements of the Financial Regulation.

Nevertheless, the Council regrets that in some institutions weaknesses were still detected in the payment of social allowances to staff members, in the employment contracts for non-permanent staff and in procurement procedures.

It welcomes the measures already taken and encourages the institutions concerned to address the remaining weaknesses pointed out by the Court.

The Council notes the Court's recommendations that the institutions concerned should ensure that staff regularly deliver documents on their personal situation, that the relevant provisions are applied when concluding, extending or modifying employment contracts with non-permanent staff, and that the authorising officers further improve guidance and appropriate checks concerning procurement procedures. 

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PURPOSE: presentation by the Commission of the consolidated annual accounts of the European Union for the financial year 2011, as part of the 2011 discharge procedure.

Analysis of the accounts of the EU Institutions: Section VIII – European Ombudsman.

Legal reminder: the consolidated annual accounts of the European Union for the year 2011 have been prepared on the basis of the information presented by the institutions and bodies under Article 129.2 of the Financial Regulation applicable to the general budget of the European Union. They were prepared in accordance with Title VII of this Financial Regulation and with the accounting principles, rules and methods set out in the notes to the financial statements.

The objective of the financial statements is to provide information about the financial position, performance and cashflow of an entity that is useful to a wide range of users. The objective is to provide information useful for decision making, and to demonstrate the accountability of the entity for the resources entrusted to it.

1) Purpose: the document helps to bring insight into the EU budget mechanism and the way in which the budget has been managed and spent in 2011. It recalls that the European Union's operational expenditure covers the various headings of the financial framework and takes different forms, depending on how the money is paid out and managed. In accordance with the Financial Regulation, the Commission implements the general budget using the following methods: direct or indirect centralised management (by means of bodies or agencies of public law or other); decentralised management where the Commission delegates certain tasks for the implementation of the budget to third countries; and, thirdly, shared management where budget implementation tasks are delegated to Member States, in areas such as agricultural expenditure and structural actions.

The document also presents the different financial actors involved in the budget process (accounting officers, internal officers and authorising officers) and recalls their respective roles in the context of the tasks of sound financial management.

Amongst the other legal elements relating to the implementation of the EU budget presented in this document, the paper focuses on the following issues:

  • accounting principles applicable to the management of EU spending (business continuity, consistency of accounting methods, comparability of information ...);
  • consolidation methods of figures for all major controlled entities (the consolidated financial statements of the EU comprise all significant controlled entities –institutions, organisations and agencies, this being 50 controlled entities, 5 joint ventures and 4 associates. In comparison with 2010, the scope of consolidation has been extended by 7 controlled entities (one institution, 6 agencies);
  • the recognition of financial assets in the EU (tangible and intangible assets, financial assets and other miscellaneous investments);
  • the way in which EU public expenditure is committed and spent, including pre-financing (cash advances intended for the benefit of an EU organ);
  • the means of recovery following irregularities detected;
  • the modus operandi of the accounting system;
  • the audit process followed by the European Parliament's granting of the discharge.

To recap, the final control is the discharge of the budget for a given financial year. The discharge represents the political aspect of the external control of budget implementation and is the decision by which the European Parliament, acting on a Council recommendation, "releases" the Commission from its responsibility for management of a given budget by marking the end of that budget's existence. When granting the discharge, Parliament may highlight some observations that it considers important, often by recommending that the Commission takes action on the aspects in question.

The document also details specific expenditure of the institutions, in particular: i) pensions of former Members and officials of institutions; ii) joint sickness insurance scheme and iii) buildings.

Lastly, the document presents a series of tables and detailed technical indicators on (i) the balance sheet; (ii) the economic outturn account; (iii) cashflow tables; (iv) technical annexes concerning the financial statements.

2) Implementation of appropriations under Section VIII of the budget for the financial year 2011: the document comprises a series of detailed tables, the most important concerning the implementation of the budget. Concerning the Ombudsman’s expenditure, the table on the financial and budgetary implementation of this institution is presented as follows (information drawn from the European Ombudsman’s Report on the Budgetary and Financial Management 2011).

  • Budgeted appropriations 2011: EUR 9.427 million;
  • Commitments: EUR 8.724 million (rate of commitments entered into: 92.54%);
  • Payments: EUR 8.072 million.

3) Budget 2011 - conclusions: in more general and political terms, the Ombudsman’s budgetary implementation for the financial year 2011 was chiefly marked by the following activities (see European Ombudsman Annual Report 2011).

The budgetary implementation was also marked by:

