2017/2174(DEC) | [ParlTrack]

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2017/2174(DEC) 2016 discharge: Agency for the Cooperation of Energy Regulators (ACER)

Role	Committee	Rapporteur	Shadows
Lead	CONT	STAES Bart (Verts/ALE)	SARVAMAA Petri (EPP), LIBERADZKI Bogusław (S&D), MARIAS Notis (ECR), ALI Nedzhmi (ALDE), DE JONG Dennis (GUE/NGL), VALLI Marco (EFD), KAPPEL Barbara (ENF)
Opinion	ITRE

Lead committee dossier: CONT/8/10830

Subjects

8.70.03.06 2016 discharge

Links

Activites

2018/04/18 Results of vote in Parliament
- Results of vote in Parliament
- Debate in Parliament
- T8-0134/2018 summary
  
  The European Parliament decided to grant discharge to the Director of the Cooperation of Energy Regulators (ACER) in respect of the implementation of the Agency’s budget for the financial year 2016, and to approve the closure of the accounts for the financial year in question. Noting that the Court of Auditors has stated that it has obtained reasonable assurances that the agency’s annual accounts for the financial year 2016 are reliable and that the underlying transactions are legal and regular, Parliament adopted by 558 votes to 131 with 5 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: Agency’s financial statements: the final budget of the Agency for the financial year 2016 was EUR 15 872 582, representing an increase of 40.89 % compared to 2015. The increase was due to new additional tasks expanding its mandate, including the completion of the internal energy market. Budget and financial management: budget monitoring efforts during the financial year 2016 resulted in a budget implementation rate of 98.11 %, reaching the Agency’s planned target and representing an increase of 3.02 % compared to 2015. Commitments and carry-overs: the carry-overs for operational expenditure were very high at EUR 4.9 million (86 %) of its committed appropriations, compared to EUR 1.4 million (59 %) in 2015. Members noted from the Agency’s reply that the high level of carry-overs is due to the timing of the annual contractual cycle, which was established in 2013, when a substantial additional budget for the REMIT project was received by the Agency at the end of the year. The commitment appropriation for the financial year 2016 under the budget Chapter of REMIT expenditure was implemented at the maximum 100 % level. The resolution noted that the high share of cancelled carry-overs (9.8 %) could be considered a sign of inaccurate budget planning. Members also made a series of observations regarding staff policy and internal controls. In particular, they welcomed the decision adopted in 2017 of the administrative board on preventing psychological and sexual harassment, and the decision to create a register of meetings of the Agency's Director with external actors. They noted that women accounted for 38% of staff and men for 62%. Lastly, Parliament recalled that, according to the Seat Agreement between the Agency and the Slovenian government, a European School is to be established in Slovenia. It regretted however that, more than four years after the agreement, no European School has been set up.
2018/03/22 Committee report tabled for plenary, single reading
- A8-0074/2018 summary
  
  The Committee on Budgetary Control adopted the report by Bart STAES (Greens/EFA, BE) on discharge in respect of the implementation of the budget of the Agency for the Cooperation of Energy Regulators (ACER) for the financial year 2016. 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 2016. Noting that the Court of Auditors stated that it had obtained reasonable assurance that the annual accounts of the Agency for the financial year 2016 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 2016 was EUR 15 872 582, representing an increase of 40.89 % compared to 2015. The increase was due to new additional tasks expanding its mandate, including the completion of the internal energy market. Budget and financial management: Members noted that budget monitoring efforts during the financial year 2016 resulted in a budget implementation rate of 98.11 %, reaching the Agency’s planned target and representing an increase of 3.02 % compared to 2015. Commitments and carry-overs: the carry-overs for operational expenditure were very high at EUR 4.9 million (86 %) of its committed appropriations, compared to EUR 1.4 million (59 %) in 2015. Members noted from the Agency’s reply that the high level of carry-overs is due to the timing of the annual contractual cycle which was established in 2013, when a substantial additional budget for the REMIT project was received by the Agency at the end of the year. The commitment appropriation for the financial year 2016 under the budget Chapter of REMIT expenditure was implemented at the maximum 100 % level. The report noted that the high share of cancelled carry-overs (9.8 %) could be considered a sign of inaccurate budget planning. Members also made a series of observations regarding staff policy and internal controls. In particular, they welcomed the decision adopted in 2017 of the administrative board on preventing psychological and sexual harassment. Lastly, Members recalled that, according to the Seat Agreement between the Agency and the Slovenian government, a European School is to be established in Slovenia. They regretted however that, more than four years after the agreement, no European School has been set up.
2018/03/20 Vote in committee, 1st reading/single reading
2017/09/13 Committee referral announced in Parliament, 1st reading/single reading
2017/06/26 Non-legislative basic document published
- COM(2017)0365 summary
  
