Decision giving discharge in respect of the implementation of the budget for the financial year 1997 Section I - European Parliament/Ombudsman annex
1. 10. 1999 EN Official Journal of the European Communities C 279/129 Tuesday 4 May 1999 (c) A4-0199/99 I. Decision giving discharge in respect of the implementation of the budget for the financial year 1997 Section I − European Parliament/Ombudsman annex The European Parliament, − having regard to its Rules of Procedure, and in particular Rule 166(3) thereof, − having regard to Article 77 of the Financial Regulation and Article 13 of the Internal Rules for the implementation of the European Parliament’s budget, − having regard to the revenue and expenditure account and the balance sheet for the financial year 1997 (SEC(98)0521 − C4-0353/98), − having regard to the administrative cooperation agreement concluded between the European Parliament and the European Ombudsman on 22 September 1995, − having regard to the Annual Report of the Court of Auditors concerning the financial year 1997 (1), − having regard to Special Report No 10/98 of the Court of Auditors on the payment of expenses and allowances to Members of the European Parliament, with the European Parliament’s replies (2), − having regard to the report of the Committee on Budgetary Control (A4-0199/99), European Parliament Adopts the figures closing the accounts of the European Parliament for the financial year 1997 on the 1. basis of the following amounts: Utilisation of appropriations (in ecus) Appropriations for financial year 1997 Approps. carried over from financial year 1996 Article 7(1)(b) Article 7(1)(a) Appropriations available 887 207 914,00 119 320 854,45 18 616 000,00 Commitments entered into 867 715 417,11 − − Payments made 777 174 935,47 76 472 777,50 6 757 580,81 Appropriations carried over to 1998: − Article 7(1)(b), Fin. Reg − Article 7(1)(a), Fin. Reg 90 540 481,64 4 522 000,00 − − Appropriations to be cancelled 14 970 496,89 42 848 076,95 11 858 419,19 Balance as at 31 December 1997: 201 427 906 2. Deplores the continued rise in the cancellation of appropriations, both those for 1997 and those carried over from the previous financial year; notes that only part of these cancellations is due to delays in the acceptance of Parliament’s buildings (D3/Spinelli and IPE IV/Louise Weiss); 3. Looks to Parliament’s various bodies, within their remit, to take sufficient account of the financial and budgetary parameters of their decisions; further expects to receive an initial report on the use of human resources in the performance of their tasks (activity-based budgeting); 4. Notes the measures taken by the Secretary-General aimed at ensuring the optimum use of appropriations entered in the budget, in accordance with the express wish of the budgetary authority; expects to receive, in time for the first reading of the 2000 budget, a report on the impact of the measures taken to introduce effective programming in the award of contracts by Parliament, particularly those for external services; (1) OJ C 349, 17. 11. 1998. (2) OJ C 243, 3. 8. 1998. C 279/130 EN Official Journal of the European Communities 1. 10. 1999 Tuesday 4 May 1999 Recalls that the relevant provisions on the allocation of posts and promotions must be strictly 5. observed and applied; Notes that Parliament lost 7 cases in relation to staff matters in the Court of First Instance and the 6. Court of Justice during 1997; Calls for the new staff policy adopted by the Bureau on 20 October 1997 (1), and in particular the 7. measures aiming at mobility and the reorganisation of departments, to be implemented solely with a view to improving the functioning of the European Parliament; 8. Asks for additional information to be provided, in time for the first reading of the 2000 budget, on the way in which the tasks of DG IV will be coordinated with those of the staff of STOA, including a staffing table showing the allocation of tasks; Notes the measures taken at the end of 1996, following successive refusals to grant approval, to 9. improve the management of the freelance interpreters sector (Item 1879); considers, in view of the rise in the number of cancelled appropriations, that further corrective action must be taken; 10. Reiterates its view of the importance of providing aid to the democratically elected parliaments of Central and Eastern Europe and the Mediterranean area; calls, in this connection, for a report to be submitted to the Committee on Budgetary Control on the reasons why some 30% of the initial appropriations under Item 2995 could not be used in 1997; 11. Draws the Council’s attention to the resolution, adopted in plenary on 3 December 1998, on the Statute for Members (2); reiterates its call on the Member States, made in the resolution of 23 March 1999 on the resignation of the Commission (paragraph 15) (3), to bring this matter to a conclusion before the forthcoming European elections; 12. Calls also on the Council to give a ruling as soon as possible on the amendment of the conditions of employment of other servants of the Communities so that an appropriate framework can be defined for parliamentary assistants; 13. Recalls that the Court of Auditors may at any time investigate the conformity of the European Parliament’s use of its appropriations from the budget with the rules in force, including the appropriations allocated to political groups; 14. Recalls its resolution of 10 December 1996 on the constitutional status of European political parties (4) and in particular paragraph 2 thereof, in which it calls on the European Union to pass a framework regulation on the legal status of European political parties and a Regulation on the financial status of European political parties; calls on the Council and Commission to play their role fully so that the procedure for the drafting of these acts can be launched and completed without delay, thereby enabling the European Parliament and the European parties to put into practice their wish to create transparency and clarity in financial and budgetary matters in their own spheres of activity; Grants discharge to its Secretary-General in respect of the implementation of the budget for the 15. 1997 financial year; Ombudsman Annex Regrets that, in 1997, the rate of implementation of appropriations (82,10%) remained unchanged, 16. or even fell slightly, in relation to 1996, while conceding that these were the first financial years in which these figures appeared in the budget; Calls for an improvement in the programming of work, together with the budgetary forecasts, so as 17. to encourage the optimum use of these appropriations; * * * 18. 19. Authorises the giving of discharge to the Accounting Officer for the 1997 financial year; Instructs its President to forward this decision to the Council. (1) PE 262. 036/BUR. (2) OJ C 398, 21. 12. 1998, p. 24. (3) Minutes of that date, Part II, Item 2. (4) OJ C 20, 20. 1. 1997, p. 29