  • a fall in the total number of complaints to the Ombudsman for the third year in a row (the number has dropped from 3406 in 2008 to 2510 in 2011); in more than 65% of cases, it was possible to open an inquiry into the case by transferring it to a competent body;
  • the publication of a special Eurobarometer on citizens’ rights and the performance of the EU administration which confirmed the importance citizens attach to their fundamental right to complain;
  • efforts to inform, advise and guide citizens by publishing a specific booklet information and improving the website;
  • greater cooperation with national ombudsmen (European Network of Ombudsmen);
  • improvement of inquiry procedures by making them more citizen-friendly and the introduction of a new type of inquiry (clarificatory inquiry) which enables complainants to clarify their complaint;
  • promoting a culture of service in the EU institutions (in 2011, the number of cases fell overall);
  • improvement in interinstitutional administrative cooperation to avoid unnecessary duplications of staff (in the European Parliament for accounting, technical services concerning telecommunications, translation and interpretation; the Official Publications Office; the Paymaster’s Office (PMO) of the European Union as regards pensions; the Translation Centre).
activities/0/docs/0/title
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05752/2013
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COM(2012)0436
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Document attached to the procedure
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Non-legislative basic document published
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  • body: EP responsible: False committee_full: Constitutional Affairs committee: AFCO
  • body: EP responsible: False committee_full: Foreign Affairs committee: AFET
  • body: EP responsible: False committee_full: Agriculture and Rural Development committee: AGRI
  • body: EP responsible: False committee_full: Budgets committee: BUDG
  • body: EP shadows: group: PPE name: DEUTSCH Tamás group: PPE name: SONIK Bogusław group: S&D name: KALFIN Ivailo group: ALDE name: SKYLAKAKIS Theodoros group: Verts/ALE name: STAES Bart group: GUE/NGL name: SØNDERGAARD Søren Bo group: EFD name: ANDREASEN Marta group: NI name: EHRENHAUSER Martin responsible: True committee: CONT date: 2012-02-29T00:00:00 committee_full: Budgetary Control rapporteur: group: ECR name: ČEŠKOVÁ Andrea
  • body: EP responsible: False committee_full: Culture and Education committee: CULT
  • body: EP responsible: False committee_full: Development committee: DEVE
  • body: EP responsible: False committee_full: Economic and Monetary Affairs committee: ECON
  • body: EP responsible: False committee_full: Employment and Social Affairs committee: EMPL
  • body: EP responsible: False committee_full: Environment, Public Health and Food Safety committee: ENVI
  • body: EP responsible: False committee_full: Women's Rights and Gender Equality committee: FEMM
  • body: EP responsible: False committee_full: Internal Market and Consumer Protection committee: IMCO
  • body: EP responsible: False committee_full: International Trade committee: INTA
  • body: EP responsible: False committee_full: Industry, Research and Energy committee: ITRE
  • body: EP responsible: False committee_full: Legal Affairs committee: JURI
  • body: EP responsible: False committee_full: Civil Liberties, Justice and Home Affairs committee: LIBE
  • body: EP responsible: False committee_full: Fisheries committee: PECH
  • body: EP responsible: False committee_full: Petitions committee: PETI
  • body: EP responsible: False committee_full: Regional Development committee: REGI
  • body: EP responsible: False committee_full: Transport and Tourism committee: TRAN
activities/1/date
Old
2013-01-25T00:00:00
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2012-09-13T00:00:00
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  • url: http://www.europarl.europa.eu/sides/getDoc.do?type=COMPARL&mode=XML&language=EN&reference=PE497.971 type: Committee draft report title: PE497.971
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  • body: EP responsible: False committee_full: Constitutional Affairs committee: AFCO
  • body: EP responsible: False committee_full: Foreign Affairs committee: AFET
  • body: EP responsible: False committee_full: Agriculture and Rural Development committee: AGRI
  • body: EP responsible: False committee_full: Budgets committee: BUDG
  • body: EP shadows: group: PPE name: DEUTSCH Tamás group: PPE name: SONIK Bogusław group: S&D name: KALFIN Ivailo group: ALDE name: SKYLAKAKIS Theodoros group: Verts/ALE name: STAES Bart group: GUE/NGL name: SØNDERGAARD Søren Bo group: EFD name: ANDREASEN Marta group: NI name: EHRENHAUSER Martin responsible: True committee: CONT date: 2012-02-29T00:00:00 committee_full: Budgetary Control rapporteur: group: ECR name: ČEŠKOVÁ Andrea
  • body: EP responsible: False committee_full: Culture and Education committee: CULT
  • body: EP responsible: False committee_full: Development committee: DEVE
  • body: EP responsible: False committee_full: Economic and Monetary Affairs committee: ECON
  • body: EP responsible: False committee_full: Employment and Social Affairs committee: EMPL
  • body: EP responsible: False committee_full: Environment, Public Health and Food Safety committee: ENVI
  • body: EP responsible: False committee_full: Women's Rights and Gender Equality committee: FEMM
  • body: EP responsible: False committee_full: Internal Market and Consumer Protection committee: IMCO
  • body: EP responsible: False committee_full: International Trade committee: INTA
  • body: EP responsible: False committee_full: Industry, Research and Energy committee: ITRE
  • body: EP responsible: False committee_full: Legal Affairs committee: JURI
  • body: EP responsible: False committee_full: Civil Liberties, Justice and Home Affairs committee: LIBE
  • body: EP responsible: False committee_full: Fisheries committee: PECH
  • body: EP responsible: False committee_full: Petitions committee: PETI
  • body: EP responsible: False committee_full: Regional Development committee: REGI
  • body: EP responsible: False committee_full: Transport and Tourism committee: TRAN
activities/2/date
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2013-02-27T00:00:00
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2013-03-19T00:00:00
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  • body: EP responsible: False committee_full: Constitutional Affairs committee: AFCO
  • body: EP responsible: False committee_full: Foreign Affairs committee: AFET
  • body: EP responsible: False committee_full: Agriculture and Rural Development committee: AGRI
  • body: EP responsible: False committee_full: Budgets committee: BUDG
  • body: EP shadows: group: EPP name: DEUTSCH Tamás group: EPP name: SONIK Bogusław group: S&D name: KALFIN Ivailo group: ALDE name: SKYLAKAKIS Theodoros group: Verts/ALE name: STAES Bart group: GUE/NGL name: SØNDERGAARD Søren Bo group: EFD name: ANDREASEN Marta group: NI name: EHRENHAUSER Martin responsible: True committee: CONT date: 2012-02-29T00:00:00 committee_full: Budgetary Control rapporteur: group: ECR name: ČEŠKOVÁ Andrea
  • body: EP responsible: False committee_full: Culture and Education committee: CULT
  • body: EP responsible: False committee_full: Development committee: DEVE
  • body: EP responsible: False committee_full: Economic and Monetary Affairs committee: ECON
  • body: EP responsible: False committee_full: Employment and Social Affairs committee: EMPL
  • body: EP responsible: False committee_full: Environment, Public Health and Food Safety committee: ENVI
  • body: EP responsible: False committee_full: Women's Rights and Gender Equality committee: FEMM
  • body: EP responsible: False committee_full: Internal Market and Consumer Protection committee: IMCO
  • body: EP responsible: False committee_full: International Trade committee: INTA
  • body: EP responsible: False committee_full: Industry, Research and Energy committee: ITRE
  • body: EP responsible: False committee_full: Legal Affairs committee: JURI
  • body: EP responsible: False committee_full: Civil Liberties, Justice and Home Affairs committee: LIBE
  • body: EP responsible: False committee_full: Fisheries committee: PECH
  • body: EP responsible: False committee_full: Petitions committee: PETI
  • body: EP responsible: False committee_full: Regional Development committee: REGI
  • body: EP responsible: False committee_full: Transport and Tourism committee: TRAN
activities/5/date
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2012-09-13T00:00:00
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2013-04-17T00:00:00
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  • url: http://www.europarl.europa.eu/sides/getDoc.do?type=TA&language=EN&reference=P7-TA-2013-131 type: Decision by Parliament, 1st reading/single reading title: T7-0131/2013
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  • body: EP responsible: False committee_full: Constitutional Affairs committee: AFCO
  • body: EP responsible: False committee_full: Foreign Affairs committee: AFET
  • body: EP responsible: False committee_full: Agriculture and Rural Development committee: AGRI
  • body: EP responsible: False committee_full: Budgets committee: BUDG
  • body: EP shadows: group: EPP name: DEUTSCH Tamás group: EPP name: SONIK Bogusław group: S&D name: KALFIN Ivailo group: ALDE name: SKYLAKAKIS Theodoros group: Verts/ALE name: STAES Bart group: GUE/NGL name: SØNDERGAARD Søren Bo group: EFD name: ANDREASEN Marta group: NI name: EHRENHAUSER Martin responsible: True committee: CONT date: 2012-02-29T00:00:00 committee_full: Budgetary Control rapporteur: group: ECR name: ČEŠKOVÁ Andrea
  • body: EP responsible: False committee_full: Culture and Education committee: CULT
  • body: EP responsible: False committee_full: Development committee: DEVE
  • body: EP responsible: False committee_full: Economic and Monetary Affairs committee: ECON
  • body: EP responsible: False committee_full: Employment and Social Affairs committee: EMPL
  • body: EP responsible: False committee_full: Environment, Public Health and Food Safety committee: ENVI
  • body: EP responsible: False committee_full: Women's Rights and Gender Equality committee: FEMM
  • body: EP responsible: False committee_full: Internal Market and Consumer Protection committee: IMCO
  • body: EP responsible: False committee_full: International Trade committee: INTA
  • body: EP responsible: False committee_full: Industry, Research and Energy committee: ITRE
  • body: EP responsible: False committee_full: Legal Affairs committee: JURI
  • body: EP responsible: False committee_full: Civil Liberties, Justice and Home Affairs committee: LIBE
  • body: EP responsible: False committee_full: Fisheries committee: PECH
  • body: EP responsible: False committee_full: Petitions committee: PETI
  • body: EP responsible: False committee_full: Regional Development committee: REGI
  • body: EP responsible: False committee_full: Transport and Tourism committee: TRAN
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2013-03-19T00:00:00
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2013-11-16T00:00:00
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  • url: http://eur-lex.europa.eu/smartapi/cgi/sga_doc?smartapi!celexplus!prod!CELEXnumdoc&lg=EN&numdoc=32013D0549 title: Decision 2013/549
  • url: http://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/TXT/?uri=OJ:L:2013:308:TOC title: OJ L 308 16.11.2013, p. 0133
activities/6/text
  • PURPOSE: to grant discharge to the European Ombudsman for the financial year 2011.

