CELEX: 31977D0907(01)
Language: en
Date: 1977-07-07 00:00:00
Title: Decision of the European Parliament of 7 July 1977 on the discharge to be granted to the Commission in respect of the implementation of the budget of the European Communities for the 1975 financial year and on the report of the Audit Board

7. 9 . 77                            Official Journal of the European Communities                                No L 229/ 1
                                                             II
                                        (Acts whose publication is not obligatory)
                                   EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT
                                  DECISION OF THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT
                                                      of 7 July 1977
               on the discharge to be granted to the Commission in respect of the implementation of
                the budget of the European Communities for the 1975 financial year and on the report
                                                    of the Audit Board
THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT,                                         3.     Grants a discharge in respect of the following
                                                                 amounts shown in the accounts for the 1975 financial
— having regard to the revenue and expenditure                   year :
    accounts      and  the   statements   of  assets   and
    liabilities of the Communities for the accountancy           ( a) Revenue (entitlement): 6 213 709 210-10 u.a.,
    procedures in respect of the 1975 budget and the
    accounts of the Euratom Supply Agency (Doc.
    523/76),
                                                                 ( b ) Expenditure     (payments    effected   during    the
                                                                       financial year): 6 411 227 569-24 u.a.,
— having regard to the report of the Audit Board on
    the accounts for the financial year 1975 and the                   broken down as follows :
    answers of the institutions to the report (Doc.
    523/76),                                                           — payments from appropriations for the 1975
                                                                           financial year : 5 004 669 618-40 u.a .,
— having regard to the Council Decision of 25 April
    1977 on the granting of a discharge to the                         — payments from appropriations brought
     Commission (Doc. 97/77),                                              forward from previous financial years :
                                                                           1 406 557 950-84 u.a.;
— having regard to the report of the Committee on
     Budgets (Doc. 165 /77),
                                                                 4. Reserves judgment on the management of the
1 . Notes that expenditure to be met from revenue                European Centre for the Development of Vocational
for the financial year totalled 6 213 608 628-64 u.a.;           Training ;
2. Notes that appropriations utilized during the
year totalled 6 242 846 173-01 u.a., broken down as              5.      Draws attention to its resolution embodying the
follows :                                                        comments accompanying the decision granting a
Payments : 5 004 669 618-40 u.a.,                                discharge and requests the Institutions to report on
                                                                 the measures taken following those comments in
Carried forward         to  the    1976   financial  year :      accordance      with    Article   92   of   the    Financial
1238 176 554-61 u.a .;                                           Regulation.
               Done at Luxembourg, 7 July 1977.
                 The Secretary-General                                                   The President
                      H. R. NORD                                                      Emilio COLOMBO
 ---pagebreak--- No L 229/2                          Official Journal of the European Communities                                 7. 9 . 77
                                                     RESOLUTION
              embodying the comments accompanying the decisions granting a discharge in respect of
              the implementation of the budget of the European Communities for the 1975 financial
                                                         year i1)
THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT,                                          7.     Calls on the Court of Auditors to examine
                                                                  jointly with Parliament the problems involved in the
1.     Calls on all the institutions to take appropriate          extension and improvement of external Community
action on the comments made by the Audit Board in                control ;
its report and requests them to give an account of the
relevant measures taken pursuant to Article 92, third
                                                                  8.     Takes    the   view  that   relations  between
paragraph of the Financial Regulation ;
                                                                  Community and national external control bodies
                                                                  should be based on the provisions of the Treaty of 22
2.     Is of the opinion that the institutions should,            July 1975 and that the development of these relations
pursuant to the second paragraph of Article 90 of the             could lead to integrated external Community control ;
Financial Regulation, forward their replies to the
comments contained in its report to the Court of
Auditors and proposes that the latter should publish
these replies under the relevant chapters of the                  Implementation of the 1975 budget
report ;
                                                                  9 . Notes that most Community policies stagnated
Parliamentary control of the implementation of the                in the 1975 financial year but welcomes the swift start
budget                                                            made by the Regional Fund ;
3 . Believes that the political responsibility of the             10. Believes that the experience of recent financial
Commission finds its clearest expression in the                   years has provided sufficient proof of the fact that
