EN Official Journal of the European Union L 252/23

RESOLUTION (EU) 2017/1605 OF THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT

of 27 April 2017

with observations forming an integral part of the decision on discharge in respect of the implementation of the general budget of the European Union for the financial year 2015, Section II — European Council and Council

THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT,

— having regard to its decision on discharge in respect of the implementation of the general budget of the European Union for the financial year 2015, Section II — European Council and Council,

— having regard to Rule 94 of and Annex IV to its Rules of Procedure,

— having regard to the report of the Committee on Budgetary Control (A8-0131/2017),

A. whereas in the context of the discharge procedure, Parliament stresses the special importance of further strengthening of the democratic legitimacy of the Union institutions through improving on transparency and accountability, implementing the concept of the performance-based budgeting and good governance of human resources;

1. Notes that on the basis of its audit work, the Court of Auditors (the ‘Court’) concluded that the payments as a whole for the year ended on 31 December 2015 for administrative and other expenditure of the institutions and bodies were free from material error;

2. Notes with satisfaction that in its annual report on the implementation of the budget concerning the financial year 2015 (‘the Court's report’), the Court observed that no significant weaknesses had been identified in respect of the audited topics related to human resources and procurement for the European Council and Council;

3. Notes that in 2015, the European Council and the Council had an overall budget of EUR 541 791 500 (EUR 534 202 300 in 2014), with an implementation rate of 92,6 %;

4. Takes note of the increase of EUR 7,6 million (+ 1,4 %) in the Council's budget for 2015;

5. Notes the publication by the General Secretariat of the Council (GSC) of the annual activity reports of the Legal Service, the Communication and Document Management and the Administration directors-general;

6. Takes note of the explanations provided in the Administration annual activity report on structural underspending; yet is concerned that the underspending rate continues to be high in certain categories; encourages the development of key performance indicators to improve budgetary planning;

7. Maintains its concern with the very high number of appropriations being carried over from 2015 to 2016, particularly those on property, plant and equipment;

8. Reiterates that the budget of the European Council and the Council should be separated in order to contribute to the transparency of the financial management of the institutions and to improve the accountability of both institutions;

9. Asks for the overview of human resources to be broken down by category, grade, sex, nationality and vocational training;

10. Emphasises that geographical balance, namely the relationship between staff nationality and the size of Member States, should still remain an important element of resources management particularly with respect to the Member States that have acceded to the Union since 2004; welcomes the fact that the European Council and the Council have reached an overall balanced composition of officials from the Member States which joined the Union before and since 2004, but points out that Member States which acceded to the Union in 2004 or after are still under-represented at the higher level of administration and in managerial posts, for which progress is still awaited;

11. Notes the existence of a gender balance policy in the GSC; welcomes the positive trend of gender balance in management; calls on the Council, however, to further strengthen its efforts, pointing to the fact that the level of gender balance in the management posts still reached only 30 %/70 % by the end of 2015;

12. Welcomes the information regarding the occupational activities of former senior officials of the GSC after leaving the service (1) in the year 2015; supports the full transparency and publication of such information every year;

13. Notes with great concern that the GSC in 2015 had still not implemented internal whistleblowing rules, as remarked by the Ombudsman; calls on the Council to implement internal whistleblowing rules without further delay;

14. Observes the Council's establishment plan to comply with the inter-institutional agreement to reduce staff by 5 % over a period of five years; asks to be informed how this reduction tallies with the creation of 19 new posts; suggests that the Council report back to Parliament on the possible alternative savings achieved to compensate for the delay in the reduction of staff;

15. Takes note of the Directorate-General Administration's reorganisation to improve its quality and efficiency; expects this reform to have a positive impact on the implementation of the Council's budget;

16. Is concerned at the delivery delay of the Europa building; asks to be informed of the financial impact of the postponement;

17. Reiterates its call for the Council's building policy to be provided to the discharge authority; reminds the Council of Parliament's call for progress reports on building projects and a detailed breakdown of the costs incurred to date;

18. Notes with satisfaction that the GSC obtained the eco-dynamic enterprise label in 2015 and EMAS certification in 2016 for its efficient environment management;

State of play

19. Takes note of the secretary-general of the Council's official reply to the invitation of Parliament's Committee on Budgetary Control to attend the exchange of views with the secretary-generals of the other institutions; observes that the reply simply reiterates the Council position on the exchange of financial information already expressed in the past; notes that the written questionnaire sent to the GSC on 17 November 2016 with questions from the Members remained unanswered;

20. Reiterates that the Council ought to be transparent and fully accountable to Union citizens for the funds entrusted to it as a Union institution; stresses that this implies that the Council must take part fully and in good faith in the annual discharge procedure, just as the other institutions do; considers, in this regard, that effective supervision of the Union's budget implementation requires cooperation between Parliament and the Council through a working arrangement; deeply regrets the difficulties encountered in the discharge procedures to date;

21. Insists that the expenditure of the Council must be scrutinised in the same way as that of other institutions and points out that the basics of such scrutiny have been laid down in its discharge resolutions of the past years;

22. Recalls that Parliament grants discharge to the other institutions after considering the documents provided and the replies given to the questions; regrets that Parliament repeatedly encounters problems in receiving answers from the Council; in this sense hopes for a much improved cooperation with the secretary-general of the Council for whom the year 2015 was the first year he took on these new responsibilities;

23. Regrets the failure in the past to grant the discharge due to insufficient cooperation between Parliament and the Council; notes that there would appear to be greater goodwill on both sides and expresses optimism that progress will be made with a view to improving cooperation in the future, something that will improve the public image of Parliament and the Council; calls on Parliament and the Council to continue along this path;

24. Underlines the Parliament's power to grant discharge pursuant to Articles 316, 317 and 319 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union and Articles 164 to 167 of Regulation (EU, Euratom) No 966/2012, and affirms that granting or not granting discharge is a duty that Parliament has towards the Union citizens;

25. Recalls that each of the institutions, as defined in Article 2(b) of Regulation (EU, Euratom) No 966/2012, is autonomous in implementing its own section of the budget given its budgetary autonomy laid down in Article 55 of that Regulation; affirms that, according to the practice and the interpretation of the current rules and the budgetary autonomy of the Council, and in order to maintain transparency and democratic accountability towards Union taxpayers, the Parliament grants discharge to each institution individually;

26. Considers that satisfactory cooperation between Parliament, the European Council and the Council as a result of an open and formal dialogue procedure can be a positive sign to be sent to the citizens of the Union.

(1) Third and fourth paragraphs of Article 16 of the Staff Regulations.