    NON-LEGISLATIVE ACT: Decision 2013/549/EU of the European Parliament on discharge in respect of the implementation of the European Union’s General Budget, section VIII - European Ombudsman for the financial year 2011.

    CONTENT: with the present decision, and in accordance with Article 318 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union (TFEU), the European Parliament grants discharge to the European Ombudsman in respect of the implementation of the budget for the financial year 2011.

    The decision is in line with the European Parliament's resolution adopted on 17 April 2013 and comprises a series of observations that form an integral part of the discharge decision (please refer to the summary of the opinion of 17 April 2013).

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The Committee on Budgetary Control adopted the report by Andrea ČEŠKOVÁ (ECR, CZ) in which it calls on the European Parliament to grant the European Ombudsman discharge in respect of the implementation of its budget for the financial year 2011.

Members welcome the fact that, on the basis of its audit work, the Court of Auditors concluded that the payments as a whole for the year ended on 31 December 2011 for administrative and other expenditure of the institutions and bodies were free from material error. They state that no significant weaknesses had been identified in respect to the audited topics related to the human resources and the procurement for the European Ombudsman.

Members also stress that the Ombudsman's budget is purely administrative and amounted in 2011 to EUR 9 427 395 and that of the total appropriations, 92.54% were committed and 85.62% paid. They call for further efforts to improve the utilisation rate and for the changes made to be monitored.

Members invite the Ombudsman to include the following in the next annual activity report:

  • the percentage of unused interpretation services requested during the year;
  • an exhaustive table of all the human resources at the Ombudsman's disposal, broken down by category, grade, sex, participation in professional training and nationality;

and on an operational level, an improvement of the following:

  • handling of complaints received;
  • the average duration of proceedings.
New

The Committee on Budgetary Control adopted the report by Andrea ČEŠKOVÁ (ECR, CZ) in which it calls on the European Parliament to grant the European Ombudsman discharge in respect of the implementation of its budget for the financial year 2011.

Members welcome the fact that, on the basis of its audit work, the Court of Auditors concluded that the payments as a whole for the year ended on 31 December 2011 for administrative and other expenditure of the institutions and bodies were free from material error. They state that no significant weaknesses had been identified in respect to the audited topics related to the human resources and the procurement for the European Ombudsman.

Members also stress that the Ombudsman's budget is purely administrative and amounted in 2011 to EUR 9 427 395 and that of the total appropriations, 92.54% were committed and 85.62% paid. They call for further efforts to improve the utilisation rate and for the changes made to be monitored.

Members invite the Ombudsman to include the following in the next annual activity report:

  • the percentage of unused interpretation services requested during the year;
  • an exhaustive table of all the human resources at the Ombudsman's disposal, broken down by category, grade, sex, participation in professional training and nationality;

and on an operational level, an improvement of the following:

  • handling of complaints received;
  • the average duration of proceedings.
activities/9/docs/0/text
  • The European Parliament adopted by 597 votes to 43 with 17 abstentions, a decision granting the European Ombudsman discharge in respect of the implementation of its budget for the financial year 2011.

    In its resolution accompanying the discharge, Parliament welcomes the fact that the Court of Auditors concluded that the payments as a whole for the year ended on 31 December 2011 for administrative and other expenditure of the institutions and bodies were free from material error. It also notes that no significant weaknesses had been identified in respect to the audited topics related to the human resources and the procurement for the European Ombudsman.

    At the same time, Parliament stresses that the Ombudsman's budget is purely administrative and amounted in 2011 to EUR 9 427 395 and that of the total appropriations, 92.54% were committed and 85.62% paid. It calls for further efforts to improve the utilisation rate and wants the changes made to be monitored.

