PURPOSE: presentation by the Commission of the
consolidated annual accounts of the European Union for the
financial year 2013, as part of the 2013 discharge
procedure.
Analysis of the accounts of the EU Institutions:
European Council/Council.
Legal reminder: the
consolidated annual accounts of the European Union for the year
2013 have been prepared on the basis of the information presented
by the institutions and bodies under Article 148(2) of the
Financial Regulation applicable to the general budget of the
European Union. They were prepared in accordance with Title IX of
this Financial Regulation.
(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
2013, including the different expenses of the European
institutions. It should be recalled that only the Commission budget
contains administrative appropriations and operating
appropriations. The other Institutions have only administrative
appropriations.
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);
- 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.
Discharge procedure: 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 discharge, Parliament may make
observations which it considers important and often recommends the
Commission and the other institutions to take actions concerning
these matters.
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.
The document also 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 the European
Council/Councils appropriations for the financial year
2013: the document comprises a series
of detailed tables, the most important concerning the
implementation of the budget.
Budget 2013: at the end
of 2013, an amount of EUR 507 million was committed.
Budget implementation:
information concerning the implementation of the budget of the
Council and the European Council is drawn from the Financial Activity Report
2013 (Section II - European Council and
Council).
The budget authority established the overall European
Council/Council budget 2013 at EUR 535.5 million. This
corresponds to an increase of EUR 1.6 million (0.3%) compared to
the 2012. The number of posts in the establishment plan for 2013
for the EC/C was 3153.
The global implementation rate of the 2013 budget is
86.7%. The difference between the final budget and implementation
can be explained as follows:
- the total under-spending in the category of
establishment plan amounts to EUR 23.6 million;
- the global implementation of the building related
expenditure (without the Europa-Building) resulted in a saving of
EUR 2.4 million;
- in the IT domain the budget implementation was almost
98 %. The under-spending of EUR 800 000 resulted from a
smaller need for IT equipment, software and outside
consultancy;
- the underspending in appropriations for interpretation
amounts to EUR 11.2 million and EUR 2.5 million in organising
meetings and conferences.
The document also notes the underspending in
furniture, technical equipment and transport costs. The amount
available for delegations' travel expenses after transfers amounted
to EUR 25.3 million.
(3) Budgetary implementation -
conclusions: in more general and
political terms, the implementation of the Council budget in
2013 was marked by the following:
- the continuous support to the President of the
European Council and to the Council through an appropriate use of
financial resources;
- the need to proceed further with the process of
administrative modernisation with the objective to reinforce the
quality of its organisation as well as the appropriate use of
resources;
- the adaptation of its organisation to the accession of
Croatia in July 2013.
Building policy: the
project to renovate the Residence Palace and convert it into the
seat of the European Council and the Council (Europa Building)
continued in 2013 with the actual construction work including,
among other things, starting to building up floors, insulation and
various technical installations.
In 2013, EUR 5 million was committed for the
acquisition of the Europa Building. The amount has been carried
over to 2014 for the actual payment.