Activites

• 2017/04/27 Vote in plenary scheduled
• 2017/04/26 Debate in Parliament
• 2017/03/30 Committee report tabled for plenary, single reading
  • A8-0129/2017 summary

    The Committee on Budgetary Control adopted the report by Inés AYALA SENDER (S&D, ES) on discharge in respect of the implementation of the budget of the European Union's Judicial Cooperation Unit (Eurojust) for the financial year 2015. The committee called on the European Parliament to grant the Administrative Director of Eurojust discharge in respect of the implementation of Eurojust’s budget for the financial year 2015. Noting that the Court of Auditors stated that it had obtained reasonable assurance that the annual accounts of Eurojust for the financial year 2015 were reliable and that the underlying transactions were legal and regular, Members called on Parliament to approve the closure of its 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: Eurojust’s financial statements: Members noted that Eurojust’s final budget for the financial year 2015 was EUR 33 818 351 entirely derived from the Union budget. Budget and financial management:  Members also noted that the budget monitoring efforts during the financial year of 2015 resulted in a budget implementation rate of 99.99 %, representing an increase of 0.17 % from 2014. They regretted that Eurojust faced budgetary availability issues due to known structural problems with its funding and that for the second successive year was forced to resort to mitigation measures subject to an amending budget. They equally regretted that the financial uncertainty with which Eurojust was confronted required the postponement of some of its on-going activities and the deferral of valuable technological developments and called on Eurojust and the Commission to solve these known structural problems and secure a proper level of funding for the coming years. Members also made a series of observations regarding commitment and carry-overs, the prevention and management of conflicts of interests, procurement and recruitment procedures and internal audits and controls. Members acknowledged that Eurojust is currently, together with its host Member State, in the process of preparing for the transition to its new premises. They noted that the construction of the premises started in spring 2015 and the expected move was planned for spring 2017. They invited Eurojust to report further to the discharge authority on the transition to its new premises, as well as to outline total incurred transition costs. Lastly, they regretted that in its 2015 annual report, Eurojust stated that corruption is not a Union priority.

• 2017/03/22 Vote in committee, 1st reading/single reading
• 2016/10/04 Committee referral announced in Parliament, 1st reading/single reading
• 2016/07/12 Non-legislative basic document published
  • COM(2016)0475 summary

    PURPOSE: presentation by the Commission of the consolidated annual accounts of the European Union for the financial year 2015, as part of the 2015 discharge procedure. Analysis of the accounts of Eurojust. CONTENT: the organisational governance of the EU consists of institutions, agencies and other EU bodies whose expenditure is included in the general budget of the Union. The EU's operational expenditure of these institutions takes different forms, depending on how the money is paid out and managed. From 2014 onwards, the Commission classifies its expenditure as follows: Direct management: the budget is implemented directly by the Commission services. Indirect management: the Commission confers tasks of implementation of the budget to bodies of EU law or national law, such as the EU agencies. Shared management: under this method of budget implementation tasks are delegated to Member States. About 80 % of the expenditure falls under this management mode covering such areas as agricultural spending and structural actions. This Commission document concerns the EU's consolidated accounts for the year 2015 and details how spending by the EU institutions and bodies was carried out. The consolidated annual accounts of the EU provide financial information on the activities of the institutions, agencies and other bodies of the EU from an accrual accounting and budgetary perspective. It is the responsibility of the Commission's Accounting Officer to prepare the EU's consolidated annual accounts and ensure that they present fairly, in all material aspects, the financial position, the result of the operations and the cashflows of the EU institutions and bodies, including Eurojust, with a view to granting discharge. Discharge procedure: the final step of a budget lifecycle is the discharge of the budget for a given financial year. It 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 (and other EU bodies) from its responsibility for management of a given budget by marking the end of that budget's existence. The European Parliament is the discharge authority within the EU. The discharge procedure may produce three outcomes: (i) the granting; (ii) postponement or; (iii) the refusal of the discharge. The final discharge report including specific recommendations to the Commission for action is adopted in plenary by the European Parliament and are subject to an annual follow up report in which the Commission outlines the concrete actions it has taken to implement the recommendations made. Each agency is subject to its own discharge procedure, including Eurojust. Eurojust: Eurojust which is located in The Hague (NL), was set up by Council Decision 2002/187/JHA with a view to stepping up the fight against serious organised crime and to improve cooperation between the competent authorities of the Member States, in particular by facilitating the execution of international mutual legal assistance and the implementation of extradition requests. As regards Eurojust’s accounts, these are presented in detail in the document on the consolidated annual accounts of the European Union for 2015: Commitment appropriations: -          committed: EUR 34 million; -          paid: EUR 34 million; -          carried over: 0. Payment appropriations: -          committed : EUR 38 million; -          paid: EUR 34 million; -          carried over: EUR 4 million. For further details on expenditure, please refer to the final accounts of Eurojust.

