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:
Economic and Social Committee.
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 Economic and Social
Committees appropriations for the financial year
2013: the document comprises a series
of detailed annexes, the most important concerning the
implementation of the budget. The appropriations available for 2013
amounted to EUR 126 million with 93.9% committed.
Additional information on the management of resources
of the Committee can be found in the Economic and Social Committee Annual Activity
Report 2013.
(3) Budgetary implementation -
conclusions: in more general and
political terms, the implementation of the Committees
budget in 2013 was marked by the strengthening of the democratic
legitimacy and effectiveness of the European Union by enabling
civil society organisations from the Member States to express their
views at European level.
This Committee also fulfilled three key
missions:
- helping to ensure that European policies and
legislation tie in better with economic, social and civic
circumstances on the ground, by
assisting the European Parliament, Council and European
Commission, making use of EESC members' experience and
representativeness, dialogue and efforts to secure consensus
serving the general interest;
- promoting the development of a more participatory
European Union which is more in touch
with popular opinion, by acting as an institutional forum
representing, informing, expressing the views of and securing
dialogue with organised civil society;
- promoting the values on which European integration is
founded and advancing, in Europe and
across the world, the cause of democracy and participatory
democracy, as well as the role of civil society
organisations.