BETA


2012/2170(DEC) 2011 discharge: EU general budget, Court of Justice

Progress: Procedure completed

RoleCommitteeRapporteurShadows
Lead CONT CZARNECKI Ryszard (icon: ECR ECR) DEUTSCH Tamás (icon: PPE PPE), SONIK Bogusław (icon: PPE PPE), KALFIN Ivailo (icon: S&D S&D), SKYLAKAKIS Theodoros (icon: ALDE ALDE), STAES Bart (icon: Verts/ALE Verts/ALE), ANDREASEN Marta (icon: EFD EFD), EHRENHAUSER Martin (icon: NA NA)
Committee Opinion PETI
Committee Opinion REGI
Committee Opinion AFCO
Committee Opinion DEVE
Committee Opinion CULT
Committee Opinion AFET
Committee Opinion PECH
Committee Opinion AGRI
Committee Opinion ENVI
Committee Opinion EMPL
Committee Opinion BUDG
Committee Opinion ITRE
Committee Opinion JURI LICHTENBERGER Eva (icon: Verts/ALE Verts/ALE)
Committee Opinion ECON
Committee Opinion LIBE
Committee Opinion INTA
Committee Opinion IMCO
Committee Opinion TRAN
Committee Opinion FEMM
Lead committee dossier:

Events

2013/11/16
   Final act published in Official Journal
Details

PURPOSE: to grant discharge to the Court of Justice for the financial year 2011.

NON-LEGISLATIVE ACT: Decision 2013/545/EU of the European Parliament on discharge in respect of the implementation of the European Union’s General Budget, section IV – Court of Justice, for the financial year 2011.

CONTENT: with the present decision, and in accordance with Article 318 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union (TFEU), the European Parliament grants discharge to the Registrar of the Court of Justice in respect of the implementation of the budget for the financial year 2011.

The decision is in line with the European Parliament's resolution adopted on 17 April 2013 and comprises a series of observations that form an integral part of the discharge decision (please refer to the summary of the opinion of 17 April 2013).

2013/04/17
   EP - Results of vote in Parliament
2013/04/17
   EP - Decision by Parliament
Details

The European Parliament adopted by 553 votes to 45, with 11 abstentions, a decision to grant the Registrar of the Court of Justice discharge in respect of the implementation of the Court of Justice's budget for the financial year 2011.

In its resolution accompanying the discharge decision, Parliament notes that the Court of Auditors concluded that the payments as a whole for the year ended on 31 December 2011 for administrative and other expenditure of the institutions and bodies were free from material error. The Court of Auditors observed that no significant weaknesses had been identified in respect of the audited topics related to human resources and procurement for the Court of Justice.

Parliament also notes that the Court of Justice had commitment appropriations amounting to EUR 336 million (more than 98% implementation rate).

On an operational level, Parliament expresses concern that the amount of pending cases in the General Court is still very high in 2011 (i.e. 1300 pending cases in 2010 and 1308 pending cases in 2011). It urges the Court of Justice to examine what type of organisational changes could lead to a the reduction in the number of pending cases and also believes that the General Court needs human resources reinforcement. Members note that the Court of Justice completed 550 cases in 2011, an appreciable increase compared with the previous year (522 cases completed in 2010).

Overall, Parliament supports the initiative taken by the Court of Justice to reform its Statute and Rules of Procedure in light of the challenges it faces in connection with the increased number of cases.

eCuria : welcoming the e-Curia application, which came into operation in November 2011, enabling procedural documents to be lodged and notified electronically, Parliament asks to be informed of the measures taken to resolve informatics breakdowns which can affect the e-Curia performance. It stresses that e-Curia must, in due course, make it possible to do away with a great proportion of exchanges of correspondence and with the scanning of documents coming in and going out, and enable the optimisation of internal work flows and asks Parliament's Committee on Budgetary Control to be given an accurate description of costs relating to the creation, maintenance and updating of the e-Curia application. It considers very positive that by the end of 2012, 14 Member States, two European Free Trade Association countries and five European institutions (in particular Parliament, the Council and the Commission) were active users of e-Curia.

Lastly, Members find the engagement of the Court of Justice in holding a collection of works of art representative of the Union's artistic heritage an ambitious project requiring specialised resources. They invite the Court of Justice to explain how this project articulates with the traditional activities of the Court of Justice. They take note that in 2012, the Court of Justice paid EUR 7500 to insure a collection valued at EUR 2 400 000.

Documents
2013/04/17
   EP - End of procedure in Parliament
2013/04/16
   EP - Debate in Parliament
2013/03/21
   EP - Committee report tabled for plenary
Details

The Committee on Budgetary Control adopted the report by Ryszard CZARNECKI (ECR, PL) in which it calls on the European Parliament to grant the Registrar of the Court of Justice discharge in respect of the implementation of the Court of Justice's budget for the financial year 2011.

Members welcome the fact that on the basis of its audit work, the Court of Auditors concluded that the payments as a whole for the year ended on 31 December 2011 for administrative and other expenditure of the institutions and bodies were free from material error. The Court of Auditors observed that no significant weaknesses had been identified in respect of the audited topics related to human resources and procurement for the Court of Justice.

Members also note that the Court of Justice had commitment appropriations amounting to EUR 336 million (more than 98% implementation rate).

On an operational level, Members express concern that the amount of pending cases in the General Court is still very high in 2011 (i.e. 1300 pending cases in 2010 and 1308 pending cases in 2011). They urge the Court of Justice to examine what type of organisational changes could lead to a the reduction in the number of pending cases and also believes that the General Court needs human resources reinforcement. They note that the Court of Justice completed 550 cases in 2011, an appreciable increase compared with the previous year (522 cases completed in 2010).

Members welcome the eCuria application enabling procedural documents to be lodged and notified electronically and has enabled the optimisation of internal work flows. However, they ask Parliament's Committee on Budgetary Control to be given an accurate description of costs relating to the creation, maintenance and updating of the eCuria application.

Overall, Members support the initiative taken by the Court of Justice to reform its Statute and Rules of Procedure in view of the challenges it faces in connection with the increased number of cases.

Members find the engagement of the Court of Justice in holding a collection of works of art representative of the Union's artistic heritage an ambitious project requiring specialised resources. They invite the Court of Justice to explain how this project articulates with the traditional activities of the Court of Justice. They take note that in 2012, the Court of Justice paid EUR 7500 to insure a collection valued at EUR 2 400 000.

Documents
2013/03/19
   EP - Vote in committee
2013/02/27
   EP - Amendments tabled in committee
Documents
2013/02/01
   CSL - Document attached to the procedure
Details

In view of the observations made in the Court of Auditor's report, the Council calls on the European Parliament to grant discharge to all of the Union’s institutions in regard to the implementation of their respective budgets for the financial year 2011 .

Overall, the Council’s remarks are positive in regard to the expenditure of the institutions since it notes that, again in 2011, the administrative expenditure of EU institutions and bodies remained free from material error and that their supervisory and control systems continued to comply with the requirements of the Financial Regulation.

Nevertheless, the Council regrets that in some institutions weaknesses were still detected in the payment of social allowances to staff members , in the employment contracts for non-permanent staff and in procurement procedures.

It welcomes the measures already taken and encourages the institutions concerned to address the remaining weaknesses pointed out by the Court.

The Council notes the Court's recommendations that the institutions concerned should ensure that staff regularly deliver documents on their personal situation, that the relevant provisions are applied when concluding, extending or modifying employment contracts with non-permanent staff, and that the authorising officers further improve guidance and appropriate checks concerning procurement procedures.

Documents
2013/01/29
   EP - Committee draft report
Documents
2013/01/28
   EP - Committee opinion
Documents
2012/09/18
   EP - LICHTENBERGER Eva (Verts/ALE) appointed as rapporteur in JURI
2012/09/13
   EP - Committee referral announced in Parliament
2012/09/06
   CofA - Court of Auditors: opinion, report
Details

OBJECTIVE: presentation of the Report of the Court of Auditors on the 2011 budget (section IV – European Court of Justice).

CONTENT: the Court of Auditors published its 35th Annual Report on the implementation of the EU budget for the 2011 financial year.

In accordance with the tasks and objectives conferred on the Court of Auditors by the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union, it provides under the discharge procedure, for both the European Parliament and Council, a statement of assurance (“DAS”) about the reliability of the accounts and the legality and regularity of the transactions of each institution, body or agency of the EU, based on an independent external audit.

The audit also focuses on the budget implementation of the Court of Justice.

On the basis of its audit work, the Court considers that payments for “Administrative and other expenditure” policy are, overall, significantly error-free. The estimated error rate is 0.1 %.

The Court, however, draws attention to the errors and weaknesses which did not affect the Court’s conclusion. The Court examined a sample of procurement procedures and noted several weaknesses in the application of selection and award criteria, some of which had an impact on the results of the procedure. Other weaknesses relate to the organisation of cross border competition, to the management of automatic award procedures and to the respect of provisions as regards the drafting and filing of tendering documents.

The Court also detects weaknesses when it reviewed a sample of calculations and payments of social allowances as well as a sample of employment contracts concluded with temporary agents.

The Court therefore recommends that the institutions and bodies of the EU take steps to: (i) guarantee that staff deliver, at appropriate intervals, documents confirming their personal situation and implement a system for the timely monitoring of these documents; (ii) ensure that authorising officers improve the design, coordination and performance of procurement procedures through appropriate checks and better guidance.

The Court also makes a number of comments specific to each institution or body of the European Union. These observations do not affect the positive overall appraisal given that they do not significantly affect overall administrative expenditure. However, in the specific case of the audit of the Court of Justice, the Court’s audit did not identify any significant weakness .

2012/07/25
   EC - Non-legislative basic document
Details

PURPOSE: presentation by the Commission of the consolidated annual accounts of the European Union for the financial year 2011, as part of the 2011 discharge procedure.

Analysis of the accounts of the EU Institutions: Section IV – Court of Justice .

Legal reminder: the consolidated annual accounts of the European Union for the year 2011 have been prepared on the basis of the information presented by the institutions and bodies under Article 129.2 of the Financial Regulation applicable to the general budget of the European Union. They were prepared in accordance with Title VII of this Financial Regulation and with the accounting principles, rules and methods set out in the notes to the financial statements.

The objective of the financial statements is to provide information about the financial position, performance and cashflows of an entity that is useful to a wide range of users. The objective is to provide information useful for decision making, and to demonstrate the accountability of the entity for the resources entrusted to it.

1) Purpose: the document helps to bring insight into the EU budget mechanism and the way in which the budget has been managed and spent in 2011 . It recalls that the European Union's operational expenditure covers the various headings of the financial framework and takes different forms, depending on how the money is paid out and managed. In accordance with the Financial Regulation, the Commission implements the general budget using the following methods: direct or indirect centralised management (by means of bodies or agencies of public law or other); decentralised management where the Commission delegates certain tasks for the implementation of the budget to third countries; and, thirdly, shared management where budget implementation tasks are delegated to Member States, in areas such as agricultural expenditure and structural actions.

The document also presents the different financial actors involved in the budget process (accounting officers, internal officers and authorising officers) and recalls their respective roles in the context of the tasks of sound financial management.

Amongst the other legal elements relating to the implementation of the EU budget presented in this document, the paper focuses on the following issues:

accounting principles applicable to the management of EU spending (business continuity, consistency of accounting methods, comparability of information ...); consolidation methods of figures for all major controlled entities (the consolidated financial statements of the EU comprise all significant controlled entities –institutions, organisations and agencies, this being 50 controlled entities, 5 joint ventures and 4 associates. In comparison with 2010, the scope of consolidation has been extended by 7 controlled entities (one institution, 6 agencies); the recognition of financial assets in the EU (tangible and intangible assets, financial assets and other miscellaneous investments); the way in which EU public expenditure is committed and spent, including pre-financing (cash advances intended for the benefit of an EU organ); the means of recovery following irregularities detected; the modus operandi of the accounting system; the audit process followed by the European Parliament's granting of the discharge.

To recap, the final control is the discharge of the budget for a given financial year . The discharge represents the political aspect of the external control of budget implementation and is the decision by which the European Parliament, acting on a Council recommendation, "releases" the Commission from its responsibility for management of a given budget by marking the end of that budget's existence. When granting the discharge, Parliament may highlight some observations that it considers important, often by recommending that the Commission takes action on the aspects in question .