    Parliament invites the Ombudsman to include the following in the next annual activity report:

    • the percentage of unused interpretation services requested during the year;
    • an exhaustive table of all the human resources at the Ombudsman's disposal, broken down by category, grade, sex, participation in professional training and nationality.

    Parliament also calls for a sustainable increase of the percentage of decisions on admissibility taken within one month of receiving a complaint, which attained a figure of 70% in 2011. It believes that the re-structuring of the Ombudsman's office, put in place at the beginning of 2012, together with a more streamlined procedure of the Registry can contribute to a better performance of the Complaint Unit in the coming years.

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  • The Committee on Budgetary Control adopted the report by Andrea ČEŠKOVÁ (ECR, CZ) in which it calls on the European Parliament to grant the European Ombudsman discharge in respect of the implementation of its budget for the financial year 2011.

    Members welcome the fact that, on the basis of its audit work, the Court of Auditors concluded that the payments as a whole for the year ended on 31 December 2011 for administrative and other expenditure of the institutions and bodies were free from material error. They state that no significant weaknesses had been identified in respect to the audited topics related to the human resources and the procurement for the European Ombudsman.

    Members also stress that the Ombudsman's budget is purely administrative and amounted in 2011 to EUR 9 427 395 and that of the total appropriations, 92.54% were committed and 85.62% paid. They call for further efforts to improve the utilisation rate and for the changes made to be monitored.

    Members invite the Ombudsman to include the following in the next annual activity report:

    • the percentage of unused interpretation services requested during the year;
    • an exhaustive table of all the human resources at the Ombudsman's disposal, broken down by category, grade, sex, participation in professional training and nationality;

    and on an operational level, an improvement of the following:

    • handling of complaints received;
    • the average duration of proceedings.
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2013-03-21T00:00:00
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type: Committee report tabled for plenary, single reading title: A7-0094/2013
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  • body: EP responsible: False committee_full: Constitutional Affairs committee: AFCO
  • body: EP responsible: False committee_full: Foreign Affairs committee: AFET
  • body: EP responsible: False committee_full: Agriculture and Rural Development committee: AGRI
  • body: EP responsible: False committee_full: Budgets committee: BUDG
  • body: EP shadows: group: EPP name: DEUTSCH Tamás group: EPP name: SONIK Bogusław group: S&D name: KALFIN Ivailo group: ALDE name: SKYLAKAKIS Theodoros group: Verts/ALE name: STAES Bart group: GUE/NGL name: SØNDERGAARD Søren Bo group: EFD name: ANDREASEN Marta group: NI name: EHRENHAUSER Martin responsible: True committee: CONT date: 2012-02-29T00:00:00 committee_full: Budgetary Control rapporteur: group: ECR name: ČEŠKOVÁ Andrea
  • body: EP responsible: False committee_full: Culture and Education committee: CULT
  • body: EP responsible: False committee_full: Development committee: DEVE
  • body: EP responsible: False committee_full: Economic and Monetary Affairs committee: ECON
  • body: EP responsible: False committee_full: Employment and Social Affairs committee: EMPL
  • body: EP responsible: False committee_full: Environment, Public Health and Food Safety committee: ENVI
  • body: EP responsible: False committee_full: Women’s Rights and Gender Equality committee: FEMM
  • body: EP responsible: False committee_full: Internal Market and Consumer Protection committee: IMCO
  • body: EP responsible: False committee_full: International Trade committee: INTA
  • body: EP responsible: False committee_full: Industry, Research and Energy committee: ITRE
  • body: EP responsible: False committee_full: Legal Affairs committee: JURI
  • body: EP responsible: False committee_full: Civil Liberties, Justice and Home Affairs committee: LIBE
  • body: EP responsible: False committee_full: Fisheries committee: PECH
  • body: EP responsible: False committee_full: Petitions committee: PETI
  • body: EP responsible: False committee_full: Regional Development committee: REGI
  • body: EP responsible: False committee_full: Transport and Tourism committee: TRAN
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2013-04-17T00:00:00
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CELEX:52012DC0436:EN
activities/4/docs/0/text
  • In view of the observations made in the Court of Auditor's report, the Council calls on the European Parliament to grant discharge to all of the Union’s institutions in regard to the implementation of their respective budgets for the financial year 2011.

    Overall, the Council’s remarks are positive in regard to the expenditure of the institutions since it notes that, again in 2011, the administrative expenditure of EU institutions and bodies remained free from material error and that their supervisory and control systems continued to comply with the requirements of the Financial Regulation.

    Nevertheless, the Council regrets that in some institutions weaknesses were still detected in the payment of social allowances to staff members, in the employment contracts for non-permanent staff and in procurement procedures.

    It welcomes the measures already taken and encourages the institutions concerned to address the remaining weaknesses pointed out by the Court.

    The Council notes the Court's recommendations that the institutions concerned should ensure that staff regularly deliver documents on their personal situation, that the relevant provisions are applied when concluding, extending or modifying employment contracts with non-permanent staff, and that the authorising officers further improve guidance and appropriate checks concerning procurement procedures. 

activities/5
date
2013-02-27T00:00:00
docs
type: Amendments tabled in committee title: PE506.050
body
EP
type
Amendments tabled in committee
activities/0/docs/0/celexid
CELEX:52012DC0436:EN
activities/0/docs/0/text/0
Old

PURPOSE: presentation by the Commission of the consolidated annual accounts of the European Union for the financial year 2011, as part of the 2011 discharge procedure.

Analysis of the accounts of the EU Institutions: Section VIII – European Ombudsman.

Legal reminder: the consolidated annual accounts of the European Union for the year 2011 have been prepared on the basis of the information presented by the institutions and bodies under Article 129.2 of the Financial Regulation applicable to the general budget of the European Union. They were prepared in accordance with Title VII of this Financial Regulation and with the accounting principles, rules and methods set out in the notes to the financial statements.

The objective of the financial statements is to provide information about the financial position, performance and cashflow of an entity that is useful to a wide range of users. The objective is to provide information useful for decision making, and to demonstrate the accountability of the entity for the resources entrusted to it.