  PURPOSE: presentation by the Commission of the consolidated annual accounts of the European Union for the financial year 2016, as part of the 2016 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. This Commission document concerns the EU's consolidated accounts for the year 2016 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. Despite the fact that the Agency continued to struggle with resource constraints, it largely met its main objectives set out for 2016. As regards the Agency’s accounts, these are presented in detail in the document on the consolidated annual accounts of the European Union for 2016: Commitment appropriations: available: EUR 16 million; made: EUR 16 million. Payment appropriations: available: EUR 18 million; paid: EUR 12 million. For further details on expenditure, please refer to the final accounts of the ACER.
- DG {'url': 'http://ec.europa.eu/info/departments/budget_en', 'title': 'Budget'}, OETTINGER Günther

Documents

Non-legislative basic document published: COM(2017)0365
Committee report tabled for plenary, single reading: A8-0074/2018
Results of vote in Parliament: Results of vote in Parliament
Debate in Parliament: Debate in Parliament
Decision by Parliament, 1st reading/single reading: T8-0134/2018

Amendments	Dossier
8	2017/2174(DEC) 2018/03/02 CONT 8 amendments... Amendment 1 # Bart STAES Proposal for a decision 1 Paragraph 1 1. Grants 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 ~~2016 / Postpones its decision on granting 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~~ 2016; Amendment 2 # Ryszard CZARNECKI, Notis MARIAS, Beata GOSIEWSKA, Richard SULÍK, Raffaele FITTO Proposal for a decision 1 Paragraph 1 1. ~~Grants 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 2016 /~~ Postpones its decision on granting 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 2016; Amendment 3 # Bart STAES Proposal for a decision 2 Paragraph 1 1. Approves the closure of the accounts of the Agency for the Cooperation of Energy Regulators for the financial year ~~2016 / Postpones the closure of the accounts of the Agency for the Cooperation of Energy Regulators for the financial year~~ 2016; Amendment 4 # Petri SARVAMAA Motion for a resolution Paragraph 3 3. Notes from the Court’s report that the carry-overs for Title III (operational expenditure) were very high at EUR 4 900 000 (86 %) of its committed appropriations, compared to EUR 1 400 000 (59 %) in 2015; notes furthermore that these carry- overs were predominantly related to the long-term nature of the implementation of Regulation (EU) No 1227/2011 of the European Parliament and of the Council12 with EUR 4 700 000 in 2016, compared to EUR 1 100 000 in 2015; _________________ 12 Regulation (EU) No 1227/2011 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 25 October 2011 on wholesale energy market integrity and transparency (OJ L 326, 8.12.2011, p. 1). Amendment 5 # Petri SARVAMAA Motion for a resolution Paragraph 5 5. ~~Points out~~Notes that carry-overs ~~are~~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, in particular if they are planned in advance by the Agency and communicated to the Court; points out, however, that the high share of cancelled carry-overs (9,8 %) could be considered a sign of inaccurate budget planning; Amendment 6 # Petri SARVAMAA Motion for a resolution Paragraph 15 15. Note the grounds for refusal to access to document; ~~calls on~~expects the Agency to use in the most ~~restricted~~lawful and regular manner the possibility to refuse access to document while protecting confidential or personal data; Amendment 7 # Petri SARVAMAA Motion for a resolution Subheading 6 ~~Performance-Based Budgeting (PBB)~~Main achievements Amendment 8 # Petri SARVAMAA Motion for a resolution Paragraph 17 17. Welcomes the fact that the Agency uses impact indicators and outcome indicators to measure its performance; regrets, however, that there are no systematic ex ante assessments for planning and controls, and no systematic ex post evaluations to measure performance; source: 618.232

Amendments

Dossier

2017/2174(DEC)

2018/03/02 CONT 8 amendments...

