Brussels, 25/10/2011 (Agence Europe) - The European Parliament (EP) decided in Strasbourg on Tuesday 25 October not to grant the secretary-general of the Council discharge on the implementation of the Council budget for the financial year 2009.
In adopting the report by Crescenzio Rivellini (EPP, Italy), the EP “underlines the right of Parliament to grant discharge … not only in respect of the section of the budget implemented by the Commission, but also in respect of the sections of the budget implemented by the other institutions”. It takes the view that the expenditure of the Council must be scrutinised in the same way as that of the other institutions, and the fundamental elements of such scrutiny should be: - a formal meeting between representatives of the Council and parliamentary committee responsible for the discharge procedure, in order to answer committee members' questions; - provision by the Council of written documents (accounts of the preceding financial year relating to the implementation of their budgets, a financial statement of their assets and liabilities, the Annual Activity Report on their budget and financial management and the annual report of their internal auditor).
Further, with the adoption of an amendment from the EPP, the Parliament “underlines that, notwithstanding possible different legal interpretations of the autonomous closure of accounts, Parliament is of the opinion that for all intents and purposes, political assessment of the institution's financial management during the year under examination should be completed, thereby upholding Parliament's prerogatives, in particular the assurance of democratic accountability towards Union citizens”.
European Commissioner John Dalli said that the calls for cooperation between the institutions had been noted and welcomed. The Commission, he added, could but underline the political nature of this issue.
The Council considers that the EP granted discharge to the Commission on 10 May and, therefore, to the other institutions, on the implementation of the 2009 budget, said Jacek Dominik, Under-Secretary of State at the Polish Finance Ministry. He pointed out that, during the Hungarian Presidency (1 January to 31 June 2011), the Council had suggested to the EP that a new agreement be discussed between the Council and the EP on cooperation on discharge, replacing the 1970 “gentlemen's agreement”. Under the “gentlemen's agreement”, neither of the two institutions becomes involved in the other's budgetary affairs. “I hope that the EP will come to the right decision to begin talks on a new agreement”, Dominik said. “We would like to put an end to a period of misunderstanding between the two institutions and to move to a situation where there is cooperation”, he stated. The Council bases its arguments on Article 319 of the Treaty (which says, in summary, that discharge is granted to the Commission for the whole of the EU budget) and on Article 146 of the financial regulation (discharge relates to all EU accounts).
Theodoros Skylakaki (ALDE, Greece) welcomed the outcome of the EP vote and suggested that, by refusing to address the budgetary control committee, “the Council declines to inform our citizens of how it manages the money entrusted to them by the European taxpayer. To overcome this impasse, there remains recourse to the European Court of Justice and Parliament is not afraid of this test to decide once and for all on its rights”. (LC/transl.rt)