PURPOSE: to grant discharge to the CoR for the financial year 2008.

LEGISLATIVE ACT: Decision 2010/503/EU of the European Parliament on the discharge for implementation of the European Union general budget for the financial year 2008 (Section VII - Committee of the Regions).

CONTENT: with the present decision, the European Parliament grants the Secretary-General of the Committee of the Regions discharge in respect of the implementation of the budget for the financial year 2008.

This decision is in line with the European Parliament’s resolution adopted on 5 May 2010 and comprises a series of observations that form an integral part of the discharge decision (please refer to the summary of the opinion of 5 May 2010).

Decision 2010/503
OJ L 252 25.09.2010, p. 0097

Results of vote in Parliament

The European Parliament adopted aiming to grant the Committee of the Regions' Secretary-General discharge in respect of the implementation of its budget for the financial year 2008.

The Parliament also adopted a resolution containing a number of observations which forms an integral part of the discharge decision. The resolution notes that in 2008 the Committee of Regions (CoR) had commitment appropriations available amounting to a total of EUR 93 million (EUR 68.6 million in 2007), with a utilisation rate of 86.87%.

Parliament notes that the Court of Auditors indicated in its annual report that the audit did not give rise to any significant observations as regards the CoR. It also welcomes the follow-up of the Parliament's earlier discharge decisions, in particular, on the Parliament's observations on the OLAF report and the administrative inquiry on weighted salary transfers, where all the amounts unduly received by the officials concerned have been paid back, disciplinary procedures have been opened, and recommendations issued by the internal auditor have been implemented or are in the process of implementation.

Parliament also welcomes the follow-up on the management and control system within the own services and the follow-up on the issue of management and control services within the EESC/CoR joint services.

Overall, Parliament welcomes the implementation of the Administrative Cooperation Agreement between the CoR and the Economic and Social Committee for the period 2008 to 2014 , and invites the two Committees to communicate the progress made as regards harmonising their internal control standards, as well as relevant financial procedures relating to the Joint Services. Parliament welcomes the results of the evaluation of the mini-cooperation agreements in the areas affected by de-coupling, as carried out jointly by the CoR and the EESC, in particular, their conclusions that the new governance structure has improved the administrative cooperation between the Committees, that de-coupled services have maintained quality and improved efficiency, and that no supplementary budget means were needed. It also notes the conclusion that some practical aspects of the cooperation should be improved in the future.

Parliament welcomes the ongoing improvements in the internal control environment of the CoR. It notes that the risk assessment exercise carried out in 2008 had identified two areas of concern: firstly, issues resulting from the change of the organisation chart and the consequences of the new cooperation agreement between the CoR and the EESC, where an adaptation period was still ongoing, and, secondly, personnel-related issues caused by too high job rotation. It expects these issues to be followed up in the next annual activity report of the CoR.

Lastly, Parliament requests that CoR members declare their financial interests.

T7-0138/2010

Debate in Parliament

A7-0082/2010

A7-0082/2010

The Committee on Budgetary Control adopted the report by Ryszard CZARNECKI (ECR, PL) recommending the European Parliament to grant the Committee of the Regions' Secretary-General discharge in respect of the implementation of its budget for the financial year 2008.

The committee notes that in 2008 the Committee of Regions (CoR) had commitment appropriations available amounting to a total of EUR 93 million (EUR 68.6 million in 2007), with a utilisation rate of 86.87%.

Members welcome the follow-up of the Parliament's earlier discharge decisions, in particular, on the Parliament's observations on the OLAF report and the administrative inquiry on weighted salary transfers, where all the amounts unduly received by the officials concerned have been paid back, disciplinary procedures have been opened, and recommendations issued by the internal auditor have been implemented or are in the process of implementation. Members also welcome the follow-up on the management and control system within the own services and the follow-up on the issue of management and control services within the EESC/CoR joint services.

Overall, Members welcome the implementation of the Administrative Cooperation Agreement between the CoR and the Economic and Social Committee for the period 2008 to 2014 , and invite the two Committees to communicate the progress made as regards harmonising their internal control standards, as well as relevant financial procedures relating to the Joint Services.