1) Purpose: the document helps to bring insight into the EU budget mechanism and the way in which the budget has been managed and spent in 2011. It recalls that the European Union's operational expenditure covers the various headings of the financial framework and takes different forms, depending on how the money is paid out and managed. In accordance with the Financial Regulation, the Commission implements the general budget using the following methods: direct or indirect centralised management (by means of bodies or agencies of public law or other); decentralised management where the Commission delegates certain tasks for the implementation of the budget to third countries; and, thirdly, shared management where budget implementation tasks are delegated to Member States, in areas such as agricultural expenditure and structural actions.

The document also presents the different financial actors involved in the budget process (accounting officers, internal officers and authorising officers) and recalls their respective roles in the context of the tasks of sound financial management.

Amongst the other legal elements relating to the implementation of the EU budget presented in this document, the paper focuses on the following issues:

  • accounting principles applicable to the management of EU spending (business continuity, consistency of accounting methods, comparability of information ...);
  • consolidation methods of figures for all major controlled entities (the consolidated financial statements of the EU comprise all significant controlled entities –institutions, organisations and agencies, this being 50 controlled entities, 5 joint ventures and 4 associates. In comparison with 2010, the scope of consolidation has been extended by 7 controlled entities (one institution, 6 agencies);
  • the recognition of financial assets in the EU (tangible and intangible assets, financial assets and other miscellaneous investments);
  • the way in which EU public expenditure is committed and spent, including pre-financing (cash advances intended for the benefit of an EU organ);
  • the means of recovery following irregularities detected;
  • the modus operandi of the accounting system;
  • the audit process followed by the European Parliament's granting of the discharge.

To recap, the final control is the discharge of the budget for a given financial year. The discharge represents the political aspect of the external control of budget implementation and is the decision by which the European Parliament, acting on a Council recommendation, "releases" the Commission from its responsibility for management of a given budget by marking the end of that budget's existence. When granting the discharge, Parliament may highlight some observations that it considers important, often by recommending that the Commission takes action on the aspects in question.

The document also details specific expenditure of the institutions, in particular: i) pensions of former Members and officials of institutions; ii) joint sickness insurance scheme and iii) buildings.

Lastly, the document presents a series of tables and detailed technical indicators on (i) the balance sheet; (ii) the economic outturn account; (iii) cashflow tables; (iv) technical annexes concerning the financial statements.

2) Implementation of appropriations under Section VIII of the budget for the financial year 2011: the document comprises a series of detailed tables, the most important concerning the implementation of the budget. Concerning the Ombudsman’s expenditure, the table on the financial and budgetary implementation of this institution is presented as follows (information drawn from the European Ombudsman’s Report on the Budgetary and Financial Management 2011).

  • Budgeted appropriations 2011: EUR 9.427 million;
  • Commitments: EUR 8.724 million (rate of commitments entered into: 92.54%);
  • Payments: EUR 8.072 million.

3) Budget 2011 - conclusions: in more general and political terms, the Ombudsman’s budgetary implementation for the financial year 2011 was chiefly marked by the following activities (see European Ombudsman Annual Report 2011).

The budgetary implementation was also marked by:

  • a fall in the total number of complaints to the Ombudsman for the third year in a row (the number has dropped from 3406 in 2008 to 2510 in 2011); in more than 65% of cases, it was possible to open an inquiry into the case by transferring it to a competent body;
  • the publication of a special Eurobarometer on citizens’ rights and the performance of the EU administration which confirmed the importance citizens attach to their fundamental right to complain;
  • efforts to inform, advise and guide citizens by publishing a specific booklet information and improving the website;
  • greater cooperation with national ombudsmen (European Network of Ombudsmen);
  • improvement of inquiry procedures by making them more citizen-friendly and the introduction of a new type of inquiry (clarificatory inquiry) which enables complainants to clarify their complaint;
  • promoting a culture of service in the EU institutions (in 2011, the number of cases fell overall);
  • improvement in interinstitutional administrative cooperation to avoid unnecessary duplications of staff (in the European Parliament for accounting, technical services concerning telecommunications, translation and interpretation; the Official Publications Office; the Paymaster’s Office (PMO) of the European Union as regards pensions; the Translation Centre).
New

PURPOSE: presentation by the Commission of the consolidated annual accounts of the European Union for the financial year 2011, as part of the 2011 discharge procedure.

Analysis of the accounts of the EU Institutions: Section VIII – European Ombudsman.

Legal reminder: the consolidated annual accounts of the European Union for the year 2011 have been prepared on the basis of the information presented by the institutions and bodies under Article 129.2 of the Financial Regulation applicable to the general budget of the European Union. They were prepared in accordance with Title VII of this Financial Regulation and with the accounting principles, rules and methods set out in the notes to the financial statements.

The objective of the financial statements is to provide information about the financial position, performance and cashflow of an entity that is useful to a wide range of users. The objective is to provide information useful for decision making, and to demonstrate the accountability of the entity for the resources entrusted to it.

1) Purpose: the document helps to bring insight into the EU budget mechanism and the way in which the budget has been managed and spent in 2011. It recalls that the European Union's operational expenditure covers the various headings of the financial framework and takes different forms, depending on how the money is paid out and managed. In accordance with the Financial Regulation, the Commission implements the general budget using the following methods: direct or indirect centralised management (by means of bodies or agencies of public law or other); decentralised management where the Commission delegates certain tasks for the implementation of the budget to third countries; and, thirdly, shared management where budget implementation tasks are delegated to Member States, in areas such as agricultural expenditure and structural actions.

The document also presents the different financial actors involved in the budget process (accounting officers, internal officers and authorising officers) and recalls their respective roles in the context of the tasks of sound financial management.

Amongst the other legal elements relating to the implementation of the EU budget presented in this document, the paper focuses on the following issues:

  • accounting principles applicable to the management of EU spending (business continuity, consistency of accounting methods, comparability of information ...);
  • consolidation methods of figures for all major controlled entities (the consolidated financial statements of the EU comprise all significant controlled entities –institutions, organisations and agencies, this being 50 controlled entities, 5 joint ventures and 4 associates. In comparison with 2010, the scope of consolidation has been extended by 7 controlled entities (one institution, 6 agencies);
  • the recognition of financial assets in the EU (tangible and intangible assets, financial assets and other miscellaneous investments);
  • the way in which EU public expenditure is committed and spent, including pre-financing (cash advances intended for the benefit of an EU organ);
  • the means of recovery following irregularities detected;
  • the modus operandi of the accounting system;
  • the audit process followed by the European Parliament's granting of the discharge.