The document also details specific expenditure of the institutions, in particular: i) pensions of former Members and functionaries of institutions; ii) joint sickness insurance scheme and iii) buildings.

Lastly, the document presents a series of tables and detailed technical indicators on (i) the balance sheet; (ii) the economic outturn account; (iii) cashflow tables; (iv) technical annexes concerning the financial statements.

2) Implementation of appropriations under Section IV of the budget for the financial year 2011: the document comprises a series of detailed tables, the most important concerning the implementation of the budget. Concerning the expenditure of the Court of Justice, information drawn from the " Annual Report 2011 of the Court of Justice of the European Union " shows that:

the total of commitments granted to this institution for 2011 was EUR 341.2 million ; the rate of payments was 98.4%.

3) Budgetary implementation - conclusions: the main characteristics of the Court of Justice’s budgetary implementation for the financial year 2011 were chiefly marked by:

greater intensity of judicial activity: with 1 569 new cases and 1 518 cases closed, the Court saw a sharp rise in the number of proceedings brought before the three courts, and settled by them. Nevertheless, this increase in the volume of cases calls for a certain vigilance on the part both of the Court of Justice of the European Union and of the legislative authorities of the Union, in order that the effectiveness of the judicial system of the Union may not be jeopardised and in order that European citizens may continue to be served as well as is possible. With that in mind, the Court last year proposed a series of amendments to its Statute and a thorough recasting of its Rules of Procedure with a view, on the one hand, to improving its and the General Court’s efficiency and productivity and, on the other, to modernising its procedures; IT projects: the objective was to bring the Court closer to the citizen. The opening of the e-Curia system which enables procedural documents to be lodged and served electronically, the launch of a more efficient, new search engine for consulting case-law and the putting on line of the catalogue of the Court’s library are designed to make the Court of Justice more accessible and more transparent; replacement of certain members of the institution: 2011 also saw the departure of the President and two members of the Civil Service Tribunal as a result of the partial renewal of its membership, and the departure of one member of the Court of Justice and of one member of the General Court.

2012/07/24
   EC - Non-legislative basic document published
Details

PURPOSE: presentation by the Commission of the consolidated annual accounts of the European Union for the financial year 2011, as part of the 2011 discharge procedure.

Analysis of the accounts of the EU Institutions: Section IV – Court of Justice .

Legal reminder: the consolidated annual accounts of the European Union for the year 2011 have been prepared on the basis of the information presented by the institutions and bodies under Article 129.2 of the Financial Regulation applicable to the general budget of the European Union. They were prepared in accordance with Title VII of this Financial Regulation and with the accounting principles, rules and methods set out in the notes to the financial statements.

The objective of the financial statements is to provide information about the financial position, performance and cashflows of an entity that is useful to a wide range of users. The objective is to provide information useful for decision making, and to demonstrate the accountability of the entity for the resources entrusted to it.

1) Purpose: the document helps to bring insight into the EU budget mechanism and the way in which the budget has been managed and spent in 2011 . It recalls that the European Union's operational expenditure covers the various headings of the financial framework and takes different forms, depending on how the money is paid out and managed. In accordance with the Financial Regulation, the Commission implements the general budget using the following methods: direct or indirect centralised management (by means of bodies or agencies of public law or other); decentralised management where the Commission delegates certain tasks for the implementation of the budget to third countries; and, thirdly, shared management where budget implementation tasks are delegated to Member States, in areas such as agricultural expenditure and structural actions.

The document also presents the different financial actors involved in the budget process (accounting officers, internal officers and authorising officers) and recalls their respective roles in the context of the tasks of sound financial management.

Amongst the other legal elements relating to the implementation of the EU budget presented in this document, the paper focuses on the following issues:

accounting principles applicable to the management of EU spending (business continuity, consistency of accounting methods, comparability of information ...); consolidation methods of figures for all major controlled entities (the consolidated financial statements of the EU comprise all significant controlled entities –institutions, organisations and agencies, this being 50 controlled entities, 5 joint ventures and 4 associates. In comparison with 2010, the scope of consolidation has been extended by 7 controlled entities (one institution, 6 agencies); the recognition of financial assets in the EU (tangible and intangible assets, financial assets and other miscellaneous investments); the way in which EU public expenditure is committed and spent, including pre-financing (cash advances intended for the benefit of an EU organ); the means of recovery following irregularities detected; the modus operandi of the accounting system; the audit process followed by the European Parliament's granting of the discharge.

To recap, the final control is the discharge of the budget for a given financial year . The discharge represents the political aspect of the external control of budget implementation and is the decision by which the European Parliament, acting on a Council recommendation, "releases" the Commission from its responsibility for management of a given budget by marking the end of that budget's existence. When granting the discharge, Parliament may highlight some observations that it considers important, often by recommending that the Commission takes action on the aspects in question .

The document also details specific expenditure of the institutions, in particular: i) pensions of former Members and functionaries of institutions; ii) joint sickness insurance scheme and iii) buildings.

Lastly, the document presents a series of tables and detailed technical indicators on (i) the balance sheet; (ii) the economic outturn account; (iii) cashflow tables; (iv) technical annexes concerning the financial statements.

2) Implementation of appropriations under Section IV of the budget for the financial year 2011: the document comprises a series of detailed tables, the most important concerning the implementation of the budget. Concerning the expenditure of the Court of Justice, information drawn from the " Annual Report 2011 of the Court of Justice of the European Union " shows that:

the total of commitments granted to this institution for 2011 was EUR 341.2 million ; the rate of payments was 98.4%.

3) Budgetary implementation - conclusions: the main characteristics of the Court of Justice’s budgetary implementation for the financial year 2011 were chiefly marked by:

greater intensity of judicial activity: with 1 569 new cases and 1 518 cases closed, the Court saw a sharp rise in the number of proceedings brought before the three courts, and settled by them. Nevertheless, this increase in the volume of cases calls for a certain vigilance on the part both of the Court of Justice of the European Union and of the legislative authorities of the Union, in order that the effectiveness of the judicial system of the Union may not be jeopardised and in order that European citizens may continue to be served as well as is possible. With that in mind, the Court last year proposed a series of amendments to its Statute and a thorough recasting of its Rules of Procedure with a view, on the one hand, to improving its and the General Court’s efficiency and productivity and, on the other, to modernising its procedures; IT projects: the objective was to bring the Court closer to the citizen. The opening of the e-Curia system which enables procedural documents to be lodged and served electronically, the launch of a more efficient, new search engine for consulting case-law and the putting on line of the catalogue of the Court’s library are designed to make the Court of Justice more accessible and more transparent; replacement of certain members of the institution: 2011 also saw the departure of the President and two members of the Civil Service Tribunal as a result of the partial renewal of its membership, and the departure of one member of the Court of Justice and of one member of the General Court.

2012/02/29
   EP - CZARNECKI Ryszard (ECR) appointed as rapporteur in CONT

Documents

Votes

A7-0090/2013 - Ryszard Czarnecki - Décision (ensemble du texte) #

2013/04/17 Outcome: +: 553, -: 45, 0: 11
DE FR IT ES RO PL SE PT EL HU BE NL BG AT SK IE GB DK LT LV FI CZ LU SI CY EE MT
Total
79
64
58
47
24
32
18
19
18
20
18
24
14
17
12
11
50
12
10
8
10
17
6
6
6
5
3
icon: PPE PPE
229

Denmark PPE

For (1)

1

Czechia PPE

2

Luxembourg PPE

3
2

Estonia PPE

For (1)

1

Malta PPE

For (1)

1
icon: S&D S&D
156

Hungary S&D

3

Netherlands S&D

2

Latvia S&D

1

Finland S&D

For (1)

1

Luxembourg S&D

For (1)

1

Estonia S&D

For (1)

1
icon: ALDE ALDE
68

Greece ALDE

1

Slovakia ALDE

For (1)

1
3

Lithuania ALDE

1

Latvia ALDE

For (1)

1

Finland ALDE

2

Luxembourg ALDE

For (1)

1

Slovenia ALDE

2
icon: Verts/ALE Verts/ALE
49

Spain Verts/ALE

2
3

Portugal Verts/ALE

For (1)

1

Belgium Verts/ALE

3

Netherlands Verts/ALE

3

Austria Verts/ALE

2

United Kingdom Verts/ALE

5

Denmark Verts/ALE

2

Latvia Verts/ALE

1

Finland Verts/ALE

2

Luxembourg Verts/ALE

For (1)

1
icon: GUE/NGL GUE/NGL
30

Spain GUE/NGL

For (1)

1

Sweden GUE/NGL

1

Portugal GUE/NGL

3

Greece GUE/NGL

3

Netherlands GUE/NGL

2

Ireland GUE/NGL

For (1)

1

United Kingdom GUE/NGL

1

Latvia GUE/NGL

For (1)

1
icon: EFD EFD
25

Poland EFD

Abstain (1)

1

Greece EFD

2

Netherlands EFD

For (1)

1

Slovakia EFD

For (1)

1

Denmark EFD

Against (1)

1

Lithuania EFD

2

Finland EFD

Against (1)

1
icon: NI NI
26

France NI

For (1)

3

Spain NI

1

Hungary NI

For (1)

3

Belgium NI

Against (1)

1

Bulgaria NI

For (1)

1

United Kingdom NI

5
icon: ECR ECR
25

Hungary ECR

Against (1)

1

Belgium ECR

Against (1)

1

Netherlands ECR

Against (1)

1

Denmark ECR

Abstain (1)

1

Lithuania ECR

Against (1)

1
AmendmentsDossier
7 2012/2170(DEC)
2013/02/26 CONT 7 amendments...
source: PE-506.049

History

(these mark the time of scraping, not the official date of the change)