They welcome the results of the evaluation of the mini-cooperation agreements in the areas affected by de-coupling, as carried out jointly by the CoR and the EESC, in particular, their conclusions that the new governance structure has improved the administrative cooperation between the Committees, that de-coupled services have maintained quality and improved efficiency, and that no supplementary budget means were needed. They also note the conclusion that some practical aspects of the cooperation should be improved in the future.

Members welcome the ongoing improvements in the internal control environment of the CoR. They note that the risk assessment exercise carried out in 2008 had identified two areas of concern: firstly, issues resulting from the change of the organisation chart and the consequences of the new cooperation agreement between the CoR and the EESC, where an adaptation period was still ongoing, and, secondly, personnel-related issues caused by too high job rotation. They expect these issues to be followed up in the next annual activity report of the CoR.

Lastly, Members request that CoR members declare their financial interests.

PE439.285

PE430.317

PURPOSE: to present the report of the Court of Auditors on the implementation of the budget for the financial year 2008 (other institutions - Committee of the Regions).

CONTENT: in its annual report for the financial year 2008, the Court focuses on the legality and regularity of the operating expenditure of the institutions. In 2008, the Court carried out audits in all the institutions on the following selected topics (procurement contracts, late payment penalties, payments on carried-over appropriations, transfers of acquired pension rights, etc…). In addition, the Court assessed the compliance of the supervisory and control systems applied by each institution with the requirements of the Financial Regulation.

In 2008, the Court notes that all the institutions operated satisfactorily the supervisory and control systems required by the Financial Regulation and the transactions tested were free from material error of legality and regularity .

Although the legality and regularity of the transactions underlying the accounts have been confirmed by the Court of Auditors, it does however draw attention to a number of findings which should be taken into consideration by the institutions concerned.

Nevertheless, in the specific case of the audit of the Committee of the Regions , the audit did not give rise to any significant observations.

OJ C 269 10.11.2009, p. 0001
N7-0036/2009

PURPOSE: to present the final annual accounts of the European Communities for the financial year 2008 - Other institutions: section VII - Committee of the Regions.

CONTENT: this document sets out the amount of expenditure and the financial statement of the Committee of the Regions (CoR) for 2008. It presents an analysis of the institution’s financial management as well as its main axes of expenditure.

The figures mentioned hereafter are taken from volume I of the Consolidated Annual Accounts of the European Communities for the year 2008 :

Commitments

· appropriations authorised: EUR 98 million;

· commitments made in 2008: EUR 81 million (implementation rate of 86.87%);

· appropriations lapsing: EUR 1 million (1.59% of the budget).

Payments

· appropriations authorised: EUR 99 million;

· payments made in 2008: EUR 79 million (implementation rate of 79.38%);

· appropriations lapsing: EUR 3 million (2.99% of the budget).

Main axes of expenditure for 2008 ( Committee of the Regions Annual Activity Report 2008 ): the Committee's mission consists first and foremost of its involvement in the EU decision-making process and policy-orientation debates, as a consultative body, thus ensuring that the concerns and interests of local and regional authorities are effectively taken on board in the framing and implementation of EU law and policies. Two main instruments contribute to this objective: the adoption of the CoR Opinions , and the structured co-operation with the other institutions and associations of local and regional authorities. The Committee's activities and actions, as well as the annual work programme of its Commissions, are defined on the basis of the overall political strategy of the CoR, set out in the resolution on the political priorities.

Following on to Mr. Delebarre's (PES) Presidency, Mr. Luc Van den Brande (EPP) was elected as President of the Committee of the Regions on 6 February 2008. One of the priorities of his two-year mandate is to step up the Committee's work on the concept of multilevel governance which should contribute to making EU legislation better and easier to identify for the citizen and thus, contribute to a greater acceptance of future EU actions.

The year 2008 was also marked by 5 plenary sessions during which 61 opinions were adopted. Important opinions included:

· the proposal to create a Euro-Mediterranean Regional and Local Assembly (ARLEM),

· economic and social cohesion,

· common immigration policy,

· EU enlargement,

· the Lisbon Growth and Jobs Strategy,

· European Grouping of Territorial Cooperation,

· fight against terrorism,

· active inclusion and integration policy.

