Activites

• 2017/04/27 Decision by Parliament, 1st reading/single reading
  • T8-0177/2017 summary

    The European Parliament decided to grant the Executive Director of the European Securities and Markets Authority (ESMA) discharge in respect of the implementation of ESMA’s budget for the financial year 2015. The vote on the decision on discharge covers the closure of the accounts (in accordance with Annex IV, Article 5 (1) (a) to Parliament’s Rules of Procedure). Noting that the Court of Auditors has stated that it has obtained reasonable assurances that ESMA’s annual accounts for the financial year 2015 are reliable and that the underlying transactions are legal and regular, Parliament adopted by 502 votes to 115 with 8 abstentions, a resolution containing a series of recommendations, which form an integral part of the decision on discharge and which add to the general recommendations set out in the resolution on performance, financial management and control of EU agencies. These recommendations may be summarised as follows: Agency’s financial statements: Parliament noted that the final budget of the Agency for the financial year 2015 was EUR 34 031 603, representing an increase of 2.3 % compared to 2014, which can be explained by the new tasks given to the Agency. Budget and financial management: it acknowledged that the budget monitoring efforts during the financial year 2015 resulted in a budget implementation rate of 99.64 %, representing an increase of 0.08 % compared to 2014, and that the payment appropriations execution rate was at 84.54 %, representing an increase of 3.38 % compared to 2014. It also noted the reduction in the 2015 budget through two subsequent budget amendments, thereby using Union funds rationally. It suggested that, as the Authority’s workload is increasingly shifting from legislative tasks to supervisory convergence and enforcement, the Authority’s budget and manpower should be allocated accordingly. Commitments and carry-overs: Parliament stated that the carry-overs were mainly related to the multiannual nature of the Authority’s large IT projects, as well as to mission expenses that could only be reimbursed in 2016. It noted that the carry-overs were not always at odds with the budgetary principle of annularity. Parliament also made a series of observations regarding transfers, procurement, recruitment procedures and the prevention and management of conflicts of interests and internal audits. As regards its mandate, Parliament noted that, wherever the Authority is authorised to draw up Level 2 and Level 3 measures, it should pay particular attention when drafting these standards to the specific features of the various national markets and that market participants and consumer protection organisations concerned should be involved at an early stage in the standard-setting process and during drafting and implementation stages. Lastly, it stated that the Authority does not exercise all the prerogatives established in its legal framework. It underlined that it should ensure that resources are maximised in order to fully fulfil its legal mandate and that a closer focus on the mandate given to it by the European Parliament and the Council could result in a more efficient use of its resources and a more effective achievement of its objectives. When drafting implementing legislation, the Authority needs to inform the European Parliament and the Council about its activities in a timely, regular and comprehensive manner.

• 2017/04/26 Debate in Parliament
  • Debate in Parliament
• 2017/03/30 Committee report tabled for plenary, single reading
  • A8-0124/2017 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 Securities and Markets Authority (ESMA) for the financial year 2015. The committee called on the European Parliament to grant the Executive Director of the Authority discharge in respect of the implementation of the Authority’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 the Authority 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 the Authority’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: Agency’s financial statements: Members noted that the final budget of the Agency for the financial year 2015 was EUR 34 031 603, representing an increase of 2.3 % compared to 2014, which can be explained by the new tasks given to the Agency. Budget and financial management: Members acknowledged that the budget monitoring efforts during the financial year 2015 resulted in a budget implementation rate of 99.64 %, representing an increase of 0.08 % compared to 2014, and that the payment appropriations execution rate was at 84.54 %, representing an increase of 3.38 % compared to 2014. They also noted the reduction in the 2015 budget through two subsequent budget amendments, thereby using Union funds rationally. They suggested that, as the Authority’s workload is increasingly shifting from legislative tasks to supervisory convergence and enforcement, the Authority’s budget and manpower should be allocated accordingly. Commitments and carry-overs: Members stated that the carry-overs were mainly related to the multiannual nature of the Authority’s large IT projects, as well as to mission expenses that could only be reimbursed in 2016. They noted that the carry-overs were not always at odds with the budgetary principle of annularity. Members also made a series of observations regarding transfers, procurement, recruitment procedures and the prevention and management of conflicts of interests and internal audits. Lastly, they stated that the Authority does not exercise all the prerogatives established in its legal framework. They underlined that it should ensure that resources are maximised in order to fully fulfil its legal mandate and that a closer focus on the mandate given to it by the European Parliament and the Council could result in a more efficient use of its resources and a more effective achievement of its objectives. When drafting implementing legislation, the Authority needs to inform the European Parliament and the Council about its activities in a timely, regular and comprehensive manner.

• 2017/03/22 Vote in committee, 1st reading/single reading
• 2016/10/04 Committee referral announced in Parliament, 1st reading/single reading
• 2016/07/11 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 the European Securities and Markets Authority (ESMA). 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 cash flows of the EU institutions and bodies, including the European Securities and Markets Authority (ESMA), 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 the ESMA. The European Securities and Markets Authority (ESMA): the Authority, which is located in Paris (FR), was set up by Regulation (EU) No 1095/2010 of the European Parliament and of the Council with a view to protecting the public interest by contributing to the short, medium and long-term stability and efficiency of the financial system for the economy of the European Union. As regards the ESMA’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 20 million; -          paid: EUR 20 million; -          carried-over: 0. Payment appropriations: -          committed: EUR 26 million; -          paid: EUR 22 million; -          carried-over: EUR 3 million. For further details on expenditure, please refer to the final accounts of the Securities and Market Authority.

  • 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: A8-0124/2017
• Debate in Parliament: Debate in Parliament
• Decision by Parliament, 1st reading/single reading: T8-0177/2017

History

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