implementation of the budget and that Parliament's                the supplementary budgets policy was not only harm­
budgetary control constitutes the appropriate means               ful but avoidable ;
for the exercise of this responsibility ;
                                                                  11 . Suggests once more that supplementary
Transition from the Audit Board to the Court of                   budgets should be avoided by making the fullest
Auditors
                                                                  possible use of techniques which enhance the
                                                                  budget's role as a forecasting instrument, in order to
4. Draws attention to the fact that, according to                 ensure sound budgetary policy while safeguarding
the provisions of the Treaty of 22 July 1975 , one of             complete financial autonomy ;
 the tasks of the Court of Auditors is to assist
Parliament in exercising its power of control over the
 implementation of the budget and to submit to it not             12. Reaffirms that the Commission's responsibility
only the annual report but also, on request, ad hoc               as regards the implementation of the budget requires
 reports on specific questions ;                                  it to use all the means at its disposal to achieve the
                                                                  political objectives underlying the budget estimate,
5.     Consequently intends — in order to facilitate               and expects the Commission to adopt a clear position
 permanent control and close cooperation with the                 on this matter;
 Court of Auditors — to organize its structure
 accordingly;
                                                                   13 . Formally disapproves of the 'open transfer'
                                                                  procedure, which entails a fundamental modification
 6.    Draws attention once more to the need for
                                                                  of the budget as adopted by the budgetary authority
 continuity in external control, which must not be                and      enables    the   Commission     to  reallocate
 interrupted by the setting up of the Court of                    appropriations without the approval or knowledge of
 Auditors ;                                                       Parliament ;
 (x) The second paragraph of Article 92 of the Financial           14.    Proposes closer cooperation with the other
     Regulation of 25 April 1973 : 'The institutions shall
     take all appropriate steps to take action on the              institutions as regards staff policy and the
     comments appearing in the decisions giving discharge'.        administration of buildings and equipment;
 ---pagebreak--- 7. 9 . 77                           Official Journal of the European Communities                            No L 229/3
15.     Disapproves of the setting up of decentralized        24. Stresses the urgency of adopting the
institutions in instances where such an administrative        long-overdue revision of the law relating to civil
structure is not fully justified by the functions to be       servants ;
performed by these institutions and rejects the system
of 'operating subsidies' which, without creating              25 . Insists that the currency situation in Europe
autonomy vis-a-vis the Commission, precludes any              must not be allowed to lead to unjustified advantages
control by the budgetary authority;                           and disadvantages for European officials;
Management of the funds                                       26 .    Considers     it  essential   for institutions to
                                                              introduce a medium-term policy on buildings in
16. Calls on the Commission to put forward                    order to reduce expenditure on buildings and
concrete proposals for the revision of the current            equipment;
structure of the budget, which is based on a
classification by fund, since this structure constitutes      27.     Calls on the Commission to forward to it
an obstacle to the coordination of the Community's            systematically in future the special report of the
various roles and to budgetary transparency, and              Court of Auditors on the Euratom Supply Agency;
proposes that its structure should give a clearer picture
of the various areas of Community policy;                     28. Is not able at present to grant a discharge to
                                                              the Management Board of the European Centre for
17.      Believes that the Council's interference in the      the Development of Vocational Training and asks the
implementation of the budget must be stopped,                 latter to meet the justified demands made by the
irrespective of whether such interference occurs              Audit Board ;
directly or through committees;
                                                              Research and investment
Revenue
                                                              29. Requests the Commission to keep the research
18 . Asks the Control sub-Committee to report on              and investment part of the budget under constant
the adequacy of the present means of auditing and              review so as to (i) simplify presentation and layout
 controlling Community revenue;                                and (ii) facilitate effective audit and control;
 19.     Also   asks  the   Control   sub-Committee      to
                                                              30. Urges the Commission to use the tendering
examine the different systems applying Community               system (*) on the widest possible scale when
legislation in the sphere of resources with a view to          purchasing or procuring equipment and supplies;
determining        whether     they     are    sufficiently
standardized to ensure that there is no risk of trade
 being diverted from one place to another or of                31 . Stresses the importance of effecting a rapid
Community revenue being lost because of lack of                cut-back of unproductive lines of research and asks
 uniformity in administration ;                                the Commission to keep this factor constantly in