To recap, the final control is the discharge of the budget for a given financial year. The discharge represents the political aspect of the external control of budget implementation and is the decision by which the European Parliament, acting on a Council recommendation, "releases" the Commission from its responsibility for management of a given budget by marking the end of that budget's existence. When granting the discharge, Parliament may highlight some observations that it considers important, often by recommending that the Commission takes action on the aspects in question.

The document also details specific expenditure of the institutions, in particular: i) pensions of former Members and officials of institutions; ii) joint sickness insurance scheme and iii) buildings.

Lastly, the document presents a series of tables and detailed technical indicators on (i) the balance sheet; (ii) the economic outturn account; (iii) cashflow tables; (iv) technical annexes concerning the financial statements.

2) Implementation of appropriations under Section VIII of the budget for the financial year 2011: the document comprises a series of detailed tables, the most important concerning the implementation of the budget. Concerning the Ombudsman’s expenditure, the table on the financial and budgetary implementation of this institution is presented as follows (information drawn from the European Ombudsman’s Report on the Budgetary and Financial Management 2011).

  • Budgeted appropriations 2011: EUR 9.427 million;
  • Commitments: EUR 8.724 million (rate of commitments entered into: 92.54%);
  • Payments: EUR 8.072 million.

3) Budget 2011 - conclusions: in more general and political terms, the Ombudsman’s budgetary implementation for the financial year 2011 was chiefly marked by the following activities (see European Ombudsman Annual Report 2011).

The budgetary implementation was also marked by:

  • a fall in the total number of complaints to the Ombudsman for the third year in a row (the number has dropped from 3406 in 2008 to 2510 in 2011); in more than 65% of cases, it was possible to open an inquiry into the case by transferring it to a competent body;
  • the publication of a special Eurobarometer on citizens’ rights and the performance of the EU administration which confirmed the importance citizens attach to their fundamental right to complain;
  • efforts to inform, advise and guide citizens by publishing a specific booklet information and improving the website;
  • greater cooperation with national ombudsmen (European Network of Ombudsmen);
  • improvement of inquiry procedures by making them more citizen-friendly and the introduction of a new type of inquiry (clarificatory inquiry) which enables complainants to clarify their complaint;
  • promoting a culture of service in the EU institutions (in 2011, the number of cases fell overall);
  • improvement in interinstitutional administrative cooperation to avoid unnecessary duplications of staff (in the European Parliament for accounting, technical services concerning telecommunications, translation and interpretation; the Official Publications Office; the Paymaster’s Office (PMO) of the European Union as regards pensions; the Translation Centre).
activities/1/docs/0/text/0
Old

OBJECTIVE: presentation of the Report of the Court of Auditors on the 2011 budget (section VIII – European Ombudsman).

CONTENT: the Court of Auditors published its 35th Annual Report on the implementation of the EU budget for the 2011 financial year.

In accordance with the tasks and objectives conferred on the Court of Auditors by the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union, it provides under the discharge procedure, for both the European Parliament and Council, a statement of assurance (“DAS”) about the reliability of the accounts and the legality and regularity of the transactions of each institution, body or agency of the EU, based on an independent external audit.

The audit also focuses on the budget implementation of the European Ombudsman.

On the basis of its audit work, the Court considers that payments for “Administrative and other expenditure” policy are, overall, significantly error-free. The estimated error rate is 0.1 %.

The Court, however, draws attention to the errors and weaknesses which did not affect the Court’s conclusion. The Court examined a sample of procurement procedures and noted several weaknesses in the application of selection and award criteria, some of which had an impact on the results of the procedure. Other weaknesses relate to the organisation of cross border competition, to the management of automatic award procedures and to the respect of provisions as regards the drafting and filing of tendering documents.

The Court also detects weaknesses when it reviewed a sample of calculations and payments of social allowances as well as a sample of employment contracts concluded with temporary agents.

The Court therefore recommends that the institutions and bodies of the EU take steps to: (i) guarantee that staff deliver, at appropriate intervals, documents confirming their personal situation and implement a system for the timely monitoring of these documents; (ii) ensure that authorising officers improve the design, coordination and performance of procurement procedures through appropriate checks and better guidance.

The Court also makes a number of comments specific to each institution or body of the European Union. These observations do not affect the positive overall appraisal given that they do not significantly affect overall administrative expenditure. However, in the specific case of the audit of the European Ombudsman, the Court’s audit did not identify any significant weakness.

New

OBJECTIVE: presentation of the Report of the Court of Auditors on the 2011 budget (section VIII – European Ombudsman).

CONTENT: the Court of Auditors published its 35th Annual Report on the implementation of the EU budget for the 2011 financial year.

In accordance with the tasks and objectives conferred on the Court of Auditors by the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union, it provides under the discharge procedure, for both the European Parliament and Council, a statement of assurance (“DAS”) about the reliability of the accounts and the legality and regularity of the transactions of each institution, body or agency of the EU, based on an independent external audit.

The audit also focuses on the budget implementation of the European Ombudsman.

On the basis of its audit work, the Court considers that payments for “Administrative and other expenditure” policy are, overall, significantly error-free. The estimated error rate is 0.1 %.

The Court, however, draws attention to the errors and weaknesses which did not affect the Court’s conclusion. The Court examined a sample of procurement procedures and noted several weaknesses in the application of selection and award criteria, some of which had an impact on the results of the procedure. Other weaknesses relate to the organisation of cross border competition, to the management of automatic award procedures and to the respect of provisions as regards the drafting and filing of tendering documents.

The Court also detects weaknesses when it reviewed a sample of calculations and payments of social allowances as well as a sample of employment contracts concluded with temporary agents.

The Court therefore recommends that the institutions and bodies of the EU take steps to: (i) guarantee that staff deliver, at appropriate intervals, documents confirming their personal situation and implement a system for the timely monitoring of these documents; (ii) ensure that authorising officers improve the design, coordination and performance of procurement procedures through appropriate checks and better guidance.

The Court also makes a number of comments specific to each institution or body of the European Union. These observations do not affect the positive overall appraisal given that they do not significantly affect overall administrative expenditure. However, in the specific case of the audit of the European Ombudsman, the Court’s audit did not identify any significant weakness.

