The European Parliament decided (499 votes in favour, 136 against and 56 abstentions) on Wednesday 13 May to give the European Commission a discharge for the implementation of the EU budget for 2018, while calling for the fight against conflicts of interest to be stepped up. It grants discharge to all the other institutions except the Council of the EU and the European Economic and Social Committee.
In adopting the report accompanying the decision on the discharge of the 2018 budget, MEPs call for even stronger protection of EU spending against fraud, corruption, conflicts of interest, intentional abuse and organised crime, as well as a fairer distribution of EU money.
By 669 votes to 10, with 11 abstentions, MEPs voted to postpone the decision on the discharge to the European Economic and Social Committee in respect of 2018 expenditure. They give it until September 2020 to follow up on recommendations to improve its general anti-harassment policy.
For the tenth consecutive year, MEPs postponed the discharge to the EU Council (with 643 votes in favour of postponement, 37 against and 11 abstentions) and gave it until the autumn to provide the required information. (Original version in French by Lionel Changeur)