                                                               mind ;
 20.     Calls    on    the   Commission       to    apply
 macroeconomic ratios in its calculation of estimated          32. Calls on the Council to give effect, in the
 own resources and in its checking of receipts                 revision of the Financial Regulation, to the changes in
 patterns ;                                                    the Articles dealing with the research and investment
                                                               appropriations which were endorsed by the European
21 . Urges the Audit Board to continue to pay                  Parliament in its resolution of 14 December 1976 (2);
 particular attention to the aspect of verification of
 certificates of origin, invoices and statements of            33 . Asks the Commission to simplify and
 account ;                                                     standardize the rules on financing of research
                                                               performed under contract;
22.      Calls on the Commission to establish a system
 for combating irregularities and for the recovery of          34.    Believes that the Commission should seek to
 funds outstanding similar to that laid down , in              ensure that, as sought by Parliament, an optimum
 Regulation (EEC) No 283/72 ;                                  balance is maintained between operational research
                                                               costs, and staff expenditure;
 Operating expenditure
23 .     Considers it essential to push ahead with the
 reorganization of the administrative departments in           f1) 'Appel d'offre'.
 order to achieve optimal use of staff;                        (2) OJ No C 6, 10. 1 . 1977, p. 18 .
 ---pagebreak--- No L 229/4                           Official Journal of the European Communities                              7. 9 . 77
Social Fund                                                     Regional Fund
35. Takes note of the Commission's efforts during               38 . Requests the Commission to reconsider its
 1976 to ensure the more rapid use of Social Fund               procedures so that they ensure that the different
 appropriations but takes the view that a number of             instruments of Community policy are coordinated to
difficulties still existed in 1975 which prevented the          enable every possible benefit to be drawn from a
 implementation of a genuine common social policy,              global regional policy and budgetary resources to be
for which in any case insufficient resources were               utilized in the best possible way;
 available to solve the serious social problems in the
 Community.
                                                                39 .     Calls on the Commission to ensure that the
36.      Notes that insufficient cooperation between            functioning of the Regional Fund in no way
the Member States was one of the main reasons for               diminishes the role of the Commission in regard to
 the delay in using the resources of the Social Fund;           implementation of the general budget of the
                                                                European Communities ;
 37. Is of the opinion that the deficiencies observed
in respect of 1975 must be eliminated when the Fund
 is reformed, especially in view of the fact that,              40 . Anxious to safeguard Community resources,
despite the efforts of the Commission, they continued           calls on the Commission to arrange for national
to hamper budgetary management in 1976. These                   funds released by the granting of Regional Fund
 deficiencies may be summarized as follows :                    appropriations to be treated as supplementary
                                                                resources for regional development so that the
 ( a) delays in decisions on the financing of projects          principle of additionality is respected ;
       and on applications for reimbursements of
      expenditure incurred ;
                                                                41 .     Considers that the submission of global
 (b ) the inadequacy of the remedy of granting                  applications for Regional Fund aid could result in
      part-payments higher (up to 85 % ) than those             adequate control of Community expenditure and
       provided for in respect of aid from the old Social       reduce budgetary transparency, and therefore calls on
      Fund ;                                                    the Commission to give priority whenever possible to
                                                                applications other than those of a global nature;
(c) the systematic cancellation of substantial
       appropriations as a result of the slowness of the
      payments procedure;                                       42.       Aware of the importance if appropriate
                                                                publicity for aid granted by the Regional Fund,
(d) the dilatoriness of Member States in submitting             requests that projects receiving aid from the Fund in
      applications ;                                            future be given publicity as soon after they are
                                                                approved as possible so that the provisions of Article
(e) the infrequency of the meetings of the Social               14 (2) of the basic Regulation can be complied with
      Fund Committee, which must give its opinion on            in full ;
      the financing of projects ;
(f) the fact that the forms used for the submission of         43 .      Calls on the Commission once again to
      applications and the instructions they contain as         establish direct contacts with local and regional
      to the implementation of projects are much too            authorities in regions receiving Regional Fund aid in
      complicated ;                                             order to ensure close liaison with them ;
( g) the excessive complexity of the implementation
      and audit machinery arising from the application         44. Deplores the fact that the impact of the fund
      of the principle of payment on the basis of actual        could be weakened as a result of excessive dispersal
      costs ;                                                   of aid for projects of minor importance, and requests
