BETA


2016/2189(DEC) 2015 discharge: Agency for the Cooperation of Energy Regulators (ACER)

Progress: Procedure completed

RoleCommitteeRapporteurShadows
Lead CONT AYALA SENDER Inés (icon: S&D S&D) ZDECHOVSKÝ Tomáš (icon: PPE PPE), FITTO Raffaele (icon: ECR ECR), ALI Nedzhmi (icon: ALDE ALDE), JÁVOR Benedek (icon: Verts/ALE Verts/ALE), VALLI Marco (icon: EFDD EFDD), KAPPEL Barbara (icon: ENF ENF)
Committee Opinion ITRE
Lead committee dossier:

Events

2017/09/29
   Final act published in Official Journal
Details

PURPOSE: to grant discharge to the Agency for the Cooperation of Energy Regulators (ACER) for the financial year 2015.

NON-LEGISLATIVE ACT: Decision (EU) 2017/1633 of the European Parliament on discharge in respect of the implementation of the budget of the Agency for the Cooperation of Energy Regulators for the financial year 2015.

CONTENT: with the present decision, the European Parliament grants discharge to the Director of the Agency for the Cooperation of Energy Regulators discharge in respect of the implementation of the Agency's budget for the financial year 2015.

This decision is in line with the European Parliament's resolution adopted on 27 April 2017 and comprises a series of observations that form an integral part of the discharge decision (please refer to the summary of the opinion of 27 April 2017).

Amongst Parliaments main observations in the resolution accompanying the discharge decision, the latter regretted that although the Agency's administrative board adopted the policy for the prevention and management of conflicts of interests, some CVs and declarations of the members of the board of regulators remain missing from the website. Parliament called for these documents to be published.

Parliament recalled, as it did the previous year, that the Agency has repeatedly signalled to the host Member State the urgency of the establishment of a European School in Ljubljana. It deplored the fact that, more than four years after the entry into force of the agreement between the Agency and the Slovenian Government, no European School has been set up.

2017/04/27
   EP - Results of vote in Parliament
2017/04/27
   EP - Decision by Parliament
Details

The European Parliament decided to grant the Director of the Agency for the Cooperation of Energy Regulators (ACER) discharge in respect of the implementation of Authority’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 the Agency’s annual accounts for the financial year 2015 are reliable and that the underlying transactions are legal and regular, Parliament adopted by 508 votes to 117 with 10 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 11 266 000, representing an increase of 3.55 % compared to 2014. It recalled that the Agency’s entire budget derives from the Union budget. Budget and financial management : Parliament noted that budget monitoring efforts during the financial year 2015 resulted in a budget implementation rate of 95.09 %, reaching the Agency’s planned target and representing an increase of 0.09 % compared with 2014. Commitments and carry-overs : Parliament stressed that carry-overs may often be partly or fully justified by the multiannual nature of the agencies’ 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. It noted the fact that the Agency found it difficult to reconcile the principle of annuality with the multi-annual nature of the REMIT implementation project.

Parliament also made a series of observations regarding procurement, recruitment procedures and internal audits.

On performance , Parliament noted that in late 2015 the Agency launched a survey enabling stakeholders to assess its regulatory activities, working methods and efficiency. It stated that in October 2015 the Agency released a study for a methodology proposal to evaluate the impact of the gas network codes and guidelines in terms of implementation and market effects . It asked the Agency to keep the discharge authority informed on the matter.

Lastly, as regards the prevention and management of conflicts of interests , Parliament stated that the Agency’s administrative board published the declarations of conflicts of interests on its website. However, it pointed out that some CVs and declarations of the members of the board of regulators remain missing. It called on the Agency to provide further information about this issue to the discharge authority.

Documents
2017/04/27
   EP - End of procedure in Parliament
2017/04/26
   EP - Debate in Parliament
2017/03/31
   EP - Committee report tabled for plenary
Details

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 Agency for the Cooperation of Energy Regulators (ACER) for the financial year 2015.

The committee called on the European Parliament to grant the Director of the Agency discharge in respect of the implementation of the Agency’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 Agency 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 Agency’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 11 266 000, representing an increase of 3.55 % compared to 2014. They recalled that the Agency’s entire budget derives from the Union budget. Budget and financial management : Members noted that budget monitoring efforts during the financial year 2015 resulted in a budget implementation rate of 95.09 %, reaching the Agency’s planned target and representing an increase of 0.09 % compared with 2014. Commitments and carry-overs : Members stressed that carry-overs may often be partly or fully justified by the multiannual nature of the agencies’ 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. They noted the fact that the Agency found it difficult to reconcile the principle of annuality with the multi-annual nature of the REMIT implementation project.