In addition, in 2008 a large number of conferences were held. A major event organised by the CoR together with the European Commission in 2008, along with the seminars organised by the CoR's Commissions, was again the Open Days/European Week of Regions and Cities, held from 6 to 9 October 2008 under the theme "Regions and cities in a challenging world". The event has attracted some 7 400 participants in Brussels. They also served as the launch pad for the ‘Green Paper on Territorial Cohesion’, which kicked off a major consultation on how to ensure that the European Union's territorial diversity contributes to the sustainable development and prosperity of the European Union as whole.

The following should also be noted: (i) the organisation of a conference on "Territorial Dialogue"; (ii) the pursuit of the Committee of the Regions' Lisbon Monitoring Platform (LMP); (iii) the organisation of a Subsidiarity Conference; (iv) the participation of the Committee in a series of conceptual meetings called Ateliers was launched to develop further the concept of multi-level governance; (v) the continued support to the European Grouping of Territorial Cooperation (EGTC).

The CoR provided its contribution, in cooperation with the European Commission, the European Parliament and the Council, to the setting up of a Euro-Mediterranean forum of local and regional authorities that took place on 22 and 23 June in Marseille

In order to manage and coordinate the above processes the CoR Bureau held 5 ordinary meetings and two external meetings in Brdo (Slovenia) and Dunkirk (France) in 2008.

At the level of the secretariat of the Committee the new cooperation agreement with the European Economic and Social Committee was implemented smoothly allowing not only for a better tailoring of the support services to the political activities but also to a greater accountability of each Committee for the resources it is pooling in the Joint Services. The internal control environment will be enhanced based on best practices.

The other main points concerning the implementation of the CoR budget can be summarised as follows (the CoR 2008 Budget has increased by 6.1% compared to 2007. 25 new posts were obtained in the 2008 Budget bringing the total number of staff to 491 by the end of the year):

Title I (staff expenditure) : this Title is characterised by a reduction in interpretation services. Savings were made this year since even though the total number meetings – in particular working groups meetings and seminars, was higher than expected, the interpretation cost per meeting was lower, partially due to the limitation in the number of interpretation languages used to those actually needed by the participants to follow the meeting.

The Title is also marked by the under-utilisation of appropriations for expenditure concerning: (i) expertise; (ii) the crèche (substantial portion of the appropriations is carried over to 2009).

Title II (operating expenditure) : e xcess appropriations were identified as regards maintenance and cleaning due to that a new contract "omnium" for the maintenance of installations entered into force in April 2008 instead of January 2008, as originally planned. This has resulted in a lower total expenditure on this item than foreseen. The new "omnium" contract for the maintenance of buildings installations Low than average payment execution rate has also been noted in the following areas:

· energy consumption;

· software systems including maintenance costs (transfer of appropriations to 2009);

· expenditure on publishing, dissemination of information and participation in public events.

EUR-Lex
SEC(2009)1089

PURPOSE: to present the final annual accounts of the European Communities for the financial year 2008 - Other institutions: section VII - Committee of the Regions.

CONTENT: this document sets out the amount of expenditure and the financial statement of the Committee of the Regions (CoR) for 2008. It presents an analysis of the institution’s financial management as well as its main axes of expenditure.

The figures mentioned hereafter are taken from volume I of the Consolidated Annual Accounts of the European Communities for the year 2008 :

Commitments

· appropriations authorised: EUR 98 million;

· commitments made in 2008: EUR 81 million (implementation rate of 86.87%);

· appropriations lapsing: EUR 1 million (1.59% of the budget).

Payments

· appropriations authorised: EUR 99 million;

· payments made in 2008: EUR 79 million (implementation rate of 79.38%);

· appropriations lapsing: EUR 3 million (2.99% of the budget).