                                                               that in future there should be greater concentration
(h) the adverse effect of the settlement of earlier            of expenditure on specific regions and projects in
      operations on the promotion of new projects ;            order to increase the impact of Community solidarity
                                                               in this area ;
( i) finally and most seriously, the disregard for
      regularity and sound management of Community
      finances and the requirements of a rigorous              45 . Proposes, in order to avoid giving the
      auditing procedure reflected in the delays in            impression that grants of Regional Fund aid are
      financing and implementing projects.                     approved by the Member States themselves rather
 ---pagebreak--- 7. 9 . 77                           Official Journal of the European Communities                            No L 229 /5
than by the Community, that recipients be fully                States to intensify the campaign against these
informed of the source of the aid they receive ;               breaches of Community legislation ;
46. Requests the Commission to analyze the
results carefully each year in order to draw the              54. In particular, urges Member States to reinforce
maximum benefit from past experience;                         mutual aid measures in the struggle against
                                                              irregularities, use data processing on a much wider
                                                              scale, harmonize auditing techniques, and give
47.     Notes that the Commission has introduced a             maximum training and assistance to national officials
series of procedures for controlling the use of fund           engaged in this work ;
resources in order to ensure that the most efficient
use is made of Community aid, and requests the
Commission to pursue and, if necessary, intensify             55 .     Concerned lest the very high level of national
those procedures ;                                             aid to agriculture might, in part, run counter to
                                                               overall Community policy in regard to agriculture
                                                               and weaken the impact of Community budgetary
48 .    Intends to keep a particularly close check on          outlay, calls on the Commission to watch the trend
the management of the Regional Fund in the                     and direction of national aid very carefully,
framework of the report on the discharge in coming             reporting, if necessary, to Parliament on the situation;
 years in order to eliminate any irregularities ;
                                                               56 .    Also concerned about the effect of technical
EAGGF, Guarantee Section                                       obstacles to trade which might detract from the
                                                               effectiveness of the common agricultural policy, asks
                                                               the Commission to check continually on such
49 .    Urges the Council to refrain, in future, from          potential obstacles and report, if necessary, to
using so wide a range of techniques — carry overs,             Parliament on them ;
transfers, supplementary and amending budgets — to
assemble appropriations that should properly have
been provided in the initial budget;
                                                               57. Insists that accounts for past years must be
                                                               closed within reasonable time limits and that, in
50.      Asks the Council not to have recourse again to        future, the provisions of Article 5 (2) (b) of
the so-called 'open transfer' mechanism which results          Regulation (EEC) No 729/70 be complied with in a
in appropriations that have been brought forward               regular manner;
being diverted, in a later year, to finance expenditures
which are radically different from those for which
they were initially authorized by Parliament;                  58 . Believing that codification of Community
                                                               legislation relating to the EAGGF would facilitate the
51 .    Fears that the growing cost of the                     work of all concerned with its management, calls on
                                                               the Commission to make available a loose-leaf binder,
agri-monetary measures might hamper the evolution
of the common agricultural policy, and calls on the            to be kept up-to-date by a regular system of
 Council to press ahead, as a matter of the greatest           amendments , of this legislation ;
urgency, with the broad economic and monetary
measures needed to bring about a situation in which
monetary compensatory amounts will constitute a                59. Asks that the tendering system be used as
 much-diminished share of the budget ;                         much as possible to ensure that market forces operate
                                                               as fully as possible in the agricultural sector;
52. Believes that a strengthening of the position of
Parliament in relation to the budgetary decisions in           60.     Calls on the Audit Board to report, in
the sphere of the common agricultural policy renders           particular, on the subject of storage with special
essential the amendments to Articles 107 and 113 of
                                                               reference to movements           between     regions  of
the Financial Regulation which were proposed on 14             commodities for storage ;
December 1976 and asks the Council to give effect to
these proposals in the amended version of the
Financial Regulation ;
                                                               61 .    Also asks the Audit Board to devote special
                                                               attention to cooperation between Member States
 53 .    Noting the rise in the number of frauds and           themselves and between Member States and the
 irregularities that have been disclosed, urges the            Commission in the matter of efforts to repress frauds
 Commission, the Audit Board, Council and Member               and irregularities.