Members also made a series of observations regarding procurement, recruitment procedures and internal audits.

Lastly, as regards the prevention and management of conflicts of interests , Members stated that the Agency’s administrative board published the declarations of conflicts of interests on its website. However, it pointed out that some CVs and declarations of the members of the board of regulators remain missing. They called on the Agency to provide further information about this issue to the discharge authority.

Documents
2017/03/22
   EP - Vote in committee
2017/03/07
   EP - Amendments tabled in committee
Documents
2017/02/07
   CSL - Supplementary non-legislative basic document
Details

Having examined the revenue and expenditure accounts for the financial year 2015 and the balance sheet as at 31 December 2015 of the Agency for the Cooperation of Energy Regulators (ACER), as well as the Court of Auditors' report on the annual accounts of the Agency for the financial year 2015, accompanied by the Agency's replies to the Court's observations, the Council recommended the European Parliament to give a discharge to the Director of the Agency in respect of the implementation of the budget for the financial year 2015.

The Council welcomed the Court's opinion that, in all material respects, the Agency's annual accounts present fairly its financial position as at 31 December 2015 and the results of its operations and its cash flows for the year then ended, in accordance with the provisions of the Agency's Financial Regulation, and that the underlying transactions for 2015 are legal and regular in all material respects.

Nevertheless, one observation was made:

financial programming : the Council noted a high level of commitment appropriations carried over to 2016. It encouraged the Agency to continue improving its financial programming and monitoring of the budget implementation, in order to reduce the level of commitments carried over to the following financial year to the minimum strictly necessary.

Documents
2017/02/03
   EP - Committee draft report
Documents
2016/10/04
   EP - Committee referral announced in Parliament
2016/09/13
   CofA - Court of Auditors: opinion, report
Details

PURPOSE: presentation of the EU Court of Auditors’ report on the annual accounts of the Agency for Cooperation of Energy Regulators (ACER) for the year 2015, together with the Agency’s reply.

CONTENT: in accordance with the tasks conferred on the Court of Auditors by the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union, the Court presents to the European Parliament and to the Council, in the context of the discharge procedure, a Statement of Assurance as to the reliability of the annual accounts of each institution, body or agency of the EU, and the legality and regularity of the transactions underlying them, on the basis of an independent external audit.

This audit focused on the annual accounts of the Agency for Cooperation of Energy Regulators (ACER). As a reminder, the Agency's main task is to assist National Regulatory Authorities in exercising, at Union level, the regulatory tasks that they perform in the Member States and, where necessary, to coordinate their action.

Statement of assurance : pursuant to the provisions of Article 287 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union (TFEU), the Court has audited:

the annual accounts of the Authority, which comprise the financial statements and the reports on the implementation of the budget for the financial year ended 31 December 2015; and the legality and regularity of the transactions underlying those accounts.

Opinion on the reliability of the accounts : in the Court’s opinion, the Agency’s annual accounts present fairly, in all material respects, its financial position as at 31 December 2015 and the results of its operations and its cash flows for the year then ended, in accordance with the provisions of its Financial Regulation and the accounting rules adopted by the Commission’s accounting officer.

Opinion on the legality and regularity of the transactions underlying the accounts : in the Court’s opinion, the transactions underlying the annual accounts for the year ended 31 December 2015 are legal and regular in all material respects.

The report also made a series of observations on the budgetary and financial management of the Agency, accompanied by the latter’s response. The main observations may be summarised as follows:

The Court’s observations :

budgetary management : as regards operational expenditure, the Court stated that the Agency carried over EUR 1.36 million. These carry-overs were mainly related to the implementation of REMIT (EUR 1.1 million), a complex operational activity on wholesale energy market integrity and transparency of a multiannual nature. The Agency also carried over EUR 0.79 million of administrative expenditure, mainly related to studies and services not yet delivered in 2015.

The Agency’s reply :

budgetary management : the Agency acknowledged the identified level of appropriations carried over, due to open commitments at year-end, mainly stemming from the long-term nature of the REMIT project implementation. Given the persistent uncertainty on the annual budgetary allocation to the Agency, it is difficult to reconcile the principle of annuality with the inevitable multiannual nature of the REMIT project.