Amendment 1 #

Bart STAES

Proposal for a decision 1
Paragraph 1

1. Grants 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 ~~2016 / Postpones its decision on granting 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~~ 2016;

Amendment 2 #

Ryszard CZARNECKI, Notis MARIAS, Beata GOSIEWSKA, Richard SULÍK, Raffaele FITTO

Proposal for a decision 1
Paragraph 1

1. ~~Grants 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 2016 /~~ Postpones its decision on granting 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 2016;

Amendment 3 #

Bart STAES

Proposal for a decision 2
Paragraph 1

1. Approves the closure of the accounts of the Agency for the Cooperation of Energy Regulators for the financial year ~~2016 / Postpones the closure of the accounts of the Agency for the Cooperation of Energy Regulators for the financial year~~ 2016;

Amendment 4 #

Petri SARVAMAA

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 3

3. Notes from the Court’s report that the carry-overs for Title III (operational expenditure) were very high at EUR 4 900 000 (86 %) of its committed appropriations, compared to EUR 1 400 000 (59 %) in 2015; notes furthermore that these carry- overs were predominantly related to the long-term nature of the implementation of Regulation (EU) No 1227/2011 of the European Parliament and of the Council12 with EUR 4 700 000 in 2016, compared to EUR 1 100 000 in 2015; _________________ 12 Regulation (EU) No 1227/2011 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 25 October 2011 on wholesale energy market integrity and transparency (OJ L 326, 8.12.2011, p. 1).

Amendment 5 #

Petri SARVAMAA

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 5

5. ~~Points out~~Notes that carry-overs ~~are~~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, in particular if they are planned in advance by the Agency and communicated to the Court; points out, however, that the high share of cancelled carry-overs (9,8 %) could be considered a sign of inaccurate budget planning;

Amendment 6 #

Petri SARVAMAA

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 15

15. Note the grounds for refusal to access to document; ~~calls on~~expects the Agency to use in the most ~~restricted~~lawful and regular manner the possibility to refuse access to document while protecting confidential or personal data;

Amendment 7 #

Petri SARVAMAA

Motion for a resolution
Subheading 6

~~Performance-Based Budgeting (PBB)~~Main achievements

Amendment 8 #

Petri SARVAMAA

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 17

17. Welcomes the fact that the Agency uses impact indicators and outcome indicators to measure its performance; regrets, however, that there are no systematic ex ante assessments for planning and controls, and no systematic ex post evaluations to measure performance;