 ---pagebreak--- No L 229/6                         Official Journal of the European Communities                                 7. 9 . 77
EAGGF, Guidance Section                                       that meet a real need can be maintained if its
                                                              functioning is improved ;
62 . Deplores the Council's inability to introduce a
genuine Community agricultural structures policy ;            68 .   Feels that those measures financed by the
feels in particular that neither existing appropriations      Guidance Section that have a greater effect on the
nor current Regulations make it possible to envisage          economic situation than on agricultural structures
the restoration of balance between Community and              should be considered as coming within the scope of
national projects in this field ;                             the Guarantee Section ;
63 . Requests the Commission, therefore, to draw              Food aid
up proposals for :
— the introduction of a simpler and more efficient            69 .   Considers that the erratic budgetary
    financing system that will provide more of an             management of food aid is clear evidence of the lack
    incentive to Member States and recipients,                of an overall Community policy in this area;
— determining the appropriations to be allocated to
    such projects in keeping with requirements and as         70.    Strongly supports the Commission's present
    part of the budgetary procedure ;                         efforts to remedy this state of affairs ; will oppose any
                                                              Community food aid measures consisting of the
64. Requests the Commission and the Council to                financing of individual projects ;
state the objectives of the Regulations in order to
ensure that appropriations are used for those                 71 . Requests the Court of Auditors to report to it
objectives and to make possible greater coordination          on the effectiveness of Community control in this
of those objectives, so that the EAGGF Guidance               area and on the effectiveness of procedures for the
Section does not become a demagogic system of                 allocation of funds ;
mutual social aid ;
                                                              Development Fund
65.     Reiterates its disapproval of movements of
appropriations that result in appropriations allocated        72. Emphasizes its intention to exercise to the full
for the improvement of agricultural structures not            the control responsibilities in respect of the EDF
being used for their intended purpose ;                       assigned to it by the implementing texts of the
                                                              Convention of Lome, pointing out that these
66. Is of the opinion that a considerable increase            responsibilities imply the budgetization of the EDF at
in the financing of joint schemes forming an integral         an early date ;
part of a coherent agricultural structures policy
should not necessarily result in the abolition of the         73 .    Instructs its Control Subcommittee to consider
system for financing individual projects ;                    jointly with the parties concerned the conditions
                                                              necessary for ensuring effective control of the effects
67.     Calls on the Commission to consider to what           of Community financing on the development of the
extent the system for financing individual projects           recipient countries .
 ---pagebreak--- 7 . 9 . 77                      Official Journal of the European Communities                          No L 229 /7
                                                 RESOLUTION
           embodying the opinion of the European Parliament on the granting of a discharge to the
           Commission of the European Communities in respect of the activities of the first, second
                               and third European Development Funds in 1975
           THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT,
           — having regard to the report of the Audit Board on the accounts for the financial
               year 1975 and the institutions' replies to that report (Doc. 523/76),
           — having regard to the report of the Committee on Budgets and the opinion of the
               Committee on Development and Cooperation (Doc. 165/77),
           1 . Requests the Council to give a discharge to the Commission in respect of the
           financial management of the first, second and third EDF's during the financial year 1975 ;
           2. Notes the inadequacy of Community control, which fails to allow a precise
           assessment of the effects of Community financing on the development of the recipient
           countries, or to provide detailed information on the extent and implications of the
           shortcomings revealed;
           3.    Requests the Commission to suspend all decisions on financing from the secortd
           EDF and to transfer the unused balances to the third EDF ;
           4. Calls upon the Commission to prepare the incorporation of the European Agency
           for Cooperation into the central administrative and budgetary structures of the Com­
           munity.