Publications Office of the EU: organisation and operation

The Committee on Constitutional Affairs adopted a report drafted by Hanne DAHL (IND, DK), and approved the draft Decision of the European Parliament, the Council, the Commission, the Court of Justice, the Court of Auditors, the European Economic and Social Committee and the Committee of the Regions on the organisation and operation of the Publications Office of the European Union.

The report recalls that the main reason for drafting a new Decision was to take account of an observation made by Parliament in the course of the discharge procedure for the 2001 financial year.

In its resolution of 29 January 2004, on the discharge for 2001, Parliament had pointed out that there should be a clear allocation of political and administrative responsibilities, and this request was taken into account in the draft decision. The draft decision is intended to lay down in more detail the competences and tasks of the Publications Office of the European Union, the respective responsibilities of the institutions, the roles of the Management Committee and the Director of the Publications Office.

The draft Decision on the organisation and operation of the Publications Office allocates in a clear way the responsibilities with regard to administrative and political matters. This was not the case with its predecessor of 2000. The draft text takes account of the requests made by Parliament in the discharge procedure for the financial year 2001 and can therefore be approved on behalf of the European Parliament.