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activities
  • date: 2012-07-25T00:00:00 docs: url: http://www.europarl.europa.eu/RegData/docs_autres_institutions/commission_europeenne/com/2012/0436/COM_COM(2012)0436_EN.pdf title: COM(2012)0436 type: Non-legislative basic document published celexid: CELEX:52012DC0436:EN body: EC commission: DG: url: http://ec.europa.eu/dgs/budget/ title: Budget Commissioner: ŠEMETA Algirdas type: Non-legislative basic document published
  • date: 2012-09-13T00:00:00 body: EP type: Committee referral announced in Parliament, 1st reading/single reading committees: body: EP responsible: False committee_full: Constitutional Affairs committee: AFCO body: EP responsible: False committee_full: Foreign Affairs committee: AFET body: EP responsible: False committee_full: Agriculture and Rural Development committee: AGRI body: EP responsible: False committee_full: Budgets committee: BUDG body: EP shadows: group: PPE name: DEUTSCH Tamás group: PPE name: SONIK Bogusław group: S&D name: KALFIN Ivailo group: ALDE name: SKYLAKAKIS Theodoros group: Verts/ALE name: STAES Bart group: GUE/NGL name: SØNDERGAARD Søren Bo group: EFD name: ANDREASEN Marta group: NI name: EHRENHAUSER Martin responsible: True committee: CONT date: 2012-02-29T00:00:00 committee_full: Budgetary Control rapporteur: group: ECR name: CZARNECKI Ryszard body: EP responsible: False committee_full: Culture and Education committee: CULT body: EP responsible: False committee_full: Development committee: DEVE body: EP responsible: False committee_full: Economic and Monetary Affairs committee: ECON body: EP responsible: False committee_full: Employment and Social Affairs committee: EMPL body: EP responsible: False committee_full: Environment, Public Health and Food Safety committee: ENVI body: EP responsible: False committee_full: Women's Rights and Gender Equality committee: FEMM body: EP responsible: False committee_full: Internal Market and Consumer Protection committee: IMCO body: EP responsible: False committee_full: International Trade committee: INTA body: EP responsible: False committee_full: Industry, Research and Energy committee: ITRE body: EP responsible: False committee: JURI date: 2012-09-18T00:00:00 committee_full: Legal Affairs rapporteur: group: Verts/ALE name: LICHTENBERGER Eva body: EP responsible: False committee_full: Civil Liberties, Justice and Home Affairs committee: LIBE body: EP responsible: False committee_full: Fisheries committee: PECH body: EP responsible: False committee_full: Petitions committee: PETI body: EP responsible: False committee_full: Regional Development committee: REGI body: EP responsible: False committee_full: Transport and Tourism committee: TRAN
  • date: 2013-03-19T00:00:00 body: EP type: Vote in committee, 1st reading/single reading committees: body: EP responsible: False committee_full: Constitutional Affairs committee: AFCO body: EP responsible: False committee_full: Foreign Affairs committee: AFET body: EP responsible: False committee_full: Agriculture and Rural Development committee: AGRI body: EP responsible: False committee_full: Budgets committee: BUDG body: EP shadows: group: PPE name: DEUTSCH Tamás group: PPE name: SONIK Bogusław group: S&D name: KALFIN Ivailo group: ALDE name: SKYLAKAKIS Theodoros group: Verts/ALE name: STAES Bart group: GUE/NGL name: SØNDERGAARD Søren Bo group: EFD name: ANDREASEN Marta group: NI name: EHRENHAUSER Martin responsible: True committee: CONT date: 2012-02-29T00:00:00 committee_full: Budgetary Control rapporteur: group: ECR name: CZARNECKI Ryszard body: EP responsible: False committee_full: Culture and Education committee: CULT body: EP responsible: False committee_full: Development committee: DEVE body: EP responsible: False committee_full: Economic and Monetary Affairs committee: ECON body: EP responsible: False committee_full: Employment and Social Affairs committee: EMPL body: EP responsible: False committee_full: Environment, Public Health and Food Safety committee: ENVI body: EP responsible: False committee_full: Women's Rights and Gender Equality committee: FEMM body: EP responsible: False committee_full: Internal Market and Consumer Protection committee: IMCO body: EP responsible: False committee_full: International Trade committee: INTA body: EP responsible: False committee_full: Industry, Research and Energy committee: ITRE body: EP responsible: False committee: JURI date: 2012-09-18T00:00:00 committee_full: Legal Affairs rapporteur: group: Verts/ALE name: LICHTENBERGER Eva body: EP responsible: False committee_full: Civil Liberties, Justice and Home Affairs committee: LIBE body: EP responsible: False committee_full: Fisheries committee: PECH body: EP responsible: False committee_full: Petitions committee: PETI body: EP responsible: False committee_full: Regional Development committee: REGI body: EP responsible: False committee_full: Transport and Tourism committee: TRAN
  • date: 2013-03-21T00:00:00 docs: url: http://www.europarl.europa.eu/sides/getDoc.do?type=REPORT&mode=XML&reference=A7-2013-90&language=EN type: Committee report tabled for plenary, single reading title: A7-0090/2013 body: EP type: Committee report tabled for plenary, single reading
  • date: 2013-04-16T00:00:00 docs: url: http://www.europarl.europa.eu/sides/getDoc.do?secondRef=TOC&language=EN&reference=20130416&type=CRE type: Debate in Parliament title: Debate in Parliament body: EP type: Debate in Parliament
  • date: 2013-04-17T00:00:00 docs: url: http://www.europarl.europa.eu/sides/getDoc.do?type=TA&language=EN&reference=P7-TA-2013-127 type: Decision by Parliament, 1st reading/single reading title: T7-0127/2013 body: EP type: Decision by Parliament, 1st reading/single reading
  • date: 2013-11-16T00:00:00 type: Final act published in Official Journal docs: url: http://eur-lex.europa.eu/smartapi/cgi/sga_doc?smartapi!celexplus!prod!CELEXnumdoc&lg=EN&numdoc=32013D0545 title: Decision 2013/545 url: http://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/TXT/?uri=OJ:L:2013:308:TOC title: OJ L 308 16.11.2013, p. 0118
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docs
  • date: 2012-09-06T00:00:00 docs: url: https://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/TXT/?uri=OJ:C:2012:344:TOC title: OJ C 344 12.11.2012, p. 0001 title: N7-0127/2012 summary: OBJECTIVE: presentation of the Report of the Court of Auditors on the 2011 budget (section IV – European Court of Justice). CONTENT: the Court of Auditors published its 35th Annual Report on the implementation of the EU budget for the 2011 financial year. In accordance with the tasks and objectives conferred on the Court of Auditors by the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union, it provides under the discharge procedure, for both the European Parliament and Council, a statement of assurance (“DAS”) about the reliability of the accounts and the legality and regularity of the transactions of each institution, body or agency of the EU, based on an independent external audit. The audit also focuses on the budget implementation of the Court of Justice. On the basis of its audit work, the Court considers that payments for “Administrative and other expenditure” policy are, overall, significantly error-free. The estimated error rate is 0.1 %. The Court, however, draws attention to the errors and weaknesses which did not affect the Court’s conclusion. The Court examined a sample of procurement procedures and noted several weaknesses in the application of selection and award criteria, some of which had an impact on the results of the procedure. Other weaknesses relate to the organisation of cross border competition, to the management of automatic award procedures and to the respect of provisions as regards the drafting and filing of tendering documents. The Court also detects weaknesses when it reviewed a sample of calculations and payments of social allowances as well as a sample of employment contracts concluded with temporary agents. The Court therefore recommends that the institutions and bodies of the EU take steps to: (i) guarantee that staff deliver, at appropriate intervals, documents confirming their personal situation and implement a system for the timely monitoring of these documents; (ii) ensure that authorising officers improve the design, coordination and performance of procurement procedures through appropriate checks and better guidance. The Court also makes a number of comments specific to each institution or body of the European Union. These observations do not affect the positive overall appraisal given that they do not significantly affect overall administrative expenditure. However, in the specific case of the audit of the Court of Justice, the Court’s audit did not identify any significant weakness . type: Court of Auditors: opinion, report body: CofA
  • date: 2013-01-28T00:00:00 docs: url: http://www.europarl.europa.eu/sides/getDoc.do?type=COMPARL&mode=XML&language=EN&reference=PE500.526&secondRef=02 title: PE500.526 committee: JURI type: Committee opinion body: EP
  • date: 2013-01-29T00:00:00 docs: url: http://www.europarl.europa.eu/sides/getDoc.do?type=COMPARL&mode=XML&language=EN&reference=PE497.967 title: PE497.967 type: Committee draft report body: EP
  • date: 2013-02-01T00:00:00 docs: url: http://register.consilium.europa.eu/content/out?lang=EN&typ=SET&i=ADV&RESULTSET=1&DOC_ID=5752%2F13&DOC_LANCD=EN&ROWSPP=25&NRROWS=500&ORDERBY=DOC_DATE+DESC title: 05752/2013 summary: In view of the observations made in the Court of Auditor's report, the Council calls on the European Parliament to grant discharge to all of the Union’s institutions in regard to the implementation of their respective budgets for the financial year 2011 . Overall, the Council’s remarks are positive in regard to the expenditure of the institutions since it notes that, again in 2011, the administrative expenditure of EU institutions and bodies remained free from material error and that their supervisory and control systems continued to comply with the requirements of the Financial Regulation. Nevertheless, the Council regrets that in some institutions weaknesses were still detected in the payment of social allowances to staff members , in the employment contracts for non-permanent staff and in procurement procedures. It welcomes the measures already taken and encourages the institutions concerned to address the remaining weaknesses pointed out by the Court. The Council notes the Court's recommendations that the institutions concerned should ensure that staff regularly deliver documents on their personal situation, that the relevant provisions are applied when concluding, extending or modifying employment contracts with non-permanent staff, and that the authorising officers further improve guidance and appropriate checks concerning procurement procedures. type: Supplementary non-legislative basic document body: CSL
  • date: 2013-02-27T00:00:00 docs: url: http://www.europarl.europa.eu/sides/getDoc.do?type=COMPARL&mode=XML&language=EN&reference=PE506.049 title: PE506.049 type: Amendments tabled in committee body: EP
events
  • date: 2012-07-25T00:00:00 type: Non-legislative basic document published body: EC docs: url: http://www.europarl.europa.eu/registre/docs_autres_institutions/commission_europeenne/com/2012/0436/COM_COM(2012)0436_EN.pdf title: COM(2012)0436 url: https://eur-lex.europa.eu/smartapi/cgi/sga_doc?smartapi!celexplus!prod!DocNumber&lg=EN&type_doc=COMfinal&an_doc=2012&nu_doc=436 title: EUR-Lex summary: PURPOSE: presentation by the Commission of the consolidated annual accounts of the European Union for the financial year 2011, as part of the 2011 discharge procedure. Analysis of the accounts of the EU Institutions: Section IV – Court of Justice . Legal reminder: the consolidated annual accounts of the European Union for the year 2011 have been prepared on the basis of the information presented by the institutions and bodies under Article 129.2 of the Financial Regulation applicable to the general budget of the European Union. They were prepared in accordance with Title VII of this Financial Regulation and with the accounting principles, rules and methods set out in the notes to the financial statements. The objective of the financial statements is to provide information about the financial position, performance and cashflows of an entity that is useful to a wide range of users. The objective is to provide information useful for decision making, and to demonstrate the accountability of the entity for the resources entrusted to it. 1) Purpose: the document helps to bring insight into the EU budget mechanism and the way in which the budget has been managed and spent in 2011 . It recalls that the European Union's operational expenditure covers the various headings of the financial framework and takes different forms, depending on how the money is paid out and managed. In accordance with the Financial Regulation, the Commission implements the general budget using the following methods: direct or indirect centralised management (by means of bodies or agencies of public law or other); decentralised management where the Commission delegates certain tasks for the implementation of the budget to third countries; and, thirdly, shared management where budget implementation tasks are delegated to Member States, in areas such as agricultural expenditure and structural actions. The document also presents the different financial actors involved in the budget process (accounting officers, internal officers and authorising officers) and recalls their respective roles in the context of the tasks of sound financial management. Amongst the other legal elements relating to the implementation of the EU budget presented in this document, the paper focuses on the following issues: accounting principles applicable to the management of EU spending (business continuity, consistency of accounting methods, comparability of information ...); consolidation methods of figures for all major controlled entities (the consolidated financial statements of the EU comprise all significant controlled entities –institutions, organisations and agencies, this being 50 controlled entities, 5 joint ventures and 4 associates. In comparison with 2010, the scope of consolidation has been extended by 7 controlled entities (one institution, 6 agencies); the recognition of financial assets in the EU (tangible and intangible assets, financial assets and other miscellaneous investments); the way in which EU public expenditure is committed and spent, including pre-financing (cash advances intended for the benefit of an EU organ); the means of recovery following irregularities detected; the modus operandi of the accounting system; the audit process followed by the European Parliament's granting of the discharge. To recap, the final control is the discharge of the budget for a given financial year . The discharge represents the political aspect of the external control of budget implementation and is the decision by which the European Parliament, acting on a Council recommendation, "releases" the Commission from its responsibility for management of a given budget by marking the end of that budget's existence. When granting the discharge, Parliament may highlight some observations that it considers important, often by recommending that the Commission takes action on the aspects in question . The document also details specific expenditure of the institutions, in particular: i) pensions of former Members and functionaries of institutions; ii) joint sickness insurance scheme and iii) buildings. Lastly, the document presents a series of tables and detailed technical indicators on (i) the balance sheet; (ii) the economic outturn account; (iii) cashflow tables; (iv) technical annexes concerning the financial statements. 2) Implementation of appropriations under Section IV of the budget for the financial year 2011: the document comprises a series of detailed tables, the most important concerning the implementation of the budget. Concerning the expenditure of the Court of Justice, information drawn from the " Annual Report 2011 of the Court of Justice of the European Union " shows that: the total of commitments granted to this institution for 2011 was EUR 341.2 million ; the rate of payments was 98.4%. 3) Budgetary implementation - conclusions: the main characteristics of the Court of Justice’s budgetary implementation for the financial year 2011 were chiefly marked by: greater intensity of judicial activity: with 1 569 new cases and 1 518 cases closed, the Court saw a sharp rise in the number of proceedings brought before the three courts, and settled by them. Nevertheless, this increase in the volume of cases calls for a certain vigilance on the part both of the Court of Justice of the European Union and of the legislative authorities of the Union, in order that the effectiveness of the judicial system of the Union may not be jeopardised and in order that European citizens may continue to be served as well as is possible. With that in mind, the Court last year proposed a series of amendments to its Statute and a thorough recasting of its Rules of Procedure with a view, on the one hand, to improving its and the General Court’s efficiency and productivity and, on the other, to modernising its procedures; IT projects: the objective was to bring the Court closer to the citizen. The opening of the e-Curia system which enables procedural documents to be lodged and served electronically, the launch of a more efficient, new search engine for consulting case-law and the putting on line of the catalogue of the Court’s library are designed to make the Court of Justice more accessible and more transparent; replacement of certain members of the institution: 2011 also saw the departure of the President and two members of the Civil Service Tribunal as a result of the partial renewal of its membership, and the departure of one member of the Court of Justice and of one member of the General Court.