Lastly, the Court of Auditors’ report contained a summary of the Authority’s key figures in 2015 :

Budget : EUR 11.3 million. Staff : 80 including officials, temporary and contract staff and seconded national experts.

2016/08/05
   EP - AYALA SENDER Inés (S&D) appointed as rapporteur in CONT
2016/07/11
   EC - Non-legislative basic document
Details

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 Agency for the Cooperation of Energy Regulators (ACER) .

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 Agency for the Cooperation of Energy Regulators (ACER), 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 ACER.

The Agency for the Cooperation of Energy Regulators (ACER) : the Agency, which is located in Ljubljana (SI), was set up by Regulation (EU) No 713/2009 of the European Parliament and of the Council with a view to helping the Member States’ regulatory authorities in the areas of electricity and natural gas. Its aim is to give an opinion on any of the issues relating to the purpose for which it has been established.

As regards the Agency’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 11 million;

- paid : EUR 14 million;

- carried-over : 0.

Payment appropriations :

- committed : EUR 11 million;

- paid : EUR 22 million;

- carried-over : EUR 2 million.

2016/07/10
   EC - Non-legislative basic document published
Details

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 Agency for the Cooperation of Energy Regulators (ACER) .

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 Agency for the Cooperation of Energy Regulators (ACER), 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 ACER.

The Agency for the Cooperation of Energy Regulators (ACER) : the Agency, which is located in Ljubljana (SI), was set up by Regulation (EU) No 713/2009 of the European Parliament and of the Council with a view to helping the Member States’ regulatory authorities in the areas of electricity and natural gas. Its aim is to give an opinion on any of the issues relating to the purpose for which it has been established.

As regards the Agency’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 11 million;

- paid : EUR 14 million;

- carried-over : 0.

Payment appropriations :

- committed : EUR 11 million;

- paid : EUR 22 million;

- carried-over : EUR 2 million.

Documents

Votes

A8-0147/2017 - Inés Ayala Sender - Résolution #

2017/04/27 Outcome: +: 508, -: 117, 0: 10
DE IT ES FR RO CZ HU SE NL BG PT BE PL IE AT FI DK SI SK LT HR CY EL MT LU EE LV GB
Total
76
62
45
57
23
20
20
20
23
16
19
21
46
9
16
12
10
8
13
8
8
6
19
6
5
5
7
54
icon: PPE PPE
194

Denmark PPE

For (1)

1

Cyprus PPE

1

Luxembourg PPE

2

Estonia PPE

For (1)

1
icon: S&D S&D
152

Netherlands S&D

3

Ireland S&D

For (1)

1

Finland S&D

1

Slovenia S&D

For (1)

1

Lithuania S&D

1

Cyprus S&D

2

Malta S&D

3

Luxembourg S&D

For (1)

1

Estonia S&D

For (1)

1

Latvia S&D

1
icon: ALDE ALDE
58

Germany ALDE

2

Romania ALDE

2

Portugal ALDE

1

Ireland ALDE

For (1)

1

Austria ALDE

For (1)

1

Slovenia ALDE

For (1)

1

Lithuania ALDE

2

Croatia ALDE

2

Luxembourg ALDE

For (1)

1

Estonia ALDE

2

United Kingdom ALDE

1
icon: Verts/ALE Verts/ALE
48

Italy Verts/ALE

For (1)

1

Hungary Verts/ALE

For (1)

1

Netherlands Verts/ALE

2

Belgium Verts/ALE

2

Austria Verts/ALE

3

Finland Verts/ALE

For (1)

1

Denmark Verts/ALE

For (1)

1

Slovenia Verts/ALE

For (1)

1

Lithuania Verts/ALE

For (1)

1

Croatia Verts/ALE

For (1)

1

Luxembourg Verts/ALE

For (1)

1

Estonia Verts/ALE

For (1)

1

Latvia Verts/ALE

1

United Kingdom Verts/ALE

5
icon: GUE/NGL GUE/NGL
45

Italy GUE/NGL

Abstain (1)

3

Czechia GUE/NGL

2

Sweden GUE/NGL

For (1)

1

Netherlands GUE/NGL

3

Portugal GUE/NGL

For (1)

4

Ireland GUE/NGL

3

Finland GUE/NGL

For (1)

1

Denmark GUE/NGL

For (1)

