Decision giving discharge in respect of the implementation of the budget for the financial year 1994SECTIONS IV - COURT OF JUSTICEV - COURT OF AUDITORSVI - ECONOMIC AND SOCIAL COMMITTEE / COMMITTEE OF THE REGIONS

The European Parliament,

- having regard to Article 203(10) of the Treaty on European Union,

- having regard to Article 22(2) and (3) of the Financial Regulation,

- having regard to its resolution of 26 October 1995 ((OJ C 308, 20.11.1995, p. 122.)) on the 1996 draft budget,

- having regard to the revenue and expenditure account and balance sheet concerning the financial year 1994 (SEC(95)0254),

- having regard to the report of the Committee on Budgetary Control (A4-0132/96),

1. Regards as justified its move to introduce an ad hoc discharge procedure for Sections IV, V and VI of the general budget;

2. Calls on all the Institutions and advisory bodies concerned to rationalize their recruitment procedures in order to restrict the use of auxiliary staff; urges, where the use of such staff is necessary, that the broadest possible range of applicants should be considered; asks each Institution and advisory body to submit a report on its policy on auxiliary staff recruitment, including the way in which the rules on policy for equality of opportunity between men and women have been applied, to Parliament's Committee on Budgetary Control in good time for the first reading of the 1997 budget;

3. Urges that proposals for transfers of appropriations within and between chapters should be accompanied by appropriate justifications, so as to enable Parliament to discharge its budgetary and discharge authority duties;

4. Calls in particular on the Court of Justice to:

- improve the quality of its budget estimates, particularly as regards expenditure under Title 2,

- comply with the provisions of the Financial Regulation as regards the award of contracts in connection with group travel,

- to take the cost-benefit ratio into account when deciding whether or not to take part in academic events, whose importance is in no way called into question;

5. Notes that once again, in 1994, the Council appointed new Members of the Court of Auditors in such a way as to cause a remuneration overlap; welcomes the fact that, for the most recent appointments, the Council has complied with Parliament's approach in this connection;

6. Expresses its concern regarding the recruitment policy of the Committee of the Regions; calls in this connection for a report to be submitted to its Committee on Budgetary Control, in good time for the first reading of the 1997 budget, which covers all the aspects of that policy and, in particular, the geographical distribution of the COR's officials;

7. Calls for an outside audit to be carried out into the mission and travel expenses of the Members of the Committee of the Regions and for the conclusions thereof to be notified to Parliament's Committee on Budgetary Control in good time for the first reading of the 1997 budget;

8. Gives discharge to the Secretaries-General of the Court of Justice, the Court of Auditors, the Economic and Social Committee and the Committee of the Regions in respect of the implementation of the budget of their respective institutions and advisory bodies for the financial year 1994;

9. Instructs its President to forward this decision to the Institutions and advisory bodies concerned.