  • date: 2012-09-13T00:00:00 type: Committee referral announced in Parliament, 1st reading/single reading body: EP
  • date: 2013-03-19T00:00:00 type: Vote in committee, 1st reading/single reading body: EP
  • date: 2013-03-21T00:00:00 type: Committee report tabled for plenary, single reading body: EP docs: url: http://www.europarl.europa.eu/sides/getDoc.do?type=REPORT&mode=XML&reference=A7-2013-90&language=EN title: A7-0090/2013 summary: The Committee on Budgetary Control adopted the report by Ryszard CZARNECKI (ECR, PL) in which it calls on the European Parliament to grant the Registrar of the Court of Justice discharge in respect of the implementation of the Court of Justice's budget for the financial year 2011. Members welcome the fact that on the basis of its audit work, the Court of Auditors concluded that the payments as a whole for the year ended on 31 December 2011 for administrative and other expenditure of the institutions and bodies were free from material error. The Court of Auditors observed that no significant weaknesses had been identified in respect of the audited topics related to human resources and procurement for the Court of Justice. Members also note that the Court of Justice had commitment appropriations amounting to EUR 336 million (more than 98% implementation rate). On an operational level, Members express concern that the amount of pending cases in the General Court is still very high in 2011 (i.e. 1300 pending cases in 2010 and 1308 pending cases in 2011). They urge the Court of Justice to examine what type of organisational changes could lead to a the reduction in the number of pending cases and also believes that the General Court needs human resources reinforcement. They note that the Court of Justice completed 550 cases in 2011, an appreciable increase compared with the previous year (522 cases completed in 2010). Members welcome the eCuria application enabling procedural documents to be lodged and notified electronically and has enabled the optimisation of internal work flows. However, they ask Parliament's Committee on Budgetary Control to be given an accurate description of costs relating to the creation, maintenance and updating of the eCuria application. Overall, Members support the initiative taken by the Court of Justice to reform its Statute and Rules of Procedure in view of the challenges it faces in connection with the increased number of cases. Members find the engagement of the Court of Justice in holding a collection of works of art representative of the Union's artistic heritage an ambitious project requiring specialised resources. They invite the Court of Justice to explain how this project articulates with the traditional activities of the Court of Justice. They take note that in 2012, the Court of Justice paid EUR 7500 to insure a collection valued at EUR 2 400 000.
  • date: 2013-04-16T00:00:00 type: Debate in Parliament body: EP docs: url: http://www.europarl.europa.eu/sides/getDoc.do?secondRef=TOC&language=EN&reference=20130416&type=CRE title: Debate in Parliament
  • date: 2013-04-17T00:00:00 type: Decision by Parliament, 1st reading/single reading body: EP docs: url: http://www.europarl.europa.eu/sides/getDoc.do?type=TA&language=EN&reference=P7-TA-2013-127 title: T7-0127/2013 summary: The European Parliament adopted by 553 votes to 45, with 11 abstentions, a decision to grant the Registrar of the Court of Justice discharge in respect of the implementation of the Court of Justice's budget for the financial year 2011. In its resolution accompanying the discharge decision, Parliament notes that the Court of Auditors concluded that the payments as a whole for the year ended on 31 December 2011 for administrative and other expenditure of the institutions and bodies were free from material error. The Court of Auditors observed that no significant weaknesses had been identified in respect of the audited topics related to human resources and procurement for the Court of Justice. Parliament also notes that the Court of Justice had commitment appropriations amounting to EUR 336 million (more than 98% implementation rate). On an operational level, Parliament expresses concern that the amount of pending cases in the General Court is still very high in 2011 (i.e. 1300 pending cases in 2010 and 1308 pending cases in 2011). It urges the Court of Justice to examine what type of organisational changes could lead to a the reduction in the number of pending cases and also believes that the General Court needs human resources reinforcement. Members note that the Court of Justice completed 550 cases in 2011, an appreciable increase compared with the previous year (522 cases completed in 2010). Overall, Parliament supports the initiative taken by the Court of Justice to reform its Statute and Rules of Procedure in light of the challenges it faces in connection with the increased number of cases. eCuria : welcoming the e-Curia application, which came into operation in November 2011, enabling procedural documents to be lodged and notified electronically, Parliament asks to be informed of the measures taken to resolve informatics breakdowns which can affect the e-Curia performance. It stresses that e-Curia must, in due course, make it possible to do away with a great proportion of exchanges of correspondence and with the scanning of documents coming in and going out, and enable the optimisation of internal work flows and asks Parliament's Committee on Budgetary Control to be given an accurate description of costs relating to the creation, maintenance and updating of the e-Curia application. It considers very positive that by the end of 2012, 14 Member States, two European Free Trade Association countries and five European institutions (in particular Parliament, the Council and the Commission) were active users of e-Curia. Lastly, Members find the engagement of the Court of Justice in holding a collection of works of art representative of the Union's artistic heritage an ambitious project requiring specialised resources. They invite the Court of Justice to explain how this project articulates with the traditional activities of the Court of Justice. They take note that in 2012, the Court of Justice paid EUR 7500 to insure a collection valued at EUR 2 400 000.
  • date: 2013-04-17T00:00:00 type: End of procedure in Parliament body: EP
  • date: 2013-11-16T00:00:00 type: Final act published in Official Journal summary: PURPOSE: to grant discharge to the Court of Justice for the financial year 2011. NON-LEGISLATIVE ACT: Decision 2013/545/EU of the European Parliament on discharge in respect of the implementation of the European Union’s General Budget, section IV – Court of Justice, for the financial year 2011. CONTENT: with the present decision, and in accordance with Article 318 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union (TFEU), the European Parliament grants discharge to the Registrar of the Court of Justice in respect of the implementation of the budget for the financial year 2011. The decision is in line with the European Parliament's resolution adopted on 17 April 2013 and comprises a series of observations that form an integral part of the discharge decision (please refer to the summary of the opinion of 17 April 2013). docs: title: Decision 2013/545 url: https://eur-lex.europa.eu/smartapi/cgi/sga_doc?smartapi!celexplus!prod!CELEXnumdoc&lg=EN&numdoc=32013D0545 title: OJ L 308 16.11.2013, p. 0118 url: https://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/TXT/?uri=OJ:L:2013:308:TOC
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  • body: EC dg: url: http://ec.europa.eu/dgs/budget/ title: Budget commissioner: ŠEMETA Algirdas
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Previous discharges
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http://www.europarl.europa.eu/registre/docs_autres_institutions/commission_europeenne/com/2012/0436/COM_COM(2012)0436_EN.pdf
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2012-07-25T00:00:00
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url: http://www.europarl.europa.eu/registre/docs_autres_institutions/commission_europeenne/com/2012/0436/COM_COM(2012)0436_EN.pdf title: COM(2012)0436 type: Non-legislative basic document published celexid: CELEX:52012DC0436:EN
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DG: url: http://ec.europa.eu/dgs/budget/ title: Budget Commissioner: ŠEMETA Algirdas
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  • DG: url: http://ec.europa.eu/dgs/budget/ title: Budget Commissioner: ŠEMETA Algirdas
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  • body: EP responsible: False committee_full: Constitutional Affairs committee: AFCO
  • body: EP responsible: False committee_full: Foreign Affairs committee: AFET
  • body: EP responsible: False committee_full: Agriculture and Rural Development committee: AGRI
  • body: EP responsible: False committee_full: Budgets committee: BUDG
  • body: EP shadows: group: EPP name: DEUTSCH Tamás group: EPP name: SONIK Bogusław group: S&D name: KALFIN Ivailo group: ALDE name: SKYLAKAKIS Theodoros group: Verts/ALE name: STAES Bart group: GUE/NGL name: SØNDERGAARD Søren Bo group: EFD name: ANDREASEN Marta group: NI name: EHRENHAUSER Martin responsible: True committee: CONT date: 2012-02-29T00:00:00 committee_full: Budgetary Control rapporteur: group: ECR name: CZARNECKI Ryszard
  • body: EP responsible: False committee_full: Culture and Education committee: CULT
  • body: EP responsible: False committee_full: Development committee: DEVE
  • body: EP responsible: False committee_full: Economic and Monetary Affairs committee: ECON
  • body: EP responsible: False committee_full: Employment and Social Affairs committee: EMPL
  • body: EP responsible: False committee_full: Environment, Public Health and Food Safety committee: ENVI
  • body: EP responsible: False committee_full: Women's Rights and Gender Equality committee: FEMM
  • body: EP responsible: False committee_full: Internal Market and Consumer Protection committee: IMCO
  • body: EP responsible: False committee_full: International Trade committee: INTA
  • body: EP responsible: False committee_full: Industry, Research and Energy committee: ITRE
  • body: EP responsible: False committee: JURI date: 2012-09-18T00:00:00 committee_full: Legal Affairs rapporteur: group: Verts/ALE name: LICHTENBERGER Eva
  • body: EP responsible: False committee_full: Civil Liberties, Justice and Home Affairs committee: LIBE
  • body: EP responsible: False committee_full: Fisheries committee: PECH
  • body: EP responsible: False committee_full: Petitions committee: PETI
  • body: EP responsible: False committee_full: Regional Development committee: REGI
  • body: EP responsible: False committee_full: Transport and Tourism committee: TRAN
activities/0/date
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  • url: http://www.europarl.europa.eu/registre/docs_autres_institutions/commission_europeenne/com/2012/0436/COM_COM(2012)0436_EN.pdf title: COM(2012)0436 type: Non-legislative basic document published celexid: CELEX:52012DC0436:EN
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  • body: EP responsible: False committee_full: Constitutional Affairs committee: AFCO
  • body: EP responsible: False committee_full: Foreign Affairs committee: AFET
  • body: EP responsible: False committee_full: Agriculture and Rural Development committee: AGRI
  • body: EP responsible: False committee_full: Budgets committee: BUDG
  • body: EP shadows: group: PPE name: DEUTSCH Tamás group: PPE name: SONIK Bogusław group: S&D name: KALFIN Ivailo group: ALDE name: SKYLAKAKIS Theodoros group: Verts/ALE name: STAES Bart group: GUE/NGL name: SØNDERGAARD Søren Bo group: EFD name: ANDREASEN Marta group: NI name: EHRENHAUSER Martin responsible: True committee: CONT date: 2012-02-29T00:00:00 committee_full: Budgetary Control rapporteur: group: ECR name: CZARNECKI Ryszard
  • body: EP responsible: False committee_full: Culture and Education committee: CULT
  • body: EP responsible: False committee_full: Development committee: DEVE
  • body: EP responsible: False committee_full: Economic and Monetary Affairs committee: ECON
  • body: EP responsible: False committee_full: Employment and Social Affairs committee: EMPL
  • body: EP responsible: False committee_full: Environment, Public Health and Food Safety committee: ENVI
  • body: EP responsible: False committee_full: Women's Rights and Gender Equality committee: FEMM
  • body: EP responsible: False committee_full: Internal Market and Consumer Protection committee: IMCO
  • body: EP responsible: False committee_full: International Trade committee: INTA
  • body: EP responsible: False committee_full: Industry, Research and Energy committee: ITRE
  • body: EP responsible: False committee: JURI date: 2012-09-18T00:00:00 committee_full: Legal Affairs rapporteur: group: Verts/ALE name: LICHTENBERGER Eva
  • body: EP responsible: False committee_full: Civil Liberties, Justice and Home Affairs committee: LIBE
  • body: EP responsible: False committee_full: Fisheries committee: PECH
  • body: EP responsible: False committee_full: Petitions committee: PETI
  • body: EP responsible: False committee_full: Regional Development committee: REGI
  • body: EP responsible: False committee_full: Transport and Tourism committee: TRAN
activities/1/date
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2013-02-01T00:00:00
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2012-09-13T00:00:00
activities/1/docs
  • url: http://register.consilium.europa.eu/servlet/driver?page=Result&lang=EN&typ=Advanced&cmsid=639&ff_COTE_DOCUMENT=5752%2F13&fc=REGAISEN&srm=25&md=100 type: Document attached to the procedure title: 05752/2013
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CoA
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activities/2/committees
  • body: EP responsible: False committee_full: Constitutional Affairs committee: AFCO
  • body: EP responsible: False committee_full: Foreign Affairs committee: AFET
  • body: EP responsible: False committee_full: Agriculture and Rural Development committee: AGRI
  • body: EP responsible: False committee_full: Budgets committee: BUDG
  • body: EP shadows: group: PPE name: DEUTSCH Tamás group: PPE name: SONIK Bogusław group: S&D name: KALFIN Ivailo group: ALDE name: SKYLAKAKIS Theodoros group: Verts/ALE name: STAES Bart group: GUE/NGL name: SØNDERGAARD Søren Bo group: EFD name: ANDREASEN Marta group: NI name: EHRENHAUSER Martin responsible: True committee: CONT date: 2012-02-29T00:00:00 committee_full: Budgetary Control rapporteur: group: ECR name: CZARNECKI Ryszard
  • body: EP responsible: False committee_full: Culture and Education committee: CULT
  • body: EP responsible: False committee_full: Development committee: DEVE
  • body: EP responsible: False committee_full: Economic and Monetary Affairs committee: ECON
  • body: EP responsible: False committee_full: Employment and Social Affairs committee: EMPL
  • body: EP responsible: False committee_full: Environment, Public Health and Food Safety committee: ENVI
  • body: EP responsible: False committee_full: Women's Rights and Gender Equality committee: FEMM
  • body: EP responsible: False committee_full: Internal Market and Consumer Protection committee: IMCO
  • body: EP responsible: False committee_full: International Trade committee: INTA
  • body: EP responsible: False committee_full: Industry, Research and Energy committee: ITRE
  • body: EP responsible: False committee: JURI date: 2012-09-18T00:00:00 committee_full: Legal Affairs rapporteur: group: Verts/ALE name: LICHTENBERGER Eva
  • body: EP responsible: False committee_full: Civil Liberties, Justice and Home Affairs committee: LIBE
  • body: EP responsible: False committee_full: Fisheries committee: PECH
  • body: EP responsible: False committee_full: Petitions committee: PETI
  • body: EP responsible: False committee_full: Regional Development committee: REGI
  • body: EP responsible: False committee_full: Transport and Tourism committee: TRAN
activities/2/date
Old
2012-09-06T00:00:00
New
2013-03-19T00:00:00
activities/2/docs
  • type: Court of Auditors: opinion, report title: N7-0127/2012
  • url: http://eur-lex.europa.eu/JOHtml.do?uri=OJ:C:2012:3440001:SOM:EN:HTML type: Court of Auditors: opinion, report title: OJ C 344 12.11.2012, p. 0001
activities/2/type
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Court of Auditors: opinion, report
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docs
url: http://www.europarl.europa.eu/sides/getDoc.do?type=COMPARL&mode=XML&language=EN&reference=PE497.967 type: Committee draft report title: PE497.967
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EP
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Committee draft report
activities/5
date
2013-02-27T00:00:00
docs
url: http://www.europarl.europa.eu/sides/getDoc.do?type=COMPARL&mode=XML&language=EN&reference=PE506.049 type: Amendments tabled in committee title: PE506.049
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EP
type
Amendments tabled in committee
activities/5/type
Old
Text adopted by Parliament, single reading
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Decision by Parliament, 1st reading/single reading
activities/6
date
2013-03-19T00:00:00
body
EP
type
Vote in committee, 1st reading/single reading
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activities/6/docs
  • url: http://eur-lex.europa.eu/smartapi/cgi/sga_doc?smartapi!celexplus!prod!CELEXnumdoc&lg=EN&numdoc=32013D0545 title: Decision 2013/545
  • url: http://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/TXT/?uri=OJ:L:2013:308:TOC title: OJ L 308 16.11.2013, p. 0118
activities/6/text
  • PURPOSE: to grant discharge to the Court of Justice for the financial year 2011.