1

Cyprus GUE/NGL

2

United Kingdom GUE/NGL

1
icon: EFDD EFDD
37

Germany EFDD

Against (1)

1

France EFDD

Abstain (1)

1

Czechia EFDD

Against (1)

1

Sweden EFDD

2

Poland EFDD

1
icon: NI NI
14

Germany NI

2

France NI

Against (1)

1
3

Poland NI

Against (1)

1

United Kingdom NI

Against (2)

2
icon: ENF ENF
28

Romania ENF

Abstain (1)

1

Netherlands ENF

3

Belgium ENF

Against (1)

1

Poland ENF

Against (1)

1

Austria ENF

Abstain (1)

4

United Kingdom ENF

Against (1)

1
icon: ECR ECR
58

Italy ECR

2

Romania ECR

Against (1)

1

Czechia ECR

2

Netherlands ECR

Against (1)

1

Bulgaria ECR

Against (1)

1

Finland ECR

2

Denmark ECR

Against (1)

1

Lithuania ECR

Against (1)

1

Croatia ECR

Against (1)

1

Cyprus ECR

1

Greece ECR

Against (1)

1

Latvia ECR

Against (1)

1
AmendmentsDossier
27 2016/2189(DEC)
2017/03/07 CONT 27 amendments...
source: 599.862

History

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

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  • date: 2016-09-13T00:00:00 docs: url: https://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/TXT/?uri=OJ:C:2016:449:TOC title: OJ C 449 01.12.2016, p. 0017 title: N8-0112/2016 summary: PURPOSE: presentation of the EU Court of Auditors’ report on the annual accounts of the Agency for Cooperation of Energy Regulators (ACER) for the year 2015, together with the Agency’s reply. CONTENT: in accordance with the tasks conferred on the Court of Auditors by the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union, the Court presents to the European Parliament and to the Council, in the context of the discharge procedure, a Statement of Assurance as to the reliability of the annual accounts of each institution, body or agency of the EU, and the legality and regularity of the transactions underlying them, on the basis of an independent external audit. This audit focused on the annual accounts of the Agency for Cooperation of Energy Regulators (ACER). As a reminder, the Agency's main task is to assist National Regulatory Authorities in exercising, at Union level, the regulatory tasks that they perform in the Member States and, where necessary, to coordinate their action. Statement of assurance : pursuant to the provisions of Article 287 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union (TFEU), the Court has audited: the annual accounts of the Authority, which comprise the financial statements and the reports on the implementation of the budget for the financial year ended 31 December 2015; and the legality and regularity of the transactions underlying those accounts. Opinion on the reliability of the accounts : in the Court’s opinion, the Agency’s annual accounts present fairly, in all material respects, its financial position as at 31 December 2015 and the results of its operations and its cash flows for the year then ended, in accordance with the provisions of its Financial Regulation and the accounting rules adopted by the Commission’s accounting officer. Opinion on the legality and regularity of the transactions underlying the accounts : in the Court’s opinion, the transactions underlying the annual accounts for the year ended 31 December 2015 are legal and regular in all material respects. The report also made a series of observations on the budgetary and financial management of the Agency, accompanied by the latter’s response. The main observations may be summarised as follows: The Court’s observations : budgetary management : as regards operational expenditure, the Court stated that the Agency carried over EUR 1.36 million. These carry-overs were mainly related to the implementation of REMIT (EUR 1.1 million), a complex operational activity on wholesale energy market integrity and transparency of a multiannual nature. The Agency also carried over EUR 0.79 million of administrative expenditure, mainly related to studies and services not yet delivered in 2015. The Agency’s reply : budgetary management : the Agency acknowledged the identified level of appropriations carried over, due to open commitments at year-end, mainly stemming from the long-term nature of the REMIT project implementation. Given the persistent uncertainty on the annual budgetary allocation to the Agency, it is difficult to reconcile the principle of annuality with the inevitable multiannual nature of the REMIT project. Lastly, the Court of Auditors’ report contained a summary of the Authority’s key figures in 2015 : Budget : EUR 11.3 million. Staff : 80 including officials, temporary and contract staff and seconded national experts. type: Court of Auditors: opinion, report body: CofA
  • date: 2017-02-03T00:00:00 docs: url: http://www.europarl.europa.eu/sides/getDoc.do?type=COMPARL&mode=XML&language=EN&reference=PE593.856 title: PE593.856 type: Committee draft report body: EP