source: 618.232

History

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

2019-07-06Show (14) Changes | Timetravel

activities	date: 2017-06-26T00:00:00 docs: url: http://www.europarl.europa.eu/RegData/docs_autres_institutions/commission_europeenne/com/2017/0365/COM_COM(2017)0365_EN.pdf title: COM(2017)0365 type: Non-legislative basic document published celexid: CELEX:52017DC0365:EN body: EC commission: DG: url: http://ec.europa.eu/info/departments/budget_en title: Budget Commissioner: OETTINGER Günther type: Non-legislative basic document published date: 2017-09-13T00:00:00 body: EP type: Committee referral announced in Parliament, 1st reading/single reading committees: body: EP shadows: group: EPP name: SARVAMAA Petri group: S&D name: LIBERADZKI Bogusław group: ECR name: MARIAS Notis group: ALDE name: ALI Nedzhmi group: GUE/NGL name: DE JONG Dennis group: EFD name: VALLI Marco group: ENF name: KAPPEL Barbara responsible: True committee: CONT date: 2017-09-14T00:00:00 committee_full: Budgetary Control rapporteur: group: Verts/ALE name: STAES Bart body: EP responsible: False committee_full: Industry, Research and Energy committee: ITRE date: 2018-03-20T00:00:00 body: EP type: Vote in committee, 1st reading/single reading committees: body: EP shadows: group: EPP name: SARVAMAA Petri group: S&D name: LIBERADZKI Bogusław group: ECR name: MARIAS Notis group: ALDE name: ALI Nedzhmi group: GUE/NGL name: DE JONG Dennis group: EFD name: VALLI Marco group: ENF name: KAPPEL Barbara responsible: True committee: CONT date: 2017-09-14T00:00:00 committee_full: Budgetary Control rapporteur: group: Verts/ALE name: STAES Bart body: EP responsible: False committee_full: Industry, Research and Energy committee: ITRE date: 2018-03-22T00:00:00 docs: url: http://www.europarl.europa.eu/sides/getDoc.do?type=REPORT&mode=XML&reference=A8-2018-0074&language=EN type: Committee report tabled for plenary, single reading title: A8-0074/2018 body: EP type: Committee report tabled for plenary, single reading date: 2018-04-18T00:00:00 docs: url: http://www.europarl.europa.eu/oeil/popups/sda.do?id=30930&l=en type: Results of vote in Parliament title: Results of vote in Parliament url: http://www.europarl.europa.eu/sides/getDoc.do?secondRef=TOC&language=EN&reference=20180418&type=CRE type: Debate in Parliament title: Debate in Parliament url: http://www.europarl.europa.eu/sides/getDoc.do?type=TA&language=EN&reference=P8-TA-2018-0134 type: Decision by Parliament, 1st reading/single reading title: T8-0134/2018 body: EP type: Results of vote in Parliament
commission	body: EC dg: Budget commissioner: OETTINGER Günther
committees/0	type Responsible Committee body EP associated False committee_full Budgetary Control committee CONT date 2017-09-14T00:00:00 rapporteur name: STAES Bart group: Greens/European Free Alliance abbr: Verts/ALE shadows name: SARVAMAA Petri group: European People's Party (Christian Democrats) abbr: PPE name: LIBERADZKI Bogusław group: Progressive Alliance of Socialists and Democrats abbr: S&D name: MARIAS Notis group: European Conservatives and Reformists abbr: ECR name: ALI Nedzhmi group: Alliance of Liberals and Democrats for Europe abbr: ALDE name: DE JONG Dennis group: European United Left - Nordic Green Left abbr: GUE/NGL name: VALLI Marco group: Europe of Freedom and Direct Democracy abbr: EFDD name: KAPPEL Barbara group: Europe of Nations and Freedom abbr: ENF
committees/0	body EP shadows group: EPP name: SARVAMAA Petri group: S&D name: LIBERADZKI Bogusław group: ECR name: MARIAS Notis group: ALDE name: ALI Nedzhmi group: GUE/NGL name: DE JONG Dennis group: EFD name: VALLI Marco group: ENF name: KAPPEL Barbara responsible True committee CONT date 2017-09-14T00:00:00 committee_full Budgetary Control rapporteur group: Verts/ALE name: STAES Bart
committees/1	type Committee Opinion body EP associated False committee_full Industry, Research and Energy committee ITRE opinion False
committees/1	body EP responsible False committee_full Industry, Research and Energy committee ITRE
docs	date: 2017-09-12T00:00:00 docs: url: https://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/TXT/?uri=OJ:C:2017:417:TOC title: OJ C 417 06.12.2017, p. 0025 title: N8-0010/2018 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 2016, 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 2016; 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 2016 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 2016 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 4.9 million. These carry-overs were mainly related to the implementation of REMIT Regulation on wholesale energy market integrity and transparency. The increasing level of carry overs is a matter of concern. The Agency’s reply : budgetary management : the Agency acknowledges the high level of carried-over funds resulting from the multiannual nature of REMIT-related investments, which do not fit well with the budgetary principle of annuality. The high level of carry-overs is due to the timing of the annual contractual cycle which was established in 2013, when a substantial additional budget for the REMIT project was received by the