Main axes of expenditure for 2008 ( Committee of the Regions Annual Activity Report 2008 ): the Committee's mission consists first and foremost of its involvement in the EU decision-making process and policy-orientation debates, as a consultative body, thus ensuring that the concerns and interests of local and regional authorities are effectively taken on board in the framing and implementation of EU law and policies. Two main instruments contribute to this objective: the adoption of the CoR Opinions , and the structured co-operation with the other institutions and associations of local and regional authorities. The Committee's activities and actions, as well as the annual work programme of its Commissions, are defined on the basis of the overall political strategy of the CoR, set out in the resolution on the political priorities.

Following on to Mr. Delebarre's (PES) Presidency, Mr. Luc Van den Brande (EPP) was elected as President of the Committee of the Regions on 6 February 2008. One of the priorities of his two-year mandate is to step up the Committee's work on the concept of multilevel governance which should contribute to making EU legislation better and easier to identify for the citizen and thus, contribute to a greater acceptance of future EU actions.

The year 2008 was also marked by 5 plenary sessions during which 61 opinions were adopted. Important opinions included:

· the proposal to create a Euro-Mediterranean Regional and Local Assembly (ARLEM),

· economic and social cohesion,

· common immigration policy,

· EU enlargement,

· the Lisbon Growth and Jobs Strategy,

· European Grouping of Territorial Cooperation,

· fight against terrorism,

· active inclusion and integration policy.

In addition, in 2008 a large number of conferences were held. A major event organised by the CoR together with the European Commission in 2008, along with the seminars organised by the CoR's Commissions, was again the Open Days/European Week of Regions and Cities, held from 6 to 9 October 2008 under the theme "Regions and cities in a challenging world". The event has attracted some 7 400 participants in Brussels. They also served as the launch pad for the ‘Green Paper on Territorial Cohesion’, which kicked off a major consultation on how to ensure that the European Union's territorial diversity contributes to the sustainable development and prosperity of the European Union as whole.

The following should also be noted: (i) the organisation of a conference on "Territorial Dialogue"; (ii) the pursuit of the Committee of the Regions' Lisbon Monitoring Platform (LMP); (iii) the organisation of a Subsidiarity Conference; (iv) the participation of the Committee in a series of conceptual meetings called Ateliers was launched to develop further the concept of multi-level governance; (v) the continued support to the European Grouping of Territorial Cooperation (EGTC).

The CoR provided its contribution, in cooperation with the European Commission, the European Parliament and the Council, to the setting up of a Euro-Mediterranean forum of local and regional authorities that took place on 22 and 23 June in Marseille

In order to manage and coordinate the above processes the CoR Bureau held 5 ordinary meetings and two external meetings in Brdo (Slovenia) and Dunkirk (France) in 2008.

At the level of the secretariat of the Committee the new cooperation agreement with the European Economic and Social Committee was implemented smoothly allowing not only for a better tailoring of the support services to the political activities but also to a greater accountability of each Committee for the resources it is pooling in the Joint Services. The internal control environment will be enhanced based on best practices.

The other main points concerning the implementation of the CoR budget can be summarised as follows (the CoR 2008 Budget has increased by 6.1% compared to 2007. 25 new posts were obtained in the 2008 Budget bringing the total number of staff to 491 by the end of the year):

Title I (staff expenditure) : this Title is characterised by a reduction in interpretation services. Savings were made this year since even though the total number meetings – in particular working groups meetings and seminars, was higher than expected, the interpretation cost per meeting was lower, partially due to the limitation in the number of interpretation languages used to those actually needed by the participants to follow the meeting.

The Title is also marked by the under-utilisation of appropriations for expenditure concerning: (i) expertise; (ii) the crèche (substantial portion of the appropriations is carried over to 2009).

Title II (operating expenditure) : e xcess appropriations were identified as regards maintenance and cleaning due to that a new contract "omnium" for the maintenance of installations entered into force in April 2008 instead of January 2008, as originally planned. This has resulted in a lower total expenditure on this item than foreseen. The new "omnium" contract for the maintenance of buildings installations Low than average payment execution rate has also been noted in the following areas:

· energy consumption;

· software systems including maintenance costs (transfer of appropriations to 2009);

· expenditure on publishing, dissemination of information and participation in public events.

EUR-Lex
SEC(2009)1089