  • date: 2017-02-07T00:00:00 docs: url: http://register.consilium.europa.eu/content/out?lang=EN&typ=SET&i=ADV&RESULTSET=1&DOC_ID=5873%2F17&DOC_LANCD=EN&ROWSPP=25&NRROWS=500&ORDERBY=DOC_DATE+DESC title: 05873/2017 summary: Having examined the revenue and expenditure accounts for the financial year 2015 and the balance sheet as at 31 December 2015 of the Agency for the Cooperation of Energy Regulators (ACER), as well as the Court of Auditors' report on the annual accounts of the Agency for the financial year 2015, accompanied by the Agency's replies to the Court's observations, the Council recommended the European Parliament to give a discharge to the Director of the Agency in respect of the implementation of the budget for the financial year 2015. The Council welcomed the Court's opinion that, in all material respects, the Agency's annual accounts present fairly its financial position as at 31 December 2015 and the results of its operations and its cash flows for the year then ended, in accordance with the provisions of the Agency's Financial Regulation, and that the underlying transactions for 2015 are legal and regular in all material respects. Nevertheless, one observation was made: financial programming : the Council noted a high level of commitment appropriations carried over to 2016. It encouraged the Agency to continue improving its financial programming and monitoring of the budget implementation, in order to reduce the level of commitments carried over to the following financial year to the minimum strictly necessary. type: Supplementary non-legislative basic document body: CSL
  • date: 2017-03-07T00:00:00 docs: url: http://www.europarl.europa.eu/sides/getDoc.do?type=COMPARL&mode=XML&language=EN&reference=PE599.862 title: PE599.862 type: Amendments tabled in committee body: EP
events
  • date: 2016-07-11T00:00:00 type: Non-legislative basic document published body: EC docs: url: https://eur-lex.europa.eu/smartapi/cgi/sga_doc?smartapi!celexplus!prod!DocNumber&lg=EN&type_doc=COMfinal&an_doc=2016&nu_doc=0475 title: EUR-Lex title: 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 Agency for the Cooperation of Energy Regulators (ACER) . 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 Agency for the Cooperation of Energy Regulators (ACER), 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 ACER. The Agency for the Cooperation of Energy Regulators (ACER) : the Agency, which is located in Ljubljana (SI), was set up by Regulation (EU) No 713/2009 of the European Parliament and of the Council with a view to helping the Member States’ regulatory authorities in the areas of electricity and natural gas. Its aim is to give an opinion on any of the issues relating to the purpose for which it has been established. As regards the Agency’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 11 million; - paid : EUR 14 million; - carried-over : 0. Payment appropriations : - committed : EUR 11 million; - paid : EUR 22 million; - carried-over : EUR 2 million.
  • date: 2016-10-04T00:00:00 type: Committee referral announced in Parliament, 1st reading/single reading body: EP
  • date: 2017-03-22T00:00:00 type: Vote in committee, 1st reading/single reading body: EP
  • date: 2017-03-31T00:00:00 type: Committee report tabled for plenary, single reading body: EP docs: url: http://www.europarl.europa.eu/sides/getDoc.do?type=REPORT&mode=XML&reference=A8-2017-0147&language=EN title: A8-0147/2017 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 Agency for the Cooperation of Energy Regulators (ACER) for the financial year 2015. The committee called on the European Parliament to grant the Director of the Agency discharge in respect of the implementation of the Agency’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 Agency 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 Agency’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 11 266 000, representing an increase of 3.55 % compared to 2014. They recalled that the Agency’s entire budget derives from the Union budget. Budget and financial management : Members noted that budget monitoring efforts during the financial year 2015 resulted in a budget implementation rate of 95.09 %, reaching the Agency’s planned target and representing an increase of 0.09 % compared with 2014. Commitments and carry-overs : Members stressed that carry-overs may often be partly or fully justified by the multiannual nature of the agencies’ 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. They noted the fact that the Agency found it difficult to reconcile the principle of annuality with the multi-annual nature of the REMIT implementation project. Members also made a series of observations regarding procurement, recruitment procedures and internal audits. Lastly, as regards the prevention and management of conflicts of interests , Members stated that the Agency’s administrative board published the declarations of conflicts of interests on its website. However, it pointed out that some CVs and declarations of the members of the board of regulators remain missing. They called on the Agency to provide further information about this issue to the discharge authority.
  • date: 2017-04-26T00:00:00 type: Debate in Parliament body: EP docs: url: http://www.europarl.europa.eu/sides/getDoc.do?secondRef=TOC&language=EN&reference=20170426&type=CRE title: Debate in Parliament
  • date: 2017-04-27T00:00:00 type: Results of vote in Parliament body: EP docs: url: https://oeil.secure.europarl.europa.eu/oeil/popups/sda.do?id=29435&l=en title: Results of vote in Parliament
