The European Parliament adopted by 551 votes to 131, with 3 abstentions, a decision to grant discharge to the Director of the Office of the Body of European Regulators for Electronic Communications (BEREC) for the financial year 2013. The vote on the discharge decision approved the closure of the accounts (in accordance with Annex VI, Article 5(1) of the Rules of Procedure of the European Parliament).

Noting that the Court of Auditors stated that it has obtained reasonable assurances that the annual accounts of the Office for the financial year 2013 are reliable, and that the underlying transactions are legal and regular, Parliament adopted by 575 votes to 101, with 11 abstentions, a resolution containing a number of recommendations that form an integral part of the discharge decision and as well as the general recommendations that appear in the resolution on performance, financial management and control of EU agencies:

• Office’s financial statements: Parliament noted that the final budget of the Office for the financial year 2013 was EUR 3 557 219, representing an increase of  11.51% compared to 2012, due to the Body’s recently established nature. The overall contribution of the Union to the budget of the Office for 2013 amounted to EUR 3 556 000.
• Budget and financial management: Parliament noted that budget monitoring efforts during the financial year 2013 resulted in a budget implementation rate of 89.55% and that the payment appropriations execution rate was 76.58%. The Office's budget implementation rates improved considerably. However, Members noted with concern that the level of cancelled carry-overs from 2012 remained relatively high. Overall, Parliament welcomed the Office’s efforts to improve its budgetary planning accuracy and to have as a target to eliminate the need for cancellation of commitment appropriations.

Parliament also made a series of observations on the prevention and management of conflicts of interests, recruitment, procurement procedures and internal control.

Lastly, it noted with concern that 91% of reimbursements for experts made in 2013 were late. It noted furthermore that in the first half of 2013, the late payments were overdue by an average delay of 78 days. It called on the Office to resolve this issue as a matter of urgency and to report to the discharge authority on the measures taken to do so and on their results.

The Committee on Budgetary Control adopted the report by Ryszard CZARNECKI (ECR, PL) on discharge in respect of the implementation of the budget of the Office of the Body of European Regulators for Electronic Communications (BEREC) for the financial year 2013.

It called on the European Parliament to grant the Director of the Office discharge in respect of the implementation of its budget for the financial year 2013.0

Noting that the Court of Auditors stated that it has obtained reasonable assurances that the annual accounts of the Office for the financial year 2013 are reliable, and that the underlying transactions are legal and regular, Members called on the Parliament to approve the closure of the Office’s accounts. They made, however, a number of recommendations that needed to be taken into account when the discharge is granted, in addition to the general recommendations that appear in the draft resolution on performance, financial management and control of EU agencies.

• Office’s financial statements: Members noted that the final budget of the Office for the financial year 2013 was EUR 3 557 219, representing an increase of  11.51% compared to 2012, due to the Body’s recently established nature. The overall contribution of the Union to the budget of the Office for 2013 amounted to EUR 3 556 000.
• Budget and financial management: Members noted that budget monitoring efforts during the financial year 2013 resulted in a budget implementation rate of 89.55% and that the payment appropriations execution rate was 76.58%. The Office's budget implementation rates improved considerably. However, Members noted with concern that the level of cancelled carry-overs from 2012 remained relatively high. Overall, Members welcomed the Office’s efforts to improve its budgetary planning accuracy and to have as a target to eliminate the need for cancellation of commitment appropriations.

Members also made a series of observations on the prevention and management of conflicts of interests, recruitment, procurement procedures and internal control.

Lastly, Members noted with concern that 91% of reimbursements for experts made in 2013 were late. They noted furthermore that in the first half of 2013, the late payments were overdue by an average delay of 78 days. They called on the Office to resolve this issue as a matter of urgency and to report to the discharge authority on the measures taken to do so and on their results.

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 Body of European Regulators for Electronic Communications (BEREC).

CONTENT: this Commission document sets out the consolidated annual accounts of the European Union for the financial year 2013 as prepared on the basis of the information presented by the institutions, organisations and bodies of the EU, in accordance with Article 129 (2) of the Financial Regulation applicable to the EU's General Budget, including the Body of European Regulators for Electronic Communications (BEREC).

The document contains the figures on which the discharge procedure is based.

Discharge procedure of the EU agencies: the EU Budget finances a wide range of policies and programmes throughout the EU. In accordance with the priorities set by the European Parliament and the Council in the multi-annual financial framework (MFF), the European Commission carries out specific programmes, activities and projects in the field with the technical support of some specialised agencies.

The consolidated annual accounts of the EU provide information on the activities of the institutions, agencies and other bodies of the EU from a budgetary and accrual accounting perspective.

The consolidated reports on the implementation of the general budget of the EU include the budget implementation of all Institutions. Agencies do not have a separate budget inside the EU budget; and they are partially financed by a Commission budget subsidy.

Each agency is subject to its own discharge procedure.

BEREC: in 2013, the tasks and budget of this agency were as follows:

• description of BEREC's tasks: BEREC, which is located in Riga, was set up by Regulation (EU) No 1211/2009 of the European Parliament and of the Council with a view to developing the single market for electronic communication networks and services, as well as to improving its operation by ensuring the consistent application of the European Union’s regulatory framework for electronic communications;
• BEREC's budget for the 2013 financial year: BEREC’s budget for 2013, as presented in the Commission document on the consolidated annual accounts of the European Union, gives the following figures:

§         Commitment appropriations :

- committed : EUR 4 million;

- paid : EUR 3 million;

- carried-over : 0.

§         Payment appropriations :

- committed : EUR 4 million;

- paid : EUR 3 million;

- carried-over : 0.

Please refer also to the final accounts of the Body of the European Regulators.