Brussels, 25/11/2009 (Agence Europe) - On Wednesday 25 November, the European Parliament in Strasbourg decided to grant discharge to the secretary-general of the Council in respect of implementation of the Council's budget for the financial year 2007 (EUROPE 10012). The (second) report by Søren Bo Søndergaard (GUE/NGL, Denmark) on this dossier was adopted without amendment by the European Parliament, which had decided in April to postpone discharge on the Council 2007 budget. The Parliament had, in essence, considered that the increasingly operational nature of Council spending makes it necessary to have a management control identical to that applying to the other administrations. A “gentleman's agreement” in 1970 provides for the Parliament and Council to refrain from prying into each other's administrative budgets. By calling on Council to account, this agreement has been somewhat shaken.
In the resolution that accompanies the report, the EP emphasises that it has obtained satisfaction from the Council on the three most important requests made in its resolution of 23 April, namely: - a meeting on 24 September 2009 of the chairman, rapporteur and coordinators of Parliament's relevant committee with representatives of the Swedish Presidency and of the General Secretariat of the Council to discuss the Council's budget implementation for 2007; - written answers to Parliament's questions concerning the Council's budget implementation for 2007; - and publication on the Council's website of relevant documents concerning the Council's budget implementation, including the answers to Parliament's specific questions.
The EP considers that the Council has “carried out its duty to guarantee maximum possible transparency and accountability concerning the use of EU taxpayers' money”. It also invites the institutions to formulate and include in the interinstitutional agreement an annex specifically dealing with the discharge procedure for the Council.
The EP invites the EP budgetary control committee, as part of the next discharge procedure (for the 2008 budget) for the Council, to verify progress on the following matters: - the closing of all its extra-budgetary accounts in accordance with the recommendations of its internal auditor; - improvement of verification of invoices; - publication of all administrative decisions when they are used as the legal basis for budget items; - the transmission to Parliament and its relevant committee of its annual activity report (in accordance with the practice now adopted by all other EU institutions); - a full explanation of the need to transfer money from one item to another within its budget; - provision of written answers to relevant questions asked by its competent committee and its rapporteur; - and the availability and willingness of the Council to provide an oral explanation to its competent committee, on the basis of these written answers, should they require further clarification.
Finally, the EP reiterates the request made in its resolution of 23 April 2009 to the European Court of auditors to pay special attention, in its forthcoming Annual Reports, to the Council's budget implementation. (L.C./transl.jl)