  • date: 2017-04-27T00:00:00 type: Decision by Parliament, 1st reading/single reading body: EP docs: url: http://www.europarl.europa.eu/sides/getDoc.do?type=TA&language=EN&reference=P8-TA-2017-0156 title: T8-0156/2017 summary: The European Parliament decided to grant the Director of the Agency for the Cooperation of Energy Regulators (ACER) discharge in respect of the implementation of Authority’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 the Agency’s annual accounts for the financial year 2015 are reliable and that the underlying transactions are legal and regular, Parliament adopted by 508 votes to 117 with 10 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 11 266 000, representing an increase of 3.55 % compared to 2014. It recalled that the Agency’s entire budget derives from the Union budget. Budget and financial management : Parliament noted that budget monitoring efforts during the financial year 2015 resulted in a budget implementation rate of 95.09 %, reaching the Agency’s planned target and representing an increase of 0.09 % compared with 2014. Commitments and carry-overs : Parliament stressed that carry-overs may often be partly or fully justified by the multiannual nature of the agencies’ 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. It noted the fact that the Agency found it difficult to reconcile the principle of annuality with the multi-annual nature of the REMIT implementation project. Parliament also made a series of observations regarding procurement, recruitment procedures and internal audits. On performance , Parliament noted that in late 2015 the Agency launched a survey enabling stakeholders to assess its regulatory activities, working methods and efficiency. It stated that in October 2015 the Agency released a study for a methodology proposal to evaluate the impact of the gas network codes and guidelines in terms of implementation and market effects . It asked the Agency to keep the discharge authority informed on the matter. Lastly, as regards the prevention and management of conflicts of interests , Parliament stated that the Agency’s administrative board published the declarations of conflicts of interests on its website. However, it pointed out that some CVs and declarations of the members of the board of regulators remain missing. It called on the Agency to provide further information about this issue to the discharge authority.
  • date: 2017-04-27T00:00:00 type: End of procedure in Parliament body: EP
  • date: 2017-09-29T00:00:00 type: Final act published in Official Journal summary: PURPOSE: to grant discharge to the Agency for the Cooperation of Energy Regulators (ACER) for the financial year 2015. NON-LEGISLATIVE ACT: Decision (EU) 2017/1633 of the European Parliament on discharge in respect of the implementation of the budget of the Agency for the Cooperation of Energy Regulators for the financial year 2015. CONTENT: with the present decision, the European Parliament grants discharge to the Director of the Agency for the Cooperation of Energy Regulators discharge in respect of the implementation of the Agency's budget for the financial year 2015. This decision is in line with the European Parliament's resolution adopted on 27 April 2017 and comprises a series of observations that form an integral part of the discharge decision (please refer to the summary of the opinion of 27 April 2017). Amongst Parliaments main observations in the resolution accompanying the discharge decision, the latter regretted that although the Agency's administrative board adopted the policy for the prevention and management of conflicts of interests, some CVs and declarations of the members of the board of regulators remain missing from the website. Parliament called for these documents to be published. Parliament recalled, as it did the previous year, that the Agency has repeatedly signalled to the host Member State the urgency of the establishment of a European School in Ljubljana. It deplored the fact that, more than four years after the entry into force of the agreement between the Agency and the Slovenian Government, no European School has been set up.
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  • body: EC dg: url: http://ec.europa.eu/info/departments/budget_en title: Budget commissioner: GEORGIEVA Kristalina
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  • The European Parliament decided to grant the Director of the Agency for the Cooperation of Energy Regulators (ACER) discharge in respect of the implementation of Authority’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 the Agency’s annual accounts for the financial year 2015 are reliable and that the underlying transactions are legal and regular, Parliament adopted by 508 votes to 117 with 10 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 11 266 000, representing an increase of 3.55 % compared to 2014. It recalled that the Agency’s entire budget derives from the Union budget.
    • Budget and financial management: Parliament noted that budget monitoring efforts during the financial year 2015 resulted in a budget implementation rate of 95.09 %, reaching the Agency’s planned target and representing an increase of 0.09 % compared with 2014.
    • Commitments and carry-overs: Parliament stressed that carry-overs may often be partly or fully justified by the multiannual nature of the agencies’ 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. It noted the fact that the Agency found it difficult to reconcile the principle of annuality with the multi-annual nature of the REMIT implementation project.