Agency at the end of the year. Lastly, the Court of Auditors’ report contained a summary of the Agency’s key figures in 2016 : Budget : EUR 15.9 million. Staff : 103 including officials, temporary and contract staff and seconded national experts. type: Court of Auditors: opinion, report body: CofA date: 2018-01-24T00:00:00 docs: url: http://www.europarl.europa.eu/sides/getDoc.do?type=COMPARL&mode=XML&language=EN&reference=PE613.468 title: PE613.468 type: Committee draft report body: EP date: 2018-02-09T00:00:00 docs: url: http://register.consilium.europa.eu/content/out?lang=EN&typ=SET&i=ADV&RESULTSET=1&DOC_ID=5941%2F18&DOC_LANCD=EN&ROWSPP=25&NRROWS=500&ORDERBY=DOC_DATE+DESC title: 05941/2018 summary: Having examined the revenue and expenditure accounts for the financial year 2016 and the balance sheet as at 31 December 2016 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 2016, 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 2016. 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 2016 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 2016 are legal and regular in all material respects. Nevertheless, the following observation was made: financial programming : the Council regretted that, again, a high level of commitment appropriations was carried over to 2017. It called on the Agency to continue improving its financial programming and monitoring of the budget implementation, and introducing, where appropriate, the use of differentiated budget appropriations 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: 2018-03-02T00:00:00 docs: url: http://www.europarl.europa.eu/sides/getDoc.do?type=COMPARL&mode=XML&language=EN&reference=PE618.232 title: PE618.232 type: Amendments tabled in committee body: EP
events	date: 2017-06-26T00:00:00 type: Non-legislative basic document published body: EC docs: url: http://www.europarl.europa.eu/RegData/docs_autres_institutions/commission_europeenne/com/2017/0365/COM_COM(2017)0365_EN.pdf title: COM(2017)0365 url: https://eur-lex.europa.eu/smartapi/cgi/sga_doc?smartapi!celexplus!prod!DocNumber&lg=EN&type_doc=COMfinal&an_doc=2017&nu_doc=0365 title: EUR-Lex summary: PURPOSE: presentation by the Commission of the consolidated annual accounts of the European Union for the financial year 2016, as part of the 2016 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. This Commission document concerns the EU's consolidated accounts for the year 2016 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. Despite the fact that the Agency continued to struggle with resource constraints, it largely met its main objectives set out for 2016. As regards the Agency’s accounts , these are presented in detail in the document on the consolidated annual accounts of the European Union for 2016: Commitment appropriations : available: EUR 16 million; made: EUR 16 million. Payment appropriations : available: EUR 18 million; paid: EUR 12 million. For further details on expenditure, please refer to the final accounts of the ACER . date: 2017-09-13T00:00:00 type: Committee referral announced in Parliament, 1st reading/single reading body: EP date: 2018-03-20T00:00:00 type: Vote in committee, 1st reading/single reading body: EP date: 2018-03-22T00:00:00 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=A8-2018-0074&language=EN title: A8-0074/2018 summary: The Committee on Budgetary Control adopted the report by Bart STAES (Greens/EFA, BE) on discharge in respect of the implementation of the budget of the Agency for the Cooperation of Energy Regulators (ACER) for the financial year 2016. 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 2016. Noting that the Court of Auditors stated that it had obtained reasonable assurance that the annual accounts of the Agency for the financial year 2016 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 2016 was EUR 15 872 582, representing an increase of 40.89 % compared to 2015. The increase was due to new additional tasks expanding its mandate, including the completion of the internal energy market. Budget and financial management : Members noted that budget monitoring efforts during the financial year 2016 resulted in a budget implementation rate of 98.11 %, reaching the Agency’s planned target and representing an increase of 3.02 % compared to 2015. Commitments and carry-overs : the carry-overs for operational expenditure were very high at EUR 4.9 million (86 %) of its committed appropriations, compared to EUR 1.4 million (59 %) in 2015. Members noted from the Agency’s reply that the high level of carry-overs is due to the timing of the annual contractual cycle which was established in 2013, when a substantial additional budget for the REMIT project was received by the Agency at the end of the year. The commitment appropriation for the financial year 2016 under the budget Chapter of REMIT expenditure was implemented at the maximum 100 % level. The report noted that the high share of cancelled carry-overs (9.8 %) could be considered a sign of inaccurate budget planning. Members also made a series of observations regarding staff policy and internal controls. In particular, they welcomed the