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  • OBJECTIVE: presentation of the Report of the Court of Auditors on the 2011 budget (section VIII – European Ombudsman).

    CONTENT: the Court of Auditors published its 35th Annual Report on the implementation of the EU budget for the 2011 financial year.

    In accordance with the tasks and objectives conferred on the Court of Auditors by the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union, it provides under the discharge procedure, for both the European Parliament and Council, a statement of assurance (“DAS”) about the reliability of the accounts and the legality and regularity of the transactions of each institution, body or agency of the EU, based on an independent external audit.

    The audit also focuses on the budget implementation of the European Ombudsman.

    On the basis of its audit work, the Court considers that payments for “Administrative and other expenditure” policy are, overall, significantly error-free. The estimated error rate is 0.1 %.

    The Court, however, draws attention to the errors and weaknesses which did not affect the Court’s conclusion. The Court examined a sample of procurement procedures and noted several weaknesses in the application of selection and award criteria, some of which had an impact on the results of the procedure. Other weaknesses relate to the organisation of cross border competition, to the management of automatic award procedures and to the respect of provisions as regards the drafting and filing of tendering documents.

    The Court also detects weaknesses when it reviewed a sample of calculations and payments of social allowances as well as a sample of employment contracts concluded with temporary agents.

    The Court therefore recommends that the institutions and bodies of the EU take steps to: (i) guarantee that staff deliver, at appropriate intervals, documents confirming their personal situation and implement a system for the timely monitoring of these documents; (ii) ensure that authorising officers improve the design, coordination and performance of procurement procedures through appropriate checks and better guidance.

    The Court also makes a number of comments specific to each institution or body of the European Union. These observations do not affect the positive overall appraisal given that they do not significantly affect overall administrative expenditure. However, in the specific case of the audit of the European Ombudsman, the Court’s audit did not identify any significant weakness.

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  • type: Court of Auditors: opinion, report title: N7-0127/2012
  • url: http://eur-lex.europa.eu/JOHtml.do?uri=OJ:C:2012:3440001:SOM:EN:HTML type: Court of Auditors: opinion, report title: OJ C 344 12.11.2012, p. 0001
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  • PURPOSE: presentation by the Commission of the consolidated annual accounts of the European Union for the financial year 2011, as part of the 2011 discharge procedure.

    Analysis of the accounts of the EU Institutions: Section VIII – European Ombudsman.

    Legal reminder: the consolidated annual accounts of the European Union for the year 2011 have been prepared on the basis of the information presented by the institutions and bodies under Article 129.2 of the Financial Regulation applicable to the general budget of the European Union. They were prepared in accordance with Title VII of this Financial Regulation and with the accounting principles, rules and methods set out in the notes to the financial statements.

    The objective of the financial statements is to provide information about the financial position, performance and cashflow of an entity that is useful to a wide range of users. The objective is to provide information useful for decision making, and to demonstrate the accountability of the entity for the resources entrusted to it.

    1) Purpose: the document helps to bring insight into the EU budget mechanism and the way in which the budget has been managed and spent in 2011. It recalls that the European Union's operational expenditure covers the various headings of the financial framework and takes different forms, depending on how the money is paid out and managed. In accordance with the Financial Regulation, the Commission implements the general budget using the following methods: direct or indirect centralised management (by means of bodies or agencies of public law or other); decentralised management where the Commission delegates certain tasks for the implementation of the budget to third countries; and, thirdly, shared management where budget implementation tasks are delegated to Member States, in areas such as agricultural expenditure and structural actions.

    The document also presents the different financial actors involved in the budget process (accounting officers, internal officers and authorising officers) and recalls their respective roles in the context of the tasks of sound financial management.

    Amongst the other legal elements relating to the implementation of the EU budget presented in this document, the paper focuses on the following issues:

    • accounting principles applicable to the management of EU spending (business continuity, consistency of accounting methods, comparability of information ...);
    • consolidation methods of figures for all major controlled entities (the consolidated financial statements of the EU comprise all significant controlled entities –institutions, organisations and agencies, this being 50 controlled entities, 5 joint ventures and 4 associates. In comparison with 2010, the scope of consolidation has been extended by 7 controlled entities (one institution, 6 agencies);
    • the recognition of financial assets in the EU (tangible and intangible assets, financial assets and other miscellaneous investments);
    • the way in which EU public expenditure is committed and spent, including pre-financing (cash advances intended for the benefit of an EU organ);
    • the means of recovery following irregularities detected;
    • the modus operandi of the accounting system;
    • the audit process followed by the European Parliament's granting of the discharge.

    To recap, the final control is the discharge of the budget for a given financial year. The discharge represents the political aspect of the external control of budget implementation and is the decision by which the European Parliament, acting on a Council recommendation, "releases" the Commission from its responsibility for management of a given budget by marking the end of that budget's existence. When granting the discharge, Parliament may highlight some observations that it considers important, often by recommending that the Commission takes action on the aspects in question.

    The document also details specific expenditure of the institutions, in particular: i) pensions of former Members and officials of institutions; ii) joint sickness insurance scheme and iii) buildings.

    Lastly, the document presents a series of tables and detailed technical indicators on (i) the balance sheet; (ii) the economic outturn account; (iii) cashflow tables; (iv) technical annexes concerning the financial statements.

    2) Implementation of appropriations under Section VIII of the budget for the financial year 2011: the document comprises a series of detailed tables, the most important concerning the implementation of the budget. Concerning the Ombudsman’s expenditure, the table on the financial and budgetary implementation of this institution is presented as follows (information drawn from the European Ombudsman’s Report on the Budgetary and Financial Management 2011).

    • Budgeted appropriations 2011: EUR 9.427 million;
    • Commitments: EUR 8.724 million (rate of commitments entered into: 92.54%);
    • Payments: EUR 8.072 million.

    3) Budget 2011 - conclusions: in more general and political terms, the Ombudsman’s budgetary implementation for the financial year 2011 was chiefly marked by the following activities (see European Ombudsman Annual Report 2011).