    Parliament also made a series of observations regarding procurement, recruitment procedures and internal audits.

    On performance, Parliament noted that in late 2015 the Agency launched a survey enabling stakeholders to assess its regulatory activities, working methods and efficiency. It stated that in October 2015 the Agency released a study for a methodology proposal to evaluate the impact of the gas network codes and guidelines in terms of implementation and market effects. It asked the Agency to keep the discharge authority informed on the matter.

    Lastly, as regards the prevention and management of conflicts of interests, Parliament stated that the Agency’s administrative board published the declarations of conflicts of interests on its website. However, it pointed out that some CVs and declarations of the members of the board of regulators remain missing. It called on the Agency to provide further information about this issue to the discharge authority.

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2017-04-27T00:00:00
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  • 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 Agency for the Cooperation of Energy Regulators (ACER) for the financial year 2015.

    The committee called on the European Parliament to grant the Director of the Agency discharge in respect of the implementation of the Agency’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 Agency 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 Agency’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 11 266 000, representing an increase of 3.55 % compared to 2014. They recalled that the Agency’s entire budget derives from the Union budget.
    • Budget and financial management: Members noted that budget monitoring efforts during the financial year 2015 resulted in a budget implementation rate of 95.09 %, reaching the Agency’s planned target and representing an increase of 0.09 % compared with 2014.
    • Commitments and carry-overs: Members stressed that carry-overs may often be partly or fully justified by the multiannual nature of the agencies’ 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. They noted the fact that the Agency found it difficult to reconcile the principle of annuality with the multi-annual nature of the REMIT implementation project.

    Members also made a series of observations regarding procurement, recruitment procedures and internal audits.

    Lastly, as regards the prevention and management of conflicts of interests, Members stated that the Agency’s administrative board published the declarations of conflicts of interests on its website. However, it pointed out that some CVs and declarations of the members of the board of regulators remain missing. They called on the Agency to provide further information about this issue to the discharge authority.

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  • url: http://www.europarl.europa.eu/sides/getDoc.do?type=REPORT&mode=XML&reference=A8-2017-0147&language=EN type: Committee report tabled for plenary, single reading title: A8-0147/2017
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  • body: EP responsible: False committee_full: Industry, Research and Energy committee: ITRE
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  • 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 Agency for the Cooperation of Energy Regulators (ACER).

    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 Agency for the Cooperation of Energy Regulators (ACER), 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 ACER.

    The Agency for the Cooperation of Energy Regulators (ACER): the Agency, which is located in Ljubljana (SI), was set up by Regulation (EU) No 713/2009 of the European Parliament and of the Council with a view to helping the Member States’ regulatory authorities in the areas of electricity and natural gas. Its aim is to give an opinion on any of the issues relating to the purpose for which it has been established.

    As regards the Agency’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 11 million;

    -          paid: EUR 14 million;

    -          carried-over: 0.

    Payment appropriations:

    -          committed: EUR 11 million;

    -          paid: EUR 22 million;

    -          carried-over: EUR 2 million.

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  • body: EP responsible: False committee_full: Industry, Research and Energy committee: ITRE
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  • date: 2016-07-11T00:00:00 docs: url: http://eur-lex.europa.eu/smartapi/cgi/sga_doc?smartapi!celexplus!prod!DocNumber&lg=EN&type_doc=COMfinal&an_doc=2016&nu_doc=0475 title: COM(2016)0475 type: Non-legislative basic document published celexid: CELEX:52016DC0475:EN body: EC type: Non-legislative basic document published commission:
committees
  • body: EP shadows: group: GUE/NGL name: DE JONG Dennis responsible: True committee: CONT date: 2016-08-05T00:00:00 committee_full: Budgetary Control rapporteur: group: S&D name: AYALA SENDER Inés
  • body: EP responsible: False committee_full: Industry, Research and Energy committee: ITRE
links
other
    procedure
    stage_reached
    Preparatory phase in Parliament
    subject
    8.70.03.05 2015 discharge
    type
    DEC - Discharge procedure
    reference
    2016/2189(DEC)
    title
    2015 discharge: Agency for the Cooperation of Energy Regulators (ACER)