    NON-LEGISLATIVE ACT: Decision 2013/545/EU of the European Parliament on discharge in respect of the implementation of the European Union’s General Budget, section IV – Court of Justice, for the financial year 2011.

    CONTENT: with the present decision, and in accordance with Article 318 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union (TFEU), the European Parliament grants discharge to the Registrar of the Court of Justice in respect of the implementation of the budget for the financial year 2011.

    The decision is in line with the European Parliament's resolution adopted on 17 April 2013 and comprises a series of observations that form an integral part of the discharge decision (please refer to the summary of the opinion of 17 April 2013).

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PPE
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http://eur-lex.europa.eu/smartapi/cgi/sga_doc?smartapi!celexplus!prod!CELEXnumdoc&lg=EN&numdoc=32013D0545
title
Decision 2013/545
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date
2013-11-16T00:00:00
type
Final act published in Official Journal
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Old
Procedure completed, awaiting publication in Official Journal
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Procedure completed
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CELEX:52012DC0436:EN
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CELEX:52012DC0436:EN
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  • url: http://www.europarl.europa.eu/sides/getDoc.do?secondRef=TOC&language=EN&reference=20130416&type=CRE type: Debate in Parliament title: Debate in Parliament
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  • Rules of Procedure of the European Parliament EP 138
procedure/legal_basis
  • Rules of Procedure of the European Parliament EP 138
procedure/legal_basis
  • Rules of Procedure of the European Parliament EP 138
activities/0/docs/0/celexid
CELEX:52012DC0436:EN
activities/0/docs/0/celexid
CELEX:52012DC0436:EN
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Women’s Rights and Gender Equality
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Women's Rights and Gender Equality
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Women’s Rights and Gender Equality
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Women's Rights and Gender Equality
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Women’s Rights and Gender Equality
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Women's Rights and Gender Equality
activities/8/docs
  • url: http://www.europarl.europa.eu/sides/getDoc.do?secondRef=TOC&language=EN&reference=20130416&type=CRE type: Debate in Parliament title: Debate in Parliament
procedure/legal_basis
  • Rules of Procedure of the European Parliament EP 138
activities/9/docs/0/text
  • The European Parliament adopted by 553 votes to 45, with 11 abstentions, a decision to grant the Registrar of the Court of Justice discharge in respect of the implementation of the Court of Justice's budget for the financial year 2011.

    In its resolution accompanying the discharge decision, Parliament notes that the Court of Auditors concluded that the payments as a whole for the year ended on 31 December 2011 for administrative and other expenditure of the institutions and bodies were free from material error. The Court of Auditors observed that no significant weaknesses had been identified in respect of the audited topics related to human resources and procurement for the Court of Justice.

    Parliament also notes that the Court of Justice had commitment appropriations amounting to EUR 336 million (more than 98% implementation rate).

    On an operational level, Parliament expresses concern that the amount of pending cases in the General Court is still very high in 2011 (i.e. 1300 pending cases in 2010 and 1308 pending cases in 2011). It urges the Court of Justice to examine what type of organisational changes could lead to a the reduction in the number of pending cases and also believes that the General Court needs human resources reinforcement. Members note that the Court of Justice completed 550 cases in 2011, an appreciable increase compared with the previous year (522 cases completed in 2010).

    Overall, Parliament supports the initiative taken by the Court of Justice to reform its Statute and Rules of Procedure in light of the challenges it faces in connection with the increased number of cases.

    eCuria: welcoming the e-Curia application, which came into operation in November 2011, enabling procedural documents to be lodged and notified electronically, Parliament asks to be informed of the measures taken to resolve informatics breakdowns which can affect the e-Curia performance. It stresses that e-Curia must, in due course, make it possible to do away with a great proportion of exchanges of correspondence and with the scanning of documents coming in and going out, and enable the optimisation of internal work flows and asks Parliament's Committee on Budgetary Control to be given an accurate description of costs relating to the creation, maintenance and updating of the e-Curia application. It considers very positive that by the end of 2012, 14 Member States, two European Free Trade Association countries and five European institutions (in particular Parliament, the Council and the Commission) were active users of e-Curia.

    Lastly, Members find the engagement of the Court of Justice in holding a collection of works of art representative of the Union's artistic heritage an ambitious project requiring specialised resources. They invite the Court of Justice to explain how this project articulates with the traditional activities of the Court of Justice. They take note that in 2012, the Court of Justice paid EUR 7500 to insure a collection valued at EUR 2 400 000.

activities/9/docs/0/url
http://www.europarl.europa.eu/sides/getDoc.do?type=TA&language=EN&reference=P7-TA-2013-127
activities/8/type
Old
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activities/9/docs
  • type: Decision by Parliament, 1st reading/single reading title: T7-0127/2013
activities/9/type
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  • The Committee on Budgetary Control adopted the report by Ryszard CZARNECKI (ECR, PL) in which it calls on the European Parliament to grant the Registrar of the Court of Justice discharge in respect of the implementation of the Court of Justice's budget for the financial year 2011.

    Members welcome the fact that on the basis of its audit work, the Court of Auditors concluded that the payments as a whole for the year ended on 31 December 2011 for administrative and other expenditure of the institutions and bodies were free from material error. The Court of Auditors observed that no significant weaknesses had been identified in respect of the audited topics related to human resources and procurement for the Court of Justice.

    Members also note that the Court of Justice had commitment appropriations amounting to EUR 336 million (more than 98% implementation rate).

    On an operational level, Members express concern that the amount of pending cases in the General Court is still very high in 2011 (i.e. 1300 pending cases in 2010 and 1308 pending cases in 2011). They urge the Court of Justice to examine what type of organisational changes could lead to a the reduction in the number of pending cases and also believes that the General Court needs human resources reinforcement. They note that the Court of Justice completed 550 cases in 2011, an appreciable increase compared with the previous year (522 cases completed in 2010).

    Members welcome the eCuria application enabling procedural documents to be lodged and notified electronically and has enabled the optimisation of internal work flows. However, they ask Parliament's Committee on Budgetary Control to be given an accurate description of costs relating to the creation, maintenance and updating of the eCuria application.

    Overall, Members support the initiative taken by the Court of Justice to reform its Statute and Rules of Procedure in view of the challenges it faces in connection with the increased number of cases.