  • DG {'url': 'http://ec.europa.eu/info/departments/budget_en', 'title': 'Budget'}, GEORGIEVA Kristalina

Documents

• Non-legislative basic document published: COM(2016)0475
• Committee report tabled for plenary, single reading: A8-0129/2017

Amendments

Dossier

24

2016/2170(DEC) 2017/01/20 LIBE 12 amendments... Amendment 1 # Eleftherios SYNADINOS Draft opinion Paragraph 1 1. WelcomAcknowledges the Court of Auditors' conclusions that the annual accounts of Eurojust present fairly its financial position onat 31 December 2015 and that its transactions are legal and regular; Amendment 10 # Eleftherios SYNADINOS Draft opinion Paragraph 3 3. Regrets that Eurojust faced budgetary availability issues due to known structural problems with its funding; stresses that for the second successive year, Eurojust was forced to resort to mitigation measures subject to an amending budget; regrets that the financial uncertainty with which Eurojust was confronted required the postponement of some of its on-going activities and the deferral of valuable technological developments; requests that Eurojust and the Commission solve these known structural problems and secure a proper level of regular funding for the coming years; Amendment 11 # Caterina CHINNICI, Maria GRAPINI Draft opinion Paragraph 4 4. Notes that the high level of committed appropriations carried over for administrative expenditure (21 %); acknowledges that this was mainly the outcome of budgetary uncertainty; regrets that this triggered execution issues with specific contracts for security and hospitality services, ICT projects, hardware purchase and maintenance, as well as consultancy and project costs for the new premises; welcomes, despite the difficulties encountered, the commitment of Eurojust to avoid any unjustified carry- overs. Amendment 12 # Patricija ŠULIN Draft opinion Paragraph 4 a (new) 4 a. Regrets that the administration and the members of the independent Joint Supervisory Body did not publish their declarations of interest; calls for the immediate publication of these declarations; calls upon Eurojust to adopt a practical guide on institutional management and one on conflicts of interest, according to the guidelines published by the Commission on December 2013 and to establish clear rules against "revolving doors"; reminds Eurojust to adopt internal binding rules for the protection of whistle-blowers, in accordance with Article 22c of the Staff Regulations of Officials of the European Union, which came into force on 1 January 2014. Amendment 2 # Eleftherios SYNADINOS Draft opinion Paragraph 2 2. Encourages Eurojust to continue to treat terrorism, irregular migration and cybercrime as priorities; welcomes the fact thatregrets that, while Member States increasingly made use of coordination meetings and coordination centres and that they value, they failed to do so sufficiently; supports the increased involvement of third countries in joint investigation teams; acknowledges that the number of cases for which Member States requested Eurojust's assistance continues to grow and increased by 23 % compared to 2014; Amendment 3 # Eva JOLY Draft opinion Paragraph 2 2. Encourages Eurojust to continue to treat terrorism, irregular migration and cybercrime as priorities; wWelcomes the fact that Member States increasingly made use of coordination meetings and coordination centres and that they value the increased involvement of third countries in joint investigation teams; acknowledges that the number of cases for which Member States requested Eurojust's assistance continues to grow and increased by 23 % compared to 2014; considers that its budget should be increased accordingly; Amendment 4 # Tomáš ZDECHOVSKÝ, Patricija ŠULIN Draft opinion Paragraph 2 2. Encourages Eurojust to continue to treat terrorism, irregular migration and cybercrime as priorities; welcomes the fact that Member States increasingly made use of coordination meetings and coordination centres and that they value the increased involvement of third countries in joint investigation teams; acknowledgeswelcomes the fact that the number of cases for which Member States requested Eurojust's assistance continues to grow and increased by 23 % compared to 2014; Amendment 5 # Barbara SPINELLI Draft opinion Paragraph 2 2. Encourages Eurojust to continue to treat terrorism, irregular migration and cybercrime as priorities; welcomes the fact that Member States increasingly made use of coordination meetings and coordination centres and that they value the increased involvement of third countries in joint investigation teams; acknowledges that the number of cases for which Member States requested Eurojust's assistance continues to grow and increased by 23 % compared to 2014; Amendment 6 # Patricija ŠULIN Draft opinion Paragraph 2 a (new) 2 a. Regrets that in its 2015 annual report, Eurojust stated that corruption is not among EU priorities; notes that this statement was contradicted by the 90 corruption cases for which Eurojust expertise was requested in 2015 (twice as much as in 2014) according to the Eurojust annual report; acknowledges that Greece, Romania and Croatia were the most requesting Member States in corruption related cases; Amendment 7 # Eva JOLY Draft opinion Paragraph 2 a (new) 2 a. Notes that the Court of Auditors' report for the financial year 2010 identified an overlap of responsibilities between the Administrative Director and the College of Eurojust, currently resulting from the Council Decision 2002/187/JHA1a ; regrets that no corrective measures have been taken since then; calls on the Parliament and the Council to address this issue in the negotiations on the new Eurojust regulation; _________________ 1aCouncil Decision 2002/184/JHA of 28 