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 Data Protection
Supervisor.
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 EDPSs appropriations
for the financial year 2013: the
document comprises a series of detailed annexes, the most important
concerning the implementation of the budget. As regards the
EDPSs expenditure, the information is drawn from the Report on the Annual Accounts of the European
Data Protection Supervisor 2013.
The appropriations available for 2013 amounted to 7.66
million with 95.1% of these committed.
(3) Budgetary implementation -
conclusions: in more general and
political terms, the implementation of the EDPSs budget
in 2013 was marked by the following:
- in the consultation area, advising on new legislative
measures, the review of the EU legal framework for data protection;
the Digital Agenda and the privacy risks of new technologies were
also significant features of 2013;
- the implementation of the Stockholm Programme in the
area of freedom, security and justice and issues in the internal
market, such as financial sector reform, and in public health and
consumer affairs, also had an impact on data protection. The EDPS
also increased cooperation with other supervisory authorities,
particularly with regard to large-scale IT systems (SIS, VIS and
Eurodac);
- in the supervision of EU institutions and bodies, when
processing personal data, the EDPS interacted with more data
protection officers in more institutions and bodies than ever
before. In addition, it has completed a number of surveys showing
that most EU institutions and bodies, including many agencies, have
made good progress in complying with the Data Protection
Regulation, although there are still some which should increase
their efforts.
The key EDPS figures in
2013 are:
- 91 prior-check Opinions adopted, 21 non-prior check
Opinions,
- 78 complaints received, 30 admissible,
- 37 consultations received on administrative
measures,
- 8 on-the-spot inspections (including 2 fact finding
visits) and 3 visits carried out,
- 1 set of Guidelines published on the processing of
personal data in the area of procurement,
- 20 legislative Opinions published,
- 13 sets of formal comments,
- 33 informal comments.