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2007 discharge: EU general budget, European Data Protection Supervisor

2008/2283(DEC)

PURPOSE: to present the final annual accounts of the European Communities for the financial year 2007 - Other institutions: section IX - European Data Protection Supervisor.

CONTENT: this document sets out the amount of expenditure and the financial statement of the European Data Protection Supervisor (EDPS) for 2007. It presents an analysis of the institution’s financial management as well as its main axes of expenditure.

The figures mentioned hereafter are taken from volume I of the consolidated annual accounts of the European Communities for the year 2007:

Commitment appropriations:

  • commitment appropriations authorised: EUR 5 million;
  • commitments made in 2007: EUR 4 million (implementation rate of 86.14%);
  • appropriations carried over to 2008: EUR 1 million;
  • appropriations lapsing: EUR 1 million (13.86% of the budget).

Payment appropriations:

  • payment appropriations authorised: EUR 6 million;
  • payments made in 2007: EUR 4 million (implementation rate of 66.73%);
  • appropriations carried over to 2008: EUR 1 million (15.96% of total payments);
  • appropriations lapsing: EUR 1 million (17.31% of the budget).

Main axes of expenditure for 2007: the implementation of the EDPS budget is in line with the further establishment of the Institution. The establishment of the EDPS was therefore carried out with a view to consolidating the good start made by the Institution. In 2007, the EDPS had access to additional resources both in terms of the budget (an increase from EUR 4.138 million in 2006 to EUR 5 million in 2007) and personnel (an increase to 29 people).

The budgetary year was also marked by:

  • the consolidation of administrative cooperation: this refers to cooperation with the relevant services of the Parliament, the Commission and the Council in areas where duplication of jobs can be avoided. In December 2006, the agreement concluded with the institutions was extended for a further 3 year period (at the end of this 3-year period the agreement can be extended again). As a reminder, this agreement enables the EDPS to rely on the expertise of the other institutions in areas of budgetary and technical assistance, among others, and creates large economies of scale;
  • recruitment: as a new institution, the EDPS is still in its development phase. The EDPS therefore chose to limit the increase in the number of tasks and staff so that there would be a controlled progression of tasks to be dealt with and of newly integrated personnel. That is why the EDPS created 5 additional posts in 2007. Also note the integration of trainees from countries of Central and Eastern Europe.

The other main points concerning the implementation of the EDPS budget can be summarised as follows:

Title I (Expenditure relating to persons working with the Institution): this budgetary Title was not characterised by any notable observation (the expenditure for most of the items was in accordance with the budgetary forecasts): for the Title as a whole, the rate of implementation for appropriations recorded in the budget is 84.64%.

Title II (Buildings, equipment and miscellaneous operating expenditure): this budgetary Title was only characterised by a low implementation rate for expenditure related to studies, surveys and consultations. The utilisation rate for this Title, however, amounts to 95% of appropriations recorded in the budget.