February 2002 setting up Eurojust with a view to reinforcing the fight against serious crime (OJ L 063, 6.3.2002, p.1). Amendment 8 # Patricija ŠULIN, Tomáš ZDECHOVSKÝ Draft opinion Paragraph 3 3. RNotes the high rate of Eurojust budget implementation of 99.86 percent for 2015 from its EUR 33 818 million annual budget; regrets that Eurojust faced budgetary availability issues due to known structural problems with its funding; stresses that for the second successive year, Eurojust was forced to resort to mitigation measures subject to an amending budget; regrets that the financial uncertainty with which Eurojust was confronted required the postponement of some of its on-going activities and the deferral of valuable technological developments; requests that Eurojust and the Commission solve these known structural problems and secure a proper level of funding for the coming years; Amendment 9 # Caterina CHINNICI, Maria GRAPINI Draft opinion Paragraph 3 3. Regrets that Eurojust faced budgetary availability issues due to known structural problems with its funding; stresses that for the second successive year, Eurojust was forced to resort to mitigation measures subject to an amending budget; regrets that the financial uncertainty with which Eurojust was confronted required the postponement of some of its on-going activities and the deferral of valuable technological developments; requests that Eurojust and the Commission solve these known structural problems and secure a proper level of funding for the coming years; source: 597.591 2017/03/07 CONT 12 amendments... Amendment 1 # Inés AYALA SENDER Proposal for a decision 1 1 Paragraph 1 1. Grants the Administrative Director of Eurojust discharge in respect of the implementation of Eurojust’s budget for the financial year 2015 / Postpones its decision on granting the Administrative Director of Eurojust discharge in respect of the implementation of the budget of Eurojust for the financial year 2015; Amendment 10 # Barbara KAPPEL Motion for a resolution Paragraph 17 17. Notes with concern a significant gender imbalance both in Eurojust’s senior management and management board members;deleted Amendment 11 # Petri SARVAMAA Motion for a resolution Paragraph 17 17. Notes with concern a significanta gender imbalance bothof 32 % / 68 % in Eurojust’s senior management and management board membCollege members; notes also that both members of the Agency's senior management team are of the same genders; Amendment 12 # Benedek JÁVOR Motion for a resolution Paragraph 17 17. Notes with concern a significant gender imbalance both in Eurojust’s senior management and manaCollege ment board membersmbers; urges Eurojust for this imbalance to be corrected as quickly as possible and the results communicated to the European Parliament and to he Council; Amendment 2 # Ryszard CZARNECKI, Raffaele FITTO, Raffaele FITTO Proposal for a decision 1 Paragraph 1 1. Grants the Administrative Director of Eurojust discharge in respect of the implementation of Eurojust’s budget for the financial year 2015 / Postpones its decision on granting the Administrative Director of Eurojust discharge in respect of the implementation of the budget of Eurojust for the financial year 2015; Amendment 3 # Inés AYALA SENDER Proposal for a decision 2 2 Paragraph 1 1. Approves the closure of the accounts of Eurojust for the financial year 2015 / Postpones the closure of the accounts of Eurojust for the financial year 2015; Amendment 4 # Ryszard CZARNECKI, Raffaele FITTO, Notis MARIAS Proposal for a decision 2 Paragraph 1 1. Approves the closure of the accounts of Eurojust for the financial year 2015 / Postpones the closure of the accounts of Eurojust for the financial year 2015; Amendment 5 # Benedek JÁVOR Motion for a resolution Recital B a (new) B a. whereas in the context of the discharge procedure, Parliament stresses the special importance of further strengthening the democratic legitimacy of the institutions of the Union by improving transparency and accountability, implementing the concept of performance based budgeting and good governance of human resources; Amendment 6 # Benedek JÁVOR Motion for a resolution Paragraph 3 a (new) 3 a. Regrets that Eurojust faced budgetary availability issues and that for the second successive year Eurojust was forced to resort to mitigation measures subject to an amending budget; regrets that the financial uncertainty with which Eurojust was confronted required the postponement of some of its on-going activities and the deferral of valuable technological developments; requests that Eurojust and the Commission solve these known structural problems and secure a proper level of funding for the coming years; Amendment 7 # Petri SARVAMAA Motion for a resolution Paragraph 6 6. Points outNotes that the carry-overs are oftenmay be partly or fully justified by the multiannual nature of an agency’s operational programmes, and do not necessarily indicate weaknesses in budget planning and implementation nor are they always at odds with the budgetary principle of annuality, in particular if they are planned in advance and communicated to the Court; Amendment 8 # Barbara KAPPEL Motion for a resolution Paragraph 6 a (new) 6 a. Calls on the Eurojust to keep the volume to be carried over to the next year as low as possible; Amendment 9 # Barbara KAPPEL Motion for a resolution Paragraph 12 12. Notes with concern that Eurojust has not foreseen any check or updating of the declarations of interest of experts, members of the College and staff members; notes that this practice does not further transparency and calls for the declarations to be checked and updated; source: 600.894

History

(these mark the time of scraping, not the official date of the change)