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: Court of Auditors.
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 Court of Auditors
appropriations for the financial year 2013: the document comprises a series of detailed annexes,
the most important concerning the implementation of the
budget.
Budget 2013: an amount
of EUR 132 million was committed.
As regards the Court of Auditors expenditure,
the information is drawn from the Court of Auditors Report on the budgetary and
financial management 2013. The rate of
implementation of the general budget was 92%.
(3) Budgetary implementation -
conclusions: in more general and
political terms, the implementation of the Courts
budget in 2013 was marked by the drafting of:
- Annual reports on the EU budget and on the European
Development Funds (EDFs) for the 2012 financial year, providing
improved clarity and information;
- 50 specific annual reports published on the EUs
agencies, decentralised bodies and other institutions for the 2012
financial year;
- 19 special reports adopted on specific budgetary areas
or management topics, ranging from the EUs support for the
food industry to EU development assistance in central
Asia;
- 6 opinions and other output providing contributions on
budget reform, such as the reform of various EU funds, the
financial regulation of the European Development Fund, the
financial rules applicable to the EU budget and financial support
for political parties and political foundations at the European
level;
- organisation of a high‑level conference on European governance and
accountability in the presence of the President of the European
Council, Herman van Rompuy.
On management:
- first year of implementation of a new strategy for
2013 to 2017 which will guide the ECAs activities over the
period with the objective of maximising the value of the
institutions contribution to EU public
accountability;
- efficiency gains in administration further strengthen
the ECAs ability to pursue its mission;
- official opening of the K3 building and consolidation
of all staff on one site to promote even more efficient teamwork
(completion with a level of commitments of EUR 7.135
million).