decision adopted in 2017 of the administrative board on preventing psychological and sexual harassment. Lastly, Members recalled that, according to the Seat Agreement between the Agency and the Slovenian government, a European School is to be established in Slovenia. They regretted however that, more than four years after the agreement, no European School has been set up. date: 2018-04-18T00:00:00 type: Results of vote in Parliament body: EP docs: url: https://oeil.secure.europarl.europa.eu/oeil/popups/sda.do?id=30930&l=en title: Results of vote in Parliament date: 2018-04-18T00:00:00 type: Debate in Parliament body: EP docs: url: http://www.europarl.europa.eu/sides/getDoc.do?secondRef=TOC&language=EN&reference=20180418&type=CRE title: Debate in Parliament date: 2018-04-18T00:00:00 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-2018-0134 title: T8-0134/2018 summary: The European Parliament decided to grant discharge to the Director of the Cooperation of Energy Regulators (ACER) in respect of the implementation of the Agency’s budget for the financial year 2016, and to approve the closure of the accounts for the financial year in question. Noting that the Court of Auditors has stated that it has obtained reasonable assurances that the agency’s annual accounts for the financial year 2016 are reliable and that the underlying transactions are legal and regular , Parliament adopted by 558 votes to 131 with 5 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 : Agency’s financial statements : the final budget of the Agency for the financial year 2016 was EUR 15 872 582, representing an increase of 40.89 % compared to 2015. The increase was due to new additional tasks expanding its mandate, including the completion of the internal energy market. Budget and financial management : budget monitoring efforts during the financial year 2016 resulted in a budget implementation rate of 98.11 %, reaching the Agency’s planned target and representing an increase of 3.02 % compared to 2015. Commitments and carry-overs : the carry-overs for operational expenditure were very high at EUR 4.9 million (86 %) of its committed appropriations, compared to EUR 1.4 million (59 %) in 2015. Members noted from the Agency’s reply that the high level of carry-overs is due to the timing of the annual contractual cycle, which was established in 2013, when a substantial additional budget for the REMIT project was received by the Agency at the end of the year. The commitment appropriation for the financial year 2016 under the budget Chapter of REMIT expenditure was implemented at the maximum 100 % level. The resolution noted that the high share of cancelled carry-overs (9.8 %) could be considered a sign of inaccurate budget planning. Members also made a series of observations regarding staff policy and internal controls. In particular, they welcomed the decision adopted in 2017 of the administrative board on preventing psychological and sexual harassment , and the decision to create a register of meetings of the Agency's Director with external actors. They noted that women accounted for 38% of staff and men for 62%. Lastly, Parliament recalled that, according to the Seat Agreement between the Agency and the Slovenian government, a European School is to be established in Slovenia. It regretted however that, more than four years after the agreement, no European School has been set up. date: 2018-04-18T00:00:00 type: End of procedure in Parliament body: EP date: 2018-10-03T00:00:00 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 2016. NON-LEGISLATIVE ACT: Decision (EU) 2018/1340 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 2016. CONTENT: the European Parliament decided to grant 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 2016. This decision is accompanied by a resolution of the European Parliament containing the observations which form an integral part of the discharge decision in respect of the implementation of the general budget of the European Union for the financial year 2016 ( please refer to the summary dated 18.4.2018 ). In this resolution, Parliament recalled that , according to the Seat Agreement between the Agency and the Slovenian government, a European School is to be established in Slovenia. However, it regretted once again that more than four years after the agreement, no European School has been set up. It acknowledged that the Agency continued in 2016 to implement its policies related to ethics and integrity, such as the policy on the prevention and management of conflicts of interest, as well as its anti-fraud and whistleblowing policies.
links
other	body: EC dg: url: http://ec.europa.eu/info/departments/budget_en title: Budget commissioner: OETTINGER Günther
procedure/dossier_of_the_committee	Old CONT/8/10830 New CONT/8/10830
procedure/final	title OJ L 248 03.10.2018, p. 0162 url https://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/TXT/?uri=OJ:L:2018:248:TOC
procedure/stage_reached	Old Procedure completed, awaiting publication in Official Journal New Procedure completed
procedure/subject	Old 8.70.03.06 2016 discharge New 8.70.03.06 2016 discharge