    Members find the engagement of the Court of Justice in holding a collection of works of art representative of the Union's artistic heritage an ambitious project requiring specialised resources. They invite the Court of Justice to explain how this project articulates with the traditional activities of the Court of Justice. They take note that in 2012, the Court of Justice paid EUR 7500 to insure a collection valued at EUR 2 400 000.

activities/7/docs/0/url
http://www.europarl.europa.eu/sides/getDoc.do?type=REPORT&mode=XML&reference=A7-2013-90&language=EN
activities/7
date
2013-03-21T00:00:00
docs
type: Committee report tabled for plenary, single reading title: A7-0090/2013
body
EP
type
Committee report tabled for plenary, single reading
activities/6/committees
  • body: EP responsible: False committee_full: Constitutional Affairs committee: AFCO
  • body: EP responsible: False committee_full: Foreign Affairs committee: AFET
  • body: EP responsible: False committee_full: Agriculture and Rural Development committee: AGRI
  • body: EP responsible: False committee_full: Budgets committee: BUDG
  • body: EP shadows: group: EPP name: DEUTSCH Tamás group: EPP name: SONIK Bogusław group: S&D name: KALFIN Ivailo group: ALDE name: SKYLAKAKIS Theodoros group: Verts/ALE name: STAES Bart group: GUE/NGL name: SØNDERGAARD Søren Bo group: EFD name: ANDREASEN Marta group: NI name: EHRENHAUSER Martin responsible: True committee: CONT date: 2012-02-29T00:00:00 committee_full: Budgetary Control rapporteur: group: ECR name: CZARNECKI Ryszard
  • body: EP responsible: False committee_full: Culture and Education committee: CULT
  • body: EP responsible: False committee_full: Development committee: DEVE
  • body: EP responsible: False committee_full: Economic and Monetary Affairs committee: ECON
  • body: EP responsible: False committee_full: Employment and Social Affairs committee: EMPL
  • body: EP responsible: False committee_full: Environment, Public Health and Food Safety committee: ENVI
  • body: EP responsible: False committee_full: Women’s Rights and Gender Equality committee: FEMM
  • body: EP responsible: False committee_full: Internal Market and Consumer Protection committee: IMCO
  • body: EP responsible: False committee_full: International Trade committee: INTA
  • body: EP responsible: False committee_full: Industry, Research and Energy committee: ITRE
  • body: EP responsible: False committee: JURI date: 2012-09-18T00:00:00 committee_full: Legal Affairs rapporteur: group: Verts/ALE name: LICHTENBERGER Eva
  • body: EP responsible: False committee_full: Civil Liberties, Justice and Home Affairs committee: LIBE
  • body: EP responsible: False committee_full: Fisheries committee: PECH
  • body: EP responsible: False committee_full: Petitions committee: PETI
  • body: EP responsible: False committee_full: Regional Development committee: REGI
  • body: EP responsible: False committee_full: Transport and Tourism committee: TRAN
activities/6/type
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Vote in committee, 1st reading/single reading
activities/8
date
2013-04-17T00:00:00
body
EP
type
Vote in plenary scheduled
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http://www.europarl.europa.eu/sides/getDoc.do?type=COMPARL&mode=XML&language=EN&reference=PE506.049
activities/4/docs/0/type
Old
Supplementary non-legislative basic document
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Document attached to the procedure
activities/4/type
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Supplementary non-legislative basic document
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Document attached to the procedure
activities/4/docs/0/type
Old
Document attached to the procedure
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Supplementary non-legislative basic document
activities/4/type
Old
Document attached to the procedure
New
Supplementary non-legislative basic document
activities/4/docs/0/text
  • In view of the observations made in the Court of Auditor's report, the Council calls on the European Parliament to grant discharge to all of the Union’s institutions in regard to the implementation of their respective budgets for the financial year 2011.

    Overall, the Council’s remarks are positive in regard to the expenditure of the institutions since it notes that, again in 2011, the administrative expenditure of EU institutions and bodies remained free from material error and that their supervisory and control systems continued to comply with the requirements of the Financial Regulation.

    Nevertheless, the Council regrets that in some institutions weaknesses were still detected in the payment of social allowances to staff members, in the employment contracts for non-permanent staff and in procurement procedures.

    It welcomes the measures already taken and encourages the institutions concerned to address the remaining weaknesses pointed out by the Court.

    The Council notes the Court's recommendations that the institutions concerned should ensure that staff regularly deliver documents on their personal situation, that the relevant provisions are applied when concluding, extending or modifying employment contracts with non-permanent staff, and that the authorising officers further improve guidance and appropriate checks concerning procurement procedures. 

activities/5
date
2013-02-27T00:00:00
docs
type: Amendments tabled in committee title: PE506.049
body
EP
type
Amendments tabled in committee
activities/0/docs/0/text/0
Old

PURPOSE: presentation by the Commission of the consolidated annual accounts of the European Union for the financial year 2011, as part of the 2011 discharge procedure.

Analysis of the accounts of the EU Institutions: Section IV – Court of Justice.

Legal reminder: the consolidated annual accounts of the European Union for the year 2011 have been prepared on the basis of the information presented by the institutions and bodies under Article 129.2 of the Financial Regulation applicable to the general budget of the European Union. They were prepared in accordance with Title VII of this Financial Regulation and with the accounting principles, rules and methods set out in the notes to the financial statements.

The objective of the financial statements is to provide information about the financial position, performance and cashflows of an entity that is useful to a wide range of users. The objective is to provide information useful for decision making, and to demonstrate the accountability of the entity for the resources entrusted to it.

1) Purpose: the document helps to bring insight into the EU budget mechanism and the way in which the budget has been managed and spent in 2011. It recalls that the European Union's operational expenditure covers the various headings of the financial framework and takes different forms, depending on how the money is paid out and managed. In accordance with the Financial Regulation, the Commission implements the general budget using the following methods: direct or indirect centralised management (by means of bodies or agencies of public law or other); decentralised management where the Commission delegates certain tasks for the implementation of the budget to third countries; and, thirdly, shared management where budget implementation tasks are delegated to Member States, in areas such as agricultural expenditure and structural actions.

The document also presents the different financial actors involved in the budget process (accounting officers, internal officers and authorising officers) and recalls their respective roles in the context of the tasks of sound financial management.

Amongst the other legal elements relating to the implementation of the EU budget presented in this document, the paper focuses on the following issues:

  • accounting principles applicable to the management of EU spending (business continuity, consistency of accounting methods, comparability of information ...);
  • consolidation methods of figures for all major controlled entities (the consolidated financial statements of the EU comprise all significant controlled entities –institutions, organisations and agencies, this being 50 controlled entities, 5 joint ventures and 4 associates. In comparison with 2010, the scope of consolidation has been extended by 7 controlled entities (one institution, 6 agencies);
  • the recognition of financial assets in the EU (tangible and intangible assets, financial assets and other miscellaneous investments);
  • the way in which EU public expenditure is committed and spent, including pre-financing (cash advances intended for the benefit of an EU organ);
  • the means of recovery following irregularities detected;
  • the modus operandi of the accounting system;
  • the audit process followed by the European Parliament's granting of the discharge.

To recap, the final control is the discharge of the budget for a given financial year. The discharge represents the political aspect of the external control of budget implementation and is the decision by which the European Parliament, acting on a Council recommendation, "releases" the Commission from its responsibility for management of a given budget by marking the end of that budget's existence. When granting the discharge, Parliament may highlight some observations that it considers important, often by recommending that the Commission takes action on the aspects in question.

The document also details specific expenditure of the institutions, in particular: i) pensions of former Members and functionaries of institutions; ii) joint sickness insurance scheme and iii) buildings.

Lastly, the document presents a series of tables and detailed technical indicators on (i) the balance sheet; (ii) the economic outturn account; (iii) cashflow tables; (iv) technical annexes concerning the financial statements.

2) Implementation of appropriations under Section IV of the budget for the financial year 2011: the document comprises a series of detailed tables, the most important concerning the implementation of the budget. Concerning the expenditure of the Court of Justice, information drawn from the "Annual Report 2011 of the Court of Justice of the European Union" shows that:

  • the total of commitments granted to this institution for 2011 was EUR 341.2 million;
  • the rate of payments was 98.4%.

3) Budgetary implementation - conclusions: the main characteristics of the Court of Justice’s budgetary implementation for the financial year 2011 were chiefly marked by:

  • greater intensity of judicial activity: with 1 569 new cases and 1 518 cases closed, the Court saw a sharp rise in the number of proceedings brought before the three courts, and settled by them. Nevertheless, this increase in the volume of cases calls for a certain vigilance on the part both of the Court of Justice of the European Union and of the legislative authorities of the Union, in order that the effectiveness of the judicial system of the Union may not be jeopardised and in order that European citizens may continue to be served as well as is possible. With that in mind, the Court last year proposed a series of amendments to its Statute and a thorough recasting of its Rules of Procedure with a view, on the one hand, to improving its and the General Court’s efficiency and productivity and, on the other, to modernising its procedures;
  • IT projects: the objective was to bring the Court closer to the citizen. The opening of the e-Curia system which enables procedural documents to be lodged and served electronically, the launch of a more efficient, new search engine for consulting case-law and the putting on line of the catalogue of the Court’s library are designed to make the Court of Justice more accessible and more transparent;
  • replacement of certain members of the institution: 2011 also saw the departure of the President and two members of the Civil Service Tribunal as a result of the partial renewal of its membership, and the departure of one member of the Court of Justice and of one member of the General Court.
New

PURPOSE: presentation by the Commission of the consolidated annual accounts of the European Union for the financial year 2011, as part of the 2011 discharge procedure.

Analysis of the accounts of the EU Institutions: Section IV – Court of Justice.

Legal reminder: the consolidated annual accounts of the European Union for the year 2011 have been prepared on the basis of the information presented by the institutions and bodies under Article 129.2 of the Financial Regulation applicable to the general budget of the European Union. They were prepared in accordance with Title VII of this Financial Regulation and with the accounting principles, rules and methods set out in the notes to the financial statements.

The objective of the financial statements is to provide information about the financial position, performance and cashflows of an entity that is useful to a wide range of users. The objective is to provide information useful for decision making, and to demonstrate the accountability of the entity for the resources entrusted to it.

1) Purpose: the document helps to bring insight into the EU budget mechanism and the way in which the budget has been managed and spent in 2011. It recalls that the European Union's operational expenditure covers the various headings of the financial framework and takes different forms, depending on how the money is paid out and managed. In accordance with the Financial Regulation, the Commission implements the general budget using the following methods: direct or indirect centralised management (by means of bodies or agencies of public law or other); decentralised management where the Commission delegates certain tasks for the implementation of the budget to third countries; and, thirdly, shared management where budget implementation tasks are delegated to Member States, in areas such as agricultural expenditure and structural actions.

The document also presents the different financial actors involved in the budget process (accounting officers, internal officers and authorising officers) and recalls their respective roles in the context of the tasks of sound financial management.

Amongst the other legal elements relating to the implementation of the EU budget presented in this document, the paper focuses on the following issues:

  • accounting principles applicable to the management of EU spending (business continuity, consistency of accounting methods, comparability of information ...);
  • consolidation methods of figures for all major controlled entities (the consolidated financial statements of the EU comprise all significant controlled entities –institutions, organisations and agencies, this being 50 controlled entities, 5 joint ventures and 4 associates. In comparison with 2010, the scope of consolidation has been extended by 7 controlled entities (one institution, 6 agencies);
  • the recognition of financial assets in the EU (tangible and intangible assets, financial assets and other miscellaneous investments);
  • the way in which EU public expenditure is committed and spent, including pre-financing (cash advances intended for the benefit of an EU organ);
  • the means of recovery following irregularities detected;
  • the modus operandi of the accounting system;
  • the audit process followed by the European Parliament's granting of the discharge.

To recap, the final control is the discharge of the budget for a given financial year. The discharge represents the political aspect of the external control of budget implementation and is the decision by which the European Parliament, acting on a Council recommendation, "releases" the Commission from its responsibility for management of a given budget by marking the end of that budget's existence. When granting the discharge, Parliament may highlight some observations that it considers important, often by recommending that the Commission takes action on the aspects in question.

The document also details specific expenditure of the institutions, in particular: i) pensions of former Members and functionaries of institutions; ii) joint sickness insurance scheme and iii) buildings.

Lastly, the document presents a series of tables and detailed technical indicators on (i) the balance sheet; (ii) the economic outturn account; (iii) cashflow tables; (iv) technical annexes concerning the financial statements.

2) Implementation of appropriations under Section IV of the budget for the financial year 2011: the document comprises a series of detailed tables, the most important concerning the implementation of the budget. Concerning the expenditure of the Court of Justice, information drawn from the "Annual Report 2011 of the Court of Justice of the European Union" shows that:

  • the total of commitments granted to this institution for 2011 was EUR 341.2 million;
  • the rate of payments was 98.4%.

3) Budgetary implementation - conclusions: the main characteristics of the Court of Justice’s budgetary implementation for the financial year 2011 were chiefly marked by:

  • greater intensity of judicial activity: with 1 569 new cases and 1 518 cases closed, the Court saw a sharp rise in the number of proceedings brought before the three courts, and settled by them. Nevertheless, this increase in the volume of cases calls for a certain vigilance on the part both of the Court of Justice of the European Union and of the legislative authorities of the Union, in order that the effectiveness of the judicial system of the Union may not be jeopardised and in order that European citizens may continue to be served as well as is possible. With that in mind, the Court last year proposed a series of amendments to its Statute and a thorough recasting of its Rules of Procedure with a view, on the one hand, to improving its and the General Court’s efficiency and productivity and, on the other, to modernising its procedures;
  • IT projects: the objective was to bring the Court closer to the citizen. The opening of the e-Curia system which enables procedural documents to be lodged and served electronically, the launch of a more efficient, new search engine for consulting case-law and the putting on line of the catalogue of the Court’s library are designed to make the Court of Justice more accessible and more transparent;
  • replacement of certain members of the institution: 2011 also saw the departure of the President and two members of the Civil Service Tribunal as a result of the partial renewal of its membership, and the departure of one member of the Court of Justice and of one member of the General Court.
activities/1/docs/0/text/0
Old

OBJECTIVE: presentation of the Report of the Court of Auditors on the 2011 budget (section IV – European Court of Justice).

