Decision giving discharge in respect of the implementation of the budget for the financial year 1997 Section I - European Parliament/Ombudsman annex
Date: 1999-05-04
Institutions: Committee on Budgetary Control, European Parliament
Subjects: Community budget, European Ombudsman, Middle East

1.10.1999

EN

Official Journal of the European Communities

C 279/129

Tuesday 4 May 1999

(c)  A4-0199/99

I.

Decision giving discharge in respect of the implementation of the budget for the financial year 1997
Section I − European Parliament/Ombudsman annex

The European Parliament,

−  having regard to its Rules of Procedure, and in particular Rule 166(3) thereof,

−  having regard to Article 77 of the Financial Regulation and Article 13 of the Internal Rules for the

implementation of the European Parliament’s budget,

−  having regard to the revenue and expenditure account and the balance sheet for the financial year 1997

(SEC(98)0521 − C4-0353/98),

−  having  regard  to  the  administrative  cooperation  agreement  concluded  between  the  European

Parliament and the European Ombudsman on 22 September 1995,

−  having regard to the Annual Report of the Court of Auditors concerning the financial year 1997 (1),

−  having regard to Special Report No 10/98 of the Court of Auditors on the payment of expenses and
allowances to Members of the European Parliament, with the European Parliament’s replies (2),

−  having regard to the report of the Committee on Budgetary Control (A4-0199/99),

European Parliament

Adopts the figures closing the accounts of the European Parliament for the financial year 1997 on the

1.
basis of the following amounts:

Utilisation of appropriations (in ecus)

Appropriations for
financial year 1997

Approps. carried over from financial year 1996

Article 7(1)(b)

Article 7(1)(a)

Appropriations available

887 207 914,00

119 320 854,45

18 616 000,00

Commitments entered into

867 715 417,11

−

−

Payments made

777 174 935,47

76 472 777,50

6 757 580,81

Appropriations carried over to 1998:
− Article 7(1)(b), Fin. Reg
− Article 7(1)(a), Fin. Reg

90 540 481,64
4 522 000,00

−

−

Appropriations to be cancelled

14 970 496,89

42 848 076,95

11 858 419,19

Balance as at 31 December 1997:

201 427 906

2.
Deplores  the  continued  rise  in  the  cancellation  of  appropriations,  both  those  for  1997  and  those
carried over from the previous financial year; notes that only part of these cancellations is due to delays in
the acceptance of Parliament’s buildings (D3/Spinelli and IPE IV/Louise Weiss);

3.
Looks to Parliament’s various bodies, within their remit, to take sufficient account of the financial
and  budgetary  parameters  of  their  decisions;  further  expects  to  receive  an  initial  report  on  the  use  of
human resources in the performance of their tasks (activity-based budgeting);

4.
Notes  the  measures  taken  by  the  Secretary-General  aimed  at  ensuring  the  optimum  use  of
appropriations  entered  in  the  budget,  in  accordance  with  the  express  wish  of  the  budgetary  authority;
expects to receive, in time for the first reading of the 2000 budget, a report on the impact of the measures
taken to introduce effective programming in the award of contracts by Parliament, particularly those for
external services;

(1)  OJ C 349, 17.11.1998.
(2)  OJ C 243, 3.8.1998.

C 279/130

EN

Official Journal of the European Communities

1.10.1999

Tuesday 4 May 1999

Recalls  that  the  relevant  provisions  on  the  allocation  of  posts  and  promotions  must  be  strictly

5.
observed and applied;

Notes that Parliament lost 7 cases in relation to staff matters in the Court of First Instance and the

6.
Court of Justice during 1997;

Calls for the new staff policy adopted by the Bureau on 20 October 1997 (1), and in particular the
7.
measures aiming at mobility and the reorganisation of departments, to be implemented solely with a view
to improving the functioning of the European Parliament;

8.
Asks for additional information to be provided, in time for the first reading of the 2000 budget, on the
way in which the tasks of DG IV will be coordinated with those of the staff of STOA, including a staffing
table showing the allocation of tasks;

Notes  the  measures  taken  at  the  end  of  1996,  following  successive  refusals  to  grant  approval,  to
9.
improve the management of the freelance interpreters sector (Item 1879); considers, in view of the rise in
the number of cancelled appropriations, that further corrective action must be taken;

10.
Reiterates its view of the importance of providing aid to the democratically elected parliaments of
Central  and  Eastern  Europe  and  the  Mediterranean  area;  calls,  in  this  connection,  for  a  report  to  be
submitted  to  the  Committee  on  Budgetary  Control  on  the  reasons  why  some  30%  of  the  initial
appropriations under Item 2995 could not be used in 1997;

11.
Draws the Council’s attention to the resolution, adopted in plenary on 3 December 1998, on the
Statute for Members (2); reiterates its call on the Member States, made in the resolution of 23 March 1999
on the resignation of the Commission (paragraph 15) (3), to bring this matter to a conclusion before the
forthcoming European elections;

12.
Calls also on the Council to give a ruling as soon as possible on the amendment of the conditions of
employment of other servants of the Communities so that an appropriate framework can be defined for
parliamentary assistants;

13.
Recalls  that  the  Court  of  Auditors  may  at  any  time  investigate  the  conformity  of  the  European
Parliament’s use of its appropriations from the budget with the rules in force, including the appropriations
allocated to political groups;

14.
Recalls  its  resolution  of  10  December  1996  on  the  constitutional  status  of  European  political
parties (4)  and  in  particular  paragraph  2  thereof,  in  which  it  calls  on  the  European  Union  to  pass  a
framework regulation on the legal status of European political parties and a Regulation on the financial
status of European political parties; calls on the Council and Commission to play their role fully so that the
procedure for the drafting of these acts can be launched and completed without delay, thereby enabling the
European Parliament and the European parties to put into practice their wish to create transparency and
clarity in financial and budgetary matters in their own spheres of activity;

Grants discharge to its Secretary-General in respect of the implementation of the budget for the

15.
1997 financial year;

Ombudsman Annex

Regrets that, in 1997, the rate of implementation of appropriations (82,10%) remained unchanged,
16.
or even fell slightly, in relation to 1996, while conceding that these were the first financial years in which
these figures appeared in the budget;

Calls for an improvement in the programming of work, together with the budgetary forecasts, so as

17.
to encourage the optimum use of these appropriations;

*

*

*

18.

19.

Authorises the giving of discharge to the Accounting Officer for the 1997 financial year;

Instructs its President to forward this decision to the Council.

(1)  PE 262.036/BUR.
(2)  OJ C 398, 21.12.1998, p. 24.
(3)  Minutes of that date, Part II, Item 2.
(4)  OJ C 20, 20.1.1997, p. 29.