2018-09-12Show (6) Changes | Timetravel

activities/1/committees/0/shadows/2	group ECR name MARIAS Notis
activities/2	date 2018-03-20T00:00:00 body EP type Vote in committee, 1st reading/single reading committees body: EP shadows: group: EPP name: SARVAMAA Petri group: S&D name: LIBERADZKI Bogusław group: ECR name: MARIAS Notis group: ALDE name: ALI Nedzhmi group: GUE/NGL name: DE JONG Dennis group: EFD name: VALLI Marco group: ENF name: KAPPEL Barbara responsible: True committee: CONT date: 2017-09-14T00:00:00 committee_full: Budgetary Control rapporteur: group: Verts/ALE name: STAES Bart body: EP responsible: False committee_full: Industry, Research and Energy committee: ITRE
activities/3	date 2018-03-22T00:00:00 docs url: http://www.europarl.europa.eu/sides/getDoc.do?type=REPORT&mode=XML&reference=A8-2018-0074&language=EN type: Committee report tabled for plenary, single reading title: A8-0074/2018 body EP type Committee report tabled for plenary, single reading
activities/4	date 2018-04-18T00:00:00 docs url: http://www.europarl.europa.eu/oeil/popups/sda.do?id=30930&l=en type: Results of vote in Parliament title: Results of vote in Parliament url: http://www.europarl.europa.eu/sides/getDoc.do?secondRef=TOC&language=EN&reference=20180418&type=CRE type: Debate in Parliament title: Debate in Parliament url: http://www.europarl.europa.eu/sides/getDoc.do?type=TA&language=EN&reference=P8-TA-2018-0134 type: Decision by Parliament, 1st reading/single reading title: T8-0134/2018 body EP type Results of vote in Parliament
committees/0/shadows/2	group ECR name MARIAS Notis
procedure/stage_reached	Old Awaiting committee decision New Procedure completed, awaiting publication in Official Journal

2017-11-10Show (1) Changes | Timetravel

activities/0/docs/0/text

PURPOSE: presentation by the Commission of the consolidated annual accounts of the European Union for the financial year 2016, as part of the 2016 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.

This Commission document concerns the EU's consolidated accounts for the year 2016 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.

Despite the fact that the Agency continued to struggle with resource constraints, it largely met its main objectives set out for 2016.

As regards the Agency’s accounts, these are presented in detail in the document on the consolidated annual accounts of the European Union for 2016:

Commitment appropriations:
- available: EUR 16 million;
- made: EUR 16 million.
Payment appropriations:
- available: EUR 18 million;
- paid: EUR 12 million.
For further details on expenditure, please refer to the final accounts of the ACER.

2017-10-05Show (2) Changes | Timetravel

activities/1/committees/0/shadows/5	group ENF name KAPPEL Barbara
committees/0/shadows/5	group ENF name KAPPEL Barbara

2017-09-22Show (2) Changes | Timetravel

activities/0/commission/0	DG url: http://ec.europa.eu/info/departments/budget_en title: Budget Commissioner OETTINGER Günther
other/0	body EC dg url: http://ec.europa.eu/info/departments/budget_en title: Budget commissioner OETTINGER Günther

2017-09-16Show (3) Changes | Timetravel

activities/1	date 2017-09-13T00:00:00 body EP type Committee referral announced in Parliament, 1st reading/single reading committees body: EP shadows: group: EPP name: SARVAMAA Petri group: S&D name: LIBERADZKI Bogusław group: ALDE name: ALI Nedzhmi group: GUE/NGL name: DE JONG Dennis group: EFD name: VALLI Marco responsible: True committee: CONT date: 2017-09-14T00:00:00 committee_full: Budgetary Control rapporteur: group: Verts/ALE name: STAES Bart body: EP responsible: False committee_full: Industry, Research and Energy committee: ITRE
procedure/dossier_of_the_committee	CONT/8/10830
procedure/stage_reached	Old Preparatory phase in Parliament New Awaiting committee decision

2017-09-15Show (3) Changes | Timetravel

committees/0/date	2017-09-14T00:00:00
committees/0/rapporteur	group: Verts/ALE name: STAES Bart
committees/0/shadows	group: EPP name: SARVAMAA Petri group: S&D name: LIBERADZKI Bogusław group: ALDE name: ALI Nedzhmi group: GUE/NGL name: DE JONG Dennis group: EFD name: VALLI Marco

2017-09-13Show (5) Changes

activities	date: 2017-06-26T00:00:00 docs: url: http://www.europarl.europa.eu/RegData/docs_autres_institutions/commission_europeenne/com/2017/0365/COM_COM(2017)0365_EN.pdf title: COM(2017)0365 type: Non-legislative basic document published celexid: CELEX:52017DC0365:EN body: EC commission: type: Non-legislative basic document published
committees	body: EP responsible: True committee_full: Budgetary Control committee: CONT body: EP responsible: False committee_full: Industry, Research and Energy committee: ITRE
links
other
procedure	stage_reached Preparatory phase in Parliament subject 8.70.03.06 2016 discharge type DEC - Discharge procedure reference 2017/2174(DEC) title 2016 discharge: Agency for the Cooperation of Energy Regulators (ACER)

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