4.European Parliament resolution postponing the decision concerning discharge in respect of the general budget of the European Union for the financial year 1999 Section VI – Part A: Economic and Social Committee (SEC(2000) 539 — C5-0312/2000 — C5-0617/2000 - 2000/2156(DEC))
Date: 2001-04-04
Institutions: Committee on Budgetary Control, European Parliament
Subjects: Cedefop, Eurofound, budgetary discharge, financial year, general budget (EU)

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4.
European Parliament resolution postponing the decision concerning discharge in respect of the
general budget of the European Union for the financial year 1999 Section VI (cid:129) Part A: Economic
and Social Committee (SEC(2000) 539 (cid:129) C5-0312/2000 (cid:129) C5-0617/2000 (cid:129) 2000/2156(DEC))

The European Parliament,

(cid:129) having regard to the revenue and expenditure account and the balance sheet for the 1999 financial

year (SEC(2000) 539 (cid:129) C5-0312/2000),

(cid:129) having regard to the Annual Report of the Court of Auditors concerning the financial year 1999, with

the replies of the institutions (C5-0617/2000) (1),

(cid:129) having regard to the Statement of Assurance as to the reliability of the accounts and the legality and
regularity of the underlying transactions provided by the Court of Auditors pursuant to Article 248 of
the EC Treaty (C5-0617/2000),

(cid:129) having regard to the Council(cid:146)s recommendation of 12 March 2001 (C5-0127/2001),

(cid:129) having regard to Article 272(10) of the EC Treaty,

(cid:129) having regard to Article 22(2) and (3) of the Financial Regulation,

(cid:129) having regard to the report submitted to Parliament by the Economic and Social Committee on all
appropriations carried over automatically from 1997 to 1998 and from 1998 to 1999 for which the
cancellation rate was higher than 10 % (Section VI (cid:129) Parts A and C of the general budget),

(cid:129) having regard to the report of the Committee on Budgetary Control (A5-0108/2001),

A. whereas, in the light of the serious irregularities in the management of the appropriations of the
Economic and Social Committee contained in the Court of Auditors(cid:146) Annual Report for 1996, Parlia-
ment postponed, in its resolution of 7 October 1998 (2), its decision concerning discharge for 1996,

B. whereas one of the main conditions which Parliament imposed on the Economic and Social Commit-
tee for the grant of discharge in its abovementioned resolution of 7 October 1998 was that the matter
should be referred to UCLAF (cid:145)to enable the extent of administrative involvement or responsibility to
be fully determined as regards the entry into the accounts, the commitment, the authorisation and the
payment of expenditure(cid:146),

C. whereas, since at the time of consideration of the 1998 discharge the previous condition had still not
been met, Parliament postponed, in its resolution of 13 April 2000 (3), its decision concerning dis-
charge for 1998 until it had received the conclusions of the OLAF inquiry,

1. Welcomes the Court of Auditors(cid:146) confirmation (paragraph 6.20 of the 1999 Annual Report) that
between the end of 1998 and the beginning of 2000, the Economic and Social Committee gradually
implemented the Court of Auditors(cid:146) recommendations relating to the reform of the system of Members(cid:146)
allowances;

2.
Invites the Commission to make extensive use of the Economic and Social Committee(cid:146)s human and
financial resources, by requesting the latter to submit preliminary opinions, prior to the final drafting of its
various proposals;

3.
Notes that during the 1999 financial year, the Economic and Social Committee and the Committee
of the Regions pursued their negotiations with the owners of the Belliard complex building and that, in
accordance with the policy of the budgetary authority, they reimbursed Parliament its rental payments for
the premises;
in
December 2000; undertakes to examine the conditions of this agreement in next year(cid:146)s discharge pro-
cedure;

further notes that these negotiations finally resulted in a lease-purchase agreement

(1) OJ C 342, 1.12.2000.
(2) OJ C 328, 26.10.1998, p. 115.
(3) See paragraph 1 of European Parliament resolution of 13 April 2000 informing the Economic and Social Commit-
tee of the reasons for the postponement of the decision concerning discharge in respect of the general dudget of the
European Union for the financial year 1998: Section VI (cid:129) Part A: Economic and Social Committee (OJ C 40,
7.2.2001, p. 391).

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4. Welcomes the substantial savings to the European Union budget resulting from joint services with
the Committee of the Regions and encourages other institutions to follow this example, for instance by
sharing library facilities;

Notes that, over a year after the matter of irregularities mentioned by the Court of Auditors in its
5.
Annual Report for 1996 was referred to OLAF, the latter(cid:146)s conclusions are still pending; asks OLAF to
proceed to wind up its inquiries as soon as possible to enable Parliament to pronounce on the discharge in
respect of financial years 1996-1999;

6.
Calls on the Economic and Social Committee to present an evaluation of the impact of its work,
which answers, inter alia, the following question: To what extent does the Economic and Social Committee
duplicate activities undertaken by employers, union representatives and consumer groups at national and
European level;

7. Welcomes the efforts of the Economic and Social Committee to measure the impact of its activities
on European Union legislation and encourages them to take this further and make public the results;

Calls on the Economic and Social Committee to analyse the option of appointing an Internal Auditor
8.
who is independent from the Financial Controller, and to report to the European Parliament on the out-
come of this analysis;

9.
Notes the report submitted to Parliament on appropriations carried over automatically from 1997 to
1998 and from 1998 to 1999 for which the cancellation rate was higher than 10 % (1); believes that a
great deal of the cancellations were due to rules that need tightening (late submission of applications for
removal expenses, installation, resettlement and transfer allowances, as well as declarations on mission
expenses), problems in the implementation of the new billing system of the Joint Interpreting and Con-
ference Service (JICS), overestimates of costs of various brochures, untimely conclusion of competitions
jointly organized with other institutions including Parliament, etc.; asks the Economic and Social Commit-
tee to take remedial action for the reduction of cancellations, in cooperation where appropriate with other
institutions;

it has
Decides to postpone the discharge decision in respect of the 1999 financial year until
10.
received the conclusions of the OLAF inquiry, under the terms set out in its abovementioned resolution
on postponement of the 1996 discharge;

Instructs its President to forward this resolution to the Council, the Commission, the Court of

11.
Auditors and the Economic and Social Committee;

(1) See paragraph 1 of European Parliament resolution of 13 April 2000 (OJ C 40, 7.2.2001, p. 391).

7. 1999 discharge (ECSC)

A5-0097/2001

1.
European Parliament decision concerning the discharge in respect of the implementation of the
budget of the European Coal and Steel Community (ECSC) for the 1999 financial year (C5-0654/
2000 (cid:129) 2000/2167(DEC))

The European Parliament,

(cid:129) having regard to the Court of Auditors(cid:146) report on the financial statements of the European Coal and

Steel Community at 31 December 1999 (1),

(cid:129) having regard to the Court of Auditors(cid:146) annual report on the ECSC for the financial year 1999 (includ-
together with the Commission(cid:146)s replies

ing the statement of assurance concerning the ECSC),
(C5-0654/2000) (2),

(1) OJ C 281, 4.10.2000, p. 26.
(2) OJ C 347, 4.12.2000, p. 1.