“We will hold talks with the European Parliament’s Committee on Budgetary Control, as the reason for postponing the discharge is not clear, since we have not been able to identify any problems concerning the legality and regularity of the expenditure”, Klaus-Heiner Lehne, President of the institution, told EUROPE on Thursday 3 March, following revelations in the daily Libération about malfunctions in the institution’s internal rules (see EUROPE 12900/21, 12899/29).
Parliament’s Committee on Budgetary Control voted on the discharge of the Court of Auditors’ 2020 budget on Monday 28 February. The vote (14 in favour, 14 against, 1 abstention) led MEPs to recommend to the May plenary that the discharge be postponed. The Court of Auditors hopes that in May the discharge will be given on the institution’s 2020 expenditure.
“Throughout the discharge procedure, the Court has shown the greatest transparency towards the Committee on Budgetary Control”, the Court of Auditors explains.
The institution has made changes to its internal rules, but for some of them, such as the amount of housing allowances, a EU Council decision is required.
The changes introduced are as follows:
- the Code of Conduct was amended by introducing, in Article 10, the obligation for members to reside in the place where the Court has its seat (Luxembourg) and by adding a new Article requiring that any long-term contractual relationship between members and Court staff, whether or not involving remuneration, be declared to the Ethics Committee, which is responsible for reviewing them. In addition, members may not enter into long-term rental, subletting or loan agreements with Court staff;
- the Regulation on the management and use of the vehicle fleet was also amended. From 1 March 2022, in addition to the monthly payment of €100 for each member, the members of the Court must cover the costs incurred by the use of the company car not related to a mission or to the fixed mileage allocated to cover travel related to the performance of duties (10,000 km per calendar year);
- the financial contribution of the members is based on the actual use of the official vehicles in addition to the monthly fee of €100. Under the new rules, the actual costs covered by members include not only fuel and incidental expenses but, unlike other EU institutions, also the cost of hiring cars;
- the rules for managing members’ entertainment expenses now explicitly exclude activities organised with the participation of Court officials and staff only. For example, dinners between colleagues at the Court can no longer be the subject of expense claims;
- the rules on professional training for members now place emphasis on training in the working languages of the Court, while maintaining the possibility of training in other official EU languages where this is in the interests of the service.
Housing bonuses for fictitious homes, abuse of expense accounts, unverified missions... the list of misdeeds uncovered by the daily Libération is long, but the Court of Auditors insists that none of this is illegal and that it is in no way fraudulent. (Original version in French by Lionel Changeur)