    The budgetary implementation was also marked by:

    • a fall in the total number of complaints to the Ombudsman for the third year in a row (the number has dropped from 3406 in 2008 to 2510 in 2011); in more than 65% of cases, it was possible to open an inquiry into the case by transferring it to a competent body;
    • the publication of a special Eurobarometer on citizens’ rights and the performance of the EU administration which confirmed the importance citizens attach to their fundamental right to complain;
    • efforts to inform, advise and guide citizens by publishing a specific booklet information and improving the website;
    • greater cooperation with national ombudsmen (European Network of Ombudsmen);
    • improvement of inquiry procedures by making them more citizen-friendly and the introduction of a new type of inquiry (clarificatory inquiry) which enables complainants to clarify their complaint;
    • promoting a culture of service in the EU institutions (in 2011, the number of cases fell overall);
    • improvement in interinstitutional administrative cooperation to avoid unnecessary duplications of staff (in the European Parliament for accounting, technical services concerning telecommunications, translation and interpretation; the Official Publications Office; the Paymaster’s Office (PMO) of the European Union as regards pensions; the Translation Centre).
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2012-02-29T00:00:00
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  • group: ECR name: ČEŠKOVÁ Andrea
activities/2/committees/4/shadows
  • group: EPP name: DEUTSCH Tamás
  • group: EPP name: SKYLAKAKIS Theodoros
  • group: EPP name: SONIK Bogusław
  • group: S&D name: KALFIN Ivailo
  • group: Verts/ALE name: STAES Bart
  • group: GUE/NGL name: SØNDERGAARD Søren Bo
  • group: EFD name: ANDREASEN Marta
  • group: NI name: EHRENHAUSER Martin
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2013-03-19T00:00:00
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EP
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  • group: ECR name: ČEŠKOVÁ Andrea
committees/4/shadows
  • group: EPP name: DEUTSCH Tamás
  • group: EPP name: SKYLAKAKIS Theodoros
  • group: EPP name: SONIK Bogusław
  • group: S&D name: KALFIN Ivailo
  • group: Verts/ALE name: STAES Bart
  • group: GUE/NGL name: SØNDERGAARD Søren Bo
  • group: EFD name: ANDREASEN Marta
  • group: NI name: EHRENHAUSER Martin
activities
  • body: EP date: 2012-07-25T00:00:00 type: Date
  • date: 2012-07-25T00:00:00 docs: url: http://eur-lex.europa.eu/smartapi/cgi/sga_doc?smartapi!celexplus!prod!DocNumber&lg=EN&type_doc=COMfinal&an_doc=2012&nu_doc=436 type: Non-legislative basic document published title: COM(2012)0436 body: EC type: Non-legislative basic document commission: DG: url: http://ec.europa.eu/dgs/budget/ title: Budget Commissioner: ŠEMETA Algirdas
  • date: 2012-09-13T00:00:00 body: EP type: Committee referral announced in Parliament, 1st reading/single reading committees: body: EP responsible: False committee_full: Constitutional Affairs committee: AFCO body: EP responsible: False committee_full: Foreign Affairs committee: AFET body: EP responsible: False committee_full: Agriculture and Rural Development committee: AGRI body: EP responsible: False committee_full: Budgets committee: BUDG body: EP responsible: True committee_full: Budgetary Control committee: CONT body: EP responsible: False committee_full: Culture and Education committee: CULT body: EP responsible: False committee_full: Development committee: DEVE body: EP responsible: False committee_full: Economic and Monetary Affairs committee: ECON body: EP responsible: False committee_full: Employment and Social Affairs committee: EMPL body: EP responsible: False committee_full: Environment, Public Health and Food Safety committee: ENVI body: EP responsible: False committee_full: Women’s Rights and Gender Equality committee: FEMM body: EP responsible: False committee_full: Internal Market and Consumer Protection committee: IMCO body: EP responsible: False committee_full: International Trade committee: INTA body: EP responsible: False committee_full: Industry, Research and Energy committee: ITRE body: EP responsible: False committee_full: Legal Affairs committee: JURI body: EP responsible: False committee_full: Civil Liberties, Justice and Home Affairs committee: LIBE body: EP responsible: False committee_full: Fisheries committee: PECH body: EP responsible: False committee_full: Petitions committee: PETI body: EP responsible: False committee_full: Regional Development committee: REGI body: EP responsible: False committee_full: Transport and Tourism committee: TRAN
  • date: 2013-05-09T00:00:00 body: EP type: Indicative plenary sitting date, 1st reading/single reading
committees
  • body: EP responsible: False committee_full: Constitutional Affairs committee: AFCO
  • body: EP responsible: False committee_full: Foreign Affairs committee: AFET
  • body: EP responsible: False committee_full: Agriculture and Rural Development committee: AGRI
  • body: EP responsible: False committee_full: Budgets committee: BUDG
  • body: EP responsible: True committee_full: Budgetary Control committee: CONT
  • body: EP responsible: False committee_full: Culture and Education committee: CULT
  • body: EP responsible: False committee_full: Development committee: DEVE
  • body: EP responsible: False committee_full: Economic and Monetary Affairs committee: ECON
  • body: EP responsible: False committee_full: Employment and Social Affairs committee: EMPL
  • body: EP responsible: False committee_full: Environment, Public Health and Food Safety committee: ENVI
  • body: EP responsible: False committee_full: Women’s Rights and Gender Equality committee: FEMM
  • body: EP responsible: False committee_full: Internal Market and Consumer Protection committee: IMCO
  • body: EP responsible: False committee_full: International Trade committee: INTA
  • body: EP responsible: False committee_full: Industry, Research and Energy committee: ITRE
  • body: EP responsible: False committee_full: Legal Affairs committee: JURI
  • body: EP responsible: False committee_full: Civil Liberties, Justice and Home Affairs committee: LIBE
  • body: EP responsible: False committee_full: Fisheries committee: PECH
  • body: EP responsible: False committee_full: Petitions committee: PETI
  • body: EP responsible: False committee_full: Regional Development committee: REGI
  • body: EP responsible: False committee_full: Transport and Tourism committee: TRAN
links
other
  • body: EC dg: url: http://ec.europa.eu/dgs/budget/ title: Budget commissioner: ŠEMETA Algirdas
procedure
dossier_of_the_committee
CONT/7/10441
reference
2012/2174(DEC)
title
2011 discharge: EU general budget, European Ombudsman
stage_reached
Awaiting Parliament 1st reading / single reading / budget 1st stage
type
DEC - Discharge procedure
subject
8.70.03.06 2011 discharge