CONTENT: the Court of Auditors published its 35th Annual Report on the implementation of the EU budget for the 2011 financial year.

In accordance with the tasks and objectives conferred on the Court of Auditors by the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union, it provides under the discharge procedure, for both the European Parliament and Council, a statement of assurance (“DAS”) about the reliability of the accounts and the legality and regularity of the transactions of each institution, body or agency of the EU, based on an independent external audit.

The audit also focuses on the budget implementation of the Court of Justice.

On the basis of its audit work, the Court considers that payments for “Administrative and other expenditure” policy are, overall, significantly error-free. The estimated error rate is 0.1 %.

The Court, however, draws attention to the errors and weaknesses which did not affect the Court’s conclusion. The Court examined a sample of procurement procedures and noted several weaknesses in the application of selection and award criteria, some of which had an impact on the results of the procedure. Other weaknesses relate to the organisation of cross border competition, to the management of automatic award procedures and to the respect of provisions as regards the drafting and filing of tendering documents.

The Court also detects weaknesses when it reviewed a sample of calculations and payments of social allowances as well as a sample of employment contracts concluded with temporary agents.

The Court therefore recommends that the institutions and bodies of the EU take steps to: (i) guarantee that staff deliver, at appropriate intervals, documents confirming their personal situation and implement a system for the timely monitoring of these documents; (ii) ensure that authorising officers improve the design, coordination and performance of procurement procedures through appropriate checks and better guidance.

The Court also makes a number of comments specific to each institution or body of the European Union. These observations do not affect the positive overall appraisal given that they do not significantly affect overall administrative expenditure. However, in the specific case of the audit of the Court of Justice, the Court’s audit did not identify any significant weakness.

New

OBJECTIVE: presentation of the Report of the Court of Auditors on the 2011 budget (section IV – European Court of Justice).

CONTENT: the Court of Auditors published its 35th Annual Report on the implementation of the EU budget for the 2011 financial year.

In accordance with the tasks and objectives conferred on the Court of Auditors by the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union, it provides under the discharge procedure, for both the European Parliament and Council, a statement of assurance (“DAS”) about the reliability of the accounts and the legality and regularity of the transactions of each institution, body or agency of the EU, based on an independent external audit.

The audit also focuses on the budget implementation of the Court of Justice.

On the basis of its audit work, the Court considers that payments for “Administrative and other expenditure” policy are, overall, significantly error-free. The estimated error rate is 0.1 %.

The Court, however, draws attention to the errors and weaknesses which did not affect the Court’s conclusion. The Court examined a sample of procurement procedures and noted several weaknesses in the application of selection and award criteria, some of which had an impact on the results of the procedure. Other weaknesses relate to the organisation of cross border competition, to the management of automatic award procedures and to the respect of provisions as regards the drafting and filing of tendering documents.

The Court also detects weaknesses when it reviewed a sample of calculations and payments of social allowances as well as a sample of employment contracts concluded with temporary agents.

The Court therefore recommends that the institutions and bodies of the EU take steps to: (i) guarantee that staff deliver, at appropriate intervals, documents confirming their personal situation and implement a system for the timely monitoring of these documents; (ii) ensure that authorising officers improve the design, coordination and performance of procurement procedures through appropriate checks and better guidance.

The Court also makes a number of comments specific to each institution or body of the European Union. These observations do not affect the positive overall appraisal given that they do not significantly affect overall administrative expenditure. However, in the specific case of the audit of the Court of Justice, the Court’s audit did not identify any significant weakness.

activities/4
date
2013-02-01T00:00:00
docs
url: http://register.consilium.europa.eu/servlet/driver?page=Result&lang=EN&typ=Advanced&cmsid=639&ff_COTE_DOCUMENT=5752%2F13&fc=REGAISEN&srm=25&md=100 type: Document attached to the procedure title: 05752/2013
body
CSL
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Document attached to the procedure
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activities/3
date
2013-01-29T00:00:00
docs
type: Committee draft report title: PE497.967
body
EP
type
Committee draft report
activities/1/docs/0/text/0
Old

OBJECTIVE: presentation of the Report of the Court of Auditors on the 2011 budget (section I – European Court of Justice).

CONTENT: the Court of Auditors published its 35th Annual Report on the implementation of the EU budget for the 2011 financial year.

In accordance with the tasks and objectives conferred on the Court of Auditors by the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union, it provides under the discharge procedure, for both the European Parliament and Council, a statement of assurance (“DAS”) about the reliability of the accounts and the legality and regularity of the transactions of each institution, body or agency of the EU, based on an independent external audit.

The audit also focuses on the budget implementation of the Court of Justice.

On the basis of its audit work, the Court considers that payments for “Administrative and other expenditure” policy are, overall, significantly error-free. The estimated error rate is 0.1 %.

The Court, however, draws attention to the errors and weaknesses which did not affect the Court’s conclusion. The Court examined a sample of procurement procedures and noted several weaknesses in the application of selection and award criteria, some of which had an impact on the results of the procedure. Other weaknesses relate to the organisation of cross border competition, to the management of automatic award procedures and to the respect of provisions as regards the drafting and filing of tendering documents.

The Court also detects weaknesses when it reviewed a sample of calculations and payments of social allowances as well as a sample of employment contracts concluded with temporary agents.

The Court therefore recommends that the institutions and bodies of the EU take steps to: (i) guarantee that staff deliver, at appropriate intervals, documents confirming their personal situation and implement a system for the timely monitoring of these documents; (ii) ensure that authorising officers improve the design, coordination and performance of procurement procedures through appropriate checks and better guidance.

The Court also makes a number of comments specific to each institution or body of the European Union. These observations do not affect the positive overall appraisal given that they do not significantly affect overall administrative expenditure. However, in the specific case of the audit of the Court of Justice, the Court’s audit did not identify any significant weakness.

New

OBJECTIVE: presentation of the Report of the Court of Auditors on the 2011 budget (section IV – European Court of Justice).

CONTENT: the Court of Auditors published its 35th Annual Report on the implementation of the EU budget for the 2011 financial year.

In accordance with the tasks and objectives conferred on the Court of Auditors by the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union, it provides under the discharge procedure, for both the European Parliament and Council, a statement of assurance (“DAS”) about the reliability of the accounts and the legality and regularity of the transactions of each institution, body or agency of the EU, based on an independent external audit.

The audit also focuses on the budget implementation of the Court of Justice.

On the basis of its audit work, the Court considers that payments for “Administrative and other expenditure” policy are, overall, significantly error-free. The estimated error rate is 0.1 %.

The Court, however, draws attention to the errors and weaknesses which did not affect the Court’s conclusion. The Court examined a sample of procurement procedures and noted several weaknesses in the application of selection and award criteria, some of which had an impact on the results of the procedure. Other weaknesses relate to the organisation of cross border competition, to the management of automatic award procedures and to the respect of provisions as regards the drafting and filing of tendering documents.

The Court also detects weaknesses when it reviewed a sample of calculations and payments of social allowances as well as a sample of employment contracts concluded with temporary agents.

The Court therefore recommends that the institutions and bodies of the EU take steps to: (i) guarantee that staff deliver, at appropriate intervals, documents confirming their personal situation and implement a system for the timely monitoring of these documents; (ii) ensure that authorising officers improve the design, coordination and performance of procurement procedures through appropriate checks and better guidance.

The Court also makes a number of comments specific to each institution or body of the European Union. These observations do not affect the positive overall appraisal given that they do not significantly affect overall administrative expenditure. However, in the specific case of the audit of the Court of Justice, the Court’s audit did not identify any significant weakness.

activities/1/docs/0/text
  • OBJECTIVE: presentation of the Report of the Court of Auditors on the 2011 budget (section I – European Court of Justice).

    CONTENT: the Court of Auditors published its 35th Annual Report on the implementation of the EU budget for the 2011 financial year.

    In accordance with the tasks and objectives conferred on the Court of Auditors by the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union, it provides under the discharge procedure, for both the European Parliament and Council, a statement of assurance (“DAS”) about the reliability of the accounts and the legality and regularity of the transactions of each institution, body or agency of the EU, based on an independent external audit.

    The audit also focuses on the budget implementation of the Court of Justice.

    On the basis of its audit work, the Court considers that payments for “Administrative and other expenditure” policy are, overall, significantly error-free. The estimated error rate is 0.1 %.

    The Court, however, draws attention to the errors and weaknesses which did not affect the Court’s conclusion. The Court examined a sample of procurement procedures and noted several weaknesses in the application of selection and award criteria, some of which had an impact on the results of the procedure. Other weaknesses relate to the organisation of cross border competition, to the management of automatic award procedures and to the respect of provisions as regards the drafting and filing of tendering documents.

    The Court also detects weaknesses when it reviewed a sample of calculations and payments of social allowances as well as a sample of employment contracts concluded with temporary agents.

    The Court therefore recommends that the institutions and bodies of the EU take steps to: (i) guarantee that staff deliver, at appropriate intervals, documents confirming their personal situation and implement a system for the timely monitoring of these documents; (ii) ensure that authorising officers improve the design, coordination and performance of procurement procedures through appropriate checks and better guidance.

    The Court also makes a number of comments specific to each institution or body of the European Union. These observations do not affect the positive overall appraisal given that they do not significantly affect overall administrative expenditure. However, in the specific case of the audit of the Court of Justice, the Court’s audit did not identify any significant weakness.

activities/0/body
Old
EP
New
EC
activities/0/commission
  • DG: url: http://ec.europa.eu/dgs/budget/ title: Budget Commissioner: ŠEMETA Algirdas
activities/0/docs
  • url: http://www.europarl.europa.eu/registre/docs_autres_institutions/commission_europeenne/com/2012/0436/COM_COM(2012)0436_EN.pdf celexid: CELEX:52012DC0436:EN type: Non-legislative basic document published title: COM(2012)0436
activities/0/type
Old
Date
New
Non-legislative basic document
activities/1
date
2012-07-25T00:00:00
docs
url: http://www.europarl.europa.eu/registre/docs_autres_institutions/commission_europeenne/com/2012/0436/COM_COM(2012)0436_EN.pdf title: COM(2012)0436 type: Non-legislative basic document published celexid: CELEX:52012DC0436:EN
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CoA
activities/1/date
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2013-05-09T00:00:00
New
2012-09-06T00:00:00
activities/1/docs
  • type: Court of Auditors: opinion, report title: N7-0127/2012
  • url: http://eur-lex.europa.eu/JOHtml.do?uri=OJ:C:2012:3440001:SOM:EN:HTML type: Court of Auditors: opinion, report title: OJ C 344 12.11.2012, p. 0001
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EP 1R Plenary
New
Court of Auditors: opinion, report
activities/2
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2012-09-06T00:00:00
docs
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CoA
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Court of Auditors: opinion, report
activities/4
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EP
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2013-02-26T00:00:00
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Deadline Amendments
activities/8
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2013-05-09T00:00:00
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Prev DG PRES
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DG: url: http://ec.europa.eu/dgs/budget/ title: Budget Commissioner: ŠEMETA Algirdas
activities/1/docs/0/url
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http://eur-lex.europa.eu/smartapi/cgi/sga_doc?smartapi!celexplus!prod!DocNumber&lg=EN&type_doc=COMfinal&an_doc=2012&nu_doc=436
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http://www.europarl.europa.eu/registre/docs_autres_institutions/commission_europeenne/com/2012/0436/COM_COM(2012)0436_EN.pdf
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activities/5
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Indicative plenary sitting date, 1st reading/single reading
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EP 1R Plenary
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type
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DG: url: http://ec.europa.eu/dgs/budget/ title: Budget Commissioner: ŠEMETA Algirdas
activities/1/docs/0/text
  • PURPOSE: presentation by the Commission of the consolidated annual accounts of the European Union for the financial year 2011, as part of the 2011 discharge procedure.

