2009 discharge: EU general budget, Section III, Commission

The Council took note of the presentation by the President of the Court of Auditors, Mr Vitor Caldeira, of the Court's annual report on the management of the EU's general budget.

The report, which covers the budget for 2009, indicates progress in some areas of budgetary management, in particular as regards cohesion policy expenditure, though the Court's opinion on the legality and regularity of underlying transactions remains unfavourable as in previous years.

The Council accordingly called on all parties involved in the management of the EU budget to persist in their efforts to improve controls and to reduce margins of error in budgetary payments.

It asked the Permanent Representatives Committee to examine the report in greater detail, and to oversee the preparation of a recommendation to the European Parliament on the discharge to be given to the Commission for implementation of the 2009 budget.

The Council is expected to adopt the recommendation at its meeting on 15 February 2011.