REPLIES OF THE COMMISSION TO CHAPTER 9 OF THE ANNUAL REPORT 2009 ADMINISTRATIVE AND OTHER EXPENDITURE
Date: 2010-09-07
Institutions: European Commission
Subjects: European Court of Auditors, European official, State aid, administrative procedure, social-security benefit, staff regulations (EU)

EN 

EN 

   EN 

 
EUROPEAN COMMISSION 

Brussels, 7.9.2010 
SEC(2010) 1018 final 

REPLIES OF THE COMMISSION TO CHAPTER 9 OF THE ANNUAL REPORT  

2009 ADMINISTRATIVE AND OTHER EXPENDITURE 

EN 

   EN 

 
 
REPLIES OF THE COMMISSION TO CHAPTER 9 OF THE ANNUAL REPORT  

2009 ADMINISTRATIVE AND OTHER EXPENDITURE 

INTRODUCTION 

REGULARITY OF TRANSACTIONS 

9.9.  The  Commission  welcomes  the  Court  of  Auditors'  positive  assessment  that  the 
administrative expenditure was free from material error. 

OBSERVATIONS ON SPECIFIC INSTITUTIONS 

9.18.  The  Office  for  Administration  and  Payments  of  Individual  Entitlements  (PMO)  has 
already taken action to catch up delays in the control of national social allowances and will 
follow up the detected cases. Between mid October 2009 and end of April 2010, 348 files out 
of 598 files have been opened and already 243 files have been closed. Controls will continue 
further.  

It  is  foreseen  to  build  in  the  new  system  the  possibility  to  update  automatically  national 
allowances, but it will not be possible to put this module into operation before the beginning 
of 2011. However, from that moment onwards, allowances will be corrected retroactively and 
recovered according to article 85 of the Staff regulations. 

9.19.  The  Commission  (DG  RELEX)  takes  note  of  this  observation  and  will  address  this 
problem  with the  provision  of  timely  and  adequate  information to  officials  and with  regular 
checks. There are checks on the personal situation of staff when new staff arrives to take up 
their posts. Regular checks on staff who have served for some time may also be undertaken as 
a  part  of  controls  operated  by  the  units  responsible  for  the  management  of  rights  and 
obligations of staff in Delegations.  

In particular, the forthcoming creation of the European External Action Service (EEAS) will 
require  the  circulation  of  information  and  the  adoption  where  necessary  of  standard 
documents for the new service. The adaptation of the EC Staff Regulations will provide the 
opportunity  to  remind  staff  that,  among  other  matters, where  their  personal  circumstances 
change  they  have  to  inform  the  EEAS's  services and they  have  to  provide  the  documents 
proving their situation.  

Concerning  the  five  cases  identified  the  Commission  will  duly  follow-up  these  cases  and  if 
there is a financial impact, the necessary corrective measures shall be taken. 

9.20. The update of all files where this provision of the Staff Regulation is applicable began in 
February  2010.  As  soon  as  the  backlog  will  have  been  addressed,  the  PMO  will  review  the 
files concerned whenever there is a modification in the situation of the beneficiaries or when 
the criteria mentioned in Article 81a apply. The PMO will also examine if the new IT system 
being  developed  for  determining  the  pensions  could  be  used  for  an  automatic  update  of  the 
files. 

EUROPEAN AGENCIES 

9.34. When preparing the 2008 budget, the Commission proposed a budget for the Euratom 
Supply Agency (ESA). This was refused by the Budgetary Authority and so the Commission 
took charge of all the expenses incurred by the ESA in 2008. The Commission continued to 
take  charge  of  the  ESA's  expenses  in  the  2009  and  2010  budgets  and  has  proposed  to  do 
likewise for 2011. 

EN 

2 

   EN 

EUROPEAN SCHOOLS 

9.37. The application of the accrual based accounting principle is being examined in a review, 
currently under way, of the Financial Regulation of the European Schools. Proposals arising 
from the review will be submitted to the Board of Governors later this year. 

Annex 9.4 

Point  6.  The  PMO  has  already  started  the  tests  of  the  redevelopped  modules  for  the 
management  of  individual  entitlements.  The  extensive  test  programme  elaborated  takes  into 
account the lessons drawn from past experience. 

Point  7.  Making  the  current  complementary  scheme  permanent  needs  a  legal  basis.  This 
requires  an  amendment  of  the  Conditions  of  Employment  of  Other  Staff,  which  the 
Commission has included in the EEAS proposal to the Council and the Parliament. 

EN 

3 

   EN