    Analysis of the accounts of the EU Institutions: Section IV – Court of Justice.

    Legal reminder: the consolidated annual accounts of the European Union for the year 2011 have been prepared on the basis of the information presented by the institutions and bodies under Article 129.2 of the Financial Regulation applicable to the general budget of the European Union. They were prepared in accordance with Title VII of this Financial Regulation and with the accounting principles, rules and methods set out in the notes to the financial statements.

    The objective of the financial statements is to provide information about the financial position, performance and cashflows of an entity that is useful to a wide range of users. The objective is to provide information useful for decision making, and to demonstrate the accountability of the entity for the resources entrusted to it.

    1) Purpose: the document helps to bring insight into the EU budget mechanism and the way in which the budget has been managed and spent in 2011. It recalls that the European Union's operational expenditure covers the various headings of the financial framework and takes different forms, depending on how the money is paid out and managed. In accordance with the Financial Regulation, the Commission implements the general budget using the following methods: direct or indirect centralised management (by means of bodies or agencies of public law or other); decentralised management where the Commission delegates certain tasks for the implementation of the budget to third countries; and, thirdly, shared management where budget implementation tasks are delegated to Member States, in areas such as agricultural expenditure and structural actions.

    The document also presents the different financial actors involved in the budget process (accounting officers, internal officers and authorising officers) and recalls their respective roles in the context of the tasks of sound financial management.

    Amongst the other legal elements relating to the implementation of the EU budget presented in this document, the paper focuses on the following issues:

    • accounting principles applicable to the management of EU spending (business continuity, consistency of accounting methods, comparability of information ...);
    • consolidation methods of figures for all major controlled entities (the consolidated financial statements of the EU comprise all significant controlled entities –institutions, organisations and agencies, this being 50 controlled entities, 5 joint ventures and 4 associates. In comparison with 2010, the scope of consolidation has been extended by 7 controlled entities (one institution, 6 agencies);
    • the recognition of financial assets in the EU (tangible and intangible assets, financial assets and other miscellaneous investments);
    • the way in which EU public expenditure is committed and spent, including pre-financing (cash advances intended for the benefit of an EU organ);
    • the means of recovery following irregularities detected;
    • the modus operandi of the accounting system;
    • the audit process followed by the European Parliament's granting of the discharge.

    To recap, the final control is the discharge of the budget for a given financial year. The discharge represents the political aspect of the external control of budget implementation and is the decision by which the European Parliament, acting on a Council recommendation, "releases" the Commission from its responsibility for management of a given budget by marking the end of that budget's existence. When granting the discharge, Parliament may highlight some observations that it considers important, often by recommending that the Commission takes action on the aspects in question.

    The document also details specific expenditure of the institutions, in particular: i) pensions of former Members and functionaries of institutions; ii) joint sickness insurance scheme and iii) buildings.

    Lastly, the document presents a series of tables and detailed technical indicators on (i) the balance sheet; (ii) the economic outturn account; (iii) cashflow tables; (iv) technical annexes concerning the financial statements.

    2) Implementation of appropriations under Section IV of the budget for the financial year 2011: the document comprises a series of detailed tables, the most important concerning the implementation of the budget. Concerning the expenditure of the Court of Justice, information drawn from the "Annual Report 2011 of the Court of Justice of the European Union" shows that:

    • the total of commitments granted to this institution for 2011 was EUR 341.2 million;
    • the rate of payments was 98.4%.

    3) Budgetary implementation - conclusions: the main characteristics of the Court of Justice’s budgetary implementation for the financial year 2011 were chiefly marked by:

    • greater intensity of judicial activity: with 1 569 new cases and 1 518 cases closed, the Court saw a sharp rise in the number of proceedings brought before the three courts, and settled by them. Nevertheless, this increase in the volume of cases calls for a certain vigilance on the part both of the Court of Justice of the European Union and of the legislative authorities of the Union, in order that the effectiveness of the judicial system of the Union may not be jeopardised and in order that European citizens may continue to be served as well as is possible. With that in mind, the Court last year proposed a series of amendments to its Statute and a thorough recasting of its Rules of Procedure with a view, on the one hand, to improving its and the General Court’s efficiency and productivity and, on the other, to modernising its procedures;
    • IT projects: the objective was to bring the Court closer to the citizen. The opening of the e-Curia system which enables procedural documents to be lodged and served electronically, the launch of a more efficient, new search engine for consulting case-law and the putting on line of the catalogue of the Court’s library are designed to make the Court of Justice more accessible and more transparent;
    • replacement of certain members of the institution: 2011 also saw the departure of the President and two members of the Civil Service Tribunal as a result of the partial renewal of its membership, and the departure of one member of the Court of Justice and of one member of the General Court.
activities/1/docs/0/celexid
CELEX:52012DC0436:EN
activities/2/committees/14/date
2012-09-18T00:00:00
activities/2/committees/14/rapporteur
  • group: Verts/ALE name: LICHTENBERGER Eva
activities/3
body
EP
date
2013-02-26T00:00:00
type
Deadline Amendments
committees/14/date
2012-09-18T00:00:00
committees/14/rapporteur
  • group: Verts/ALE name: LICHTENBERGER Eva
activities/2
date
2012-09-13T00:00:00
body
EP
type
Committee referral announced in Parliament, 1st reading/single reading
committees
activities/3/committees
  • body: EP responsible: False committee_full: Constitutional Affairs committee: AFCO
  • body: EP responsible: False committee_full: Foreign Affairs committee: AFET
  • body: EP responsible: False committee_full: Agriculture and Rural Development committee: AGRI
  • body: EP responsible: False committee_full: Budgets committee: BUDG
  • body: EP responsible: True committee_full: Budgetary Control committee: CONT
  • body: EP responsible: False committee_full: Culture and Education committee: CULT
  • body: EP responsible: False committee_full: Development committee: DEVE
  • body: EP responsible: False committee_full: Economic and Monetary Affairs committee: ECON
  • body: EP responsible: False committee_full: Employment and Social Affairs committee: EMPL
  • body: EP responsible: False committee_full: Environment, Public Health and Food Safety committee: ENVI
  • body: EP responsible: False committee_full: Women’s Rights and Gender Equality committee: FEMM
  • body: EP responsible: False committee_full: Internal Market and Consumer Protection committee: IMCO
  • body: EP responsible: False committee_full: International Trade committee: INTA
  • body: EP responsible: False committee_full: Industry, Research and Energy committee: ITRE
  • body: EP responsible: False committee_full: Legal Affairs committee: JURI
  • body: EP responsible: False committee_full: Civil Liberties, Justice and Home Affairs committee: LIBE
  • body: EP responsible: False committee_full: Fisheries committee: PECH
  • body: EP responsible: False committee_full: Petitions committee: PETI
  • body: EP responsible: False committee_full: Regional Development committee: REGI
  • body: EP responsible: False committee_full: Transport and Tourism committee: TRAN
activities/3/date
Old
2012-09-13T00:00:00
New
2013-03-19T00:00:00
activities/3/type
Old
Committee referral announced in Parliament, 1st reading/single reading
New
Vote scheduled in committee, 1st reading/single reading
committees/4/date
2012-02-29T00:00:00
committees/4/rapporteur
  • group: ECR name: CZARNECKI Ryszard
committees/4/shadows
  • group: EPP name: DEUTSCH Tamás
  • group: EPP name: SONIK Bogusław
  • group: S&D name: KALFIN Ivailo
  • group: ALDE name: SKYLAKAKIS Theodoros
  • group: Verts/ALE name: STAES Bart
  • group: GUE/NGL name: SØNDERGAARD Søren Bo
  • group: EFD name: ANDREASEN Marta
  • group: NI name: EHRENHAUSER Martin
activities
  • body: EP date: 2012-07-25T00:00:00 type: Date
  • date: 2012-07-25T00:00:00 docs: url: http://eur-lex.europa.eu/smartapi/cgi/sga_doc?smartapi!celexplus!prod!DocNumber&lg=EN&type_doc=COMfinal&an_doc=2012&nu_doc=436 type: Non-legislative basic document published title: COM(2012)0436 body: EC commission: DG: url: http://ec.europa.eu/dgs/budget/ title: Budget Commissioner: ŠEMETA Algirdas type: Non-legislative basic document
  • date: 2012-09-13T00:00:00 body: EP type: Committee referral announced in Parliament, 1st reading/single reading committees: body: EP responsible: False committee_full: Constitutional Affairs committee: AFCO body: EP responsible: False committee_full: Foreign Affairs committee: AFET body: EP responsible: False committee_full: Agriculture and Rural Development committee: AGRI body: EP responsible: False committee_full: Budgets committee: BUDG body: EP responsible: True committee_full: Budgetary Control committee: CONT body: EP responsible: False committee_full: Culture and Education committee: CULT body: EP responsible: False committee_full: Development committee: DEVE body: EP responsible: False committee_full: Economic and Monetary Affairs committee: ECON body: EP responsible: False committee_full: Employment and Social Affairs committee: EMPL body: EP responsible: False committee_full: Environment, Public Health and Food Safety committee: ENVI body: EP responsible: False committee_full: Women’s Rights and Gender Equality committee: FEMM body: EP responsible: False committee_full: Internal Market and Consumer Protection committee: IMCO body: EP responsible: False committee_full: International Trade committee: INTA body: EP responsible: False committee_full: Industry, Research and Energy committee: ITRE body: EP responsible: False committee_full: Legal Affairs committee: JURI body: EP responsible: False committee_full: Civil Liberties, Justice and Home Affairs committee: LIBE body: EP responsible: False committee_full: Fisheries committee: PECH body: EP responsible: False committee_full: Petitions committee: PETI body: EP responsible: False committee_full: Regional Development committee: REGI body: EP responsible: False committee_full: Transport and Tourism committee: TRAN
  • date: 2013-05-09T00:00:00 body: EP type: Indicative plenary sitting date, 1st reading/single reading
committees
  • body: EP responsible: False committee_full: Constitutional Affairs committee: AFCO
  • body: EP responsible: False committee_full: Foreign Affairs committee: AFET
  • body: EP responsible: False committee_full: Agriculture and Rural Development committee: AGRI
  • body: EP responsible: False committee_full: Budgets committee: BUDG
  • body: EP responsible: True committee_full: Budgetary Control committee: CONT
  • body: EP responsible: False committee_full: Culture and Education committee: CULT
  • body: EP responsible: False committee_full: Development committee: DEVE
  • body: EP responsible: False committee_full: Economic and Monetary Affairs committee: ECON
  • body: EP responsible: False committee_full: Employment and Social Affairs committee: EMPL
  • body: EP responsible: False committee_full: Environment, Public Health and Food Safety committee: ENVI
  • body: EP responsible: False committee_full: Women’s Rights and Gender Equality committee: FEMM
  • body: EP responsible: False committee_full: Internal Market and Consumer Protection committee: IMCO
  • body: EP responsible: False committee_full: International Trade committee: INTA
  • body: EP responsible: False committee_full: Industry, Research and Energy committee: ITRE
  • body: EP responsible: False committee_full: Legal Affairs committee: JURI
  • body: EP responsible: False committee_full: Civil Liberties, Justice and Home Affairs committee: LIBE
  • body: EP responsible: False committee_full: Fisheries committee: PECH
  • body: EP responsible: False committee_full: Petitions committee: PETI
  • body: EP responsible: False committee_full: Regional Development committee: REGI
  • body: EP responsible: False committee_full: Transport and Tourism committee: TRAN
links
other
  • body: EC dg: url: http://ec.europa.eu/dgs/budget/ title: Budget commissioner: ŠEMETA Algirdas
procedure
dossier_of_the_committee
CONT/7/10361
reference
2012/2170(DEC)
title
2011 discharge: EU general budget, Court of Justice
stage_reached
Awaiting Parliament 1st reading / single reading / budget 1st stage
type
DEC - Discharge procedure
subject
8.70.03.06 2011 discharge