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2012 discharge: EU general budget, European Data Protection Supervisor

2013/2204(DEC)

The European Parliament adopted a decision concerning the discharge to be granted to the European Data Protection Supervisor (EDPS) in respect of the implementation of budget for the financial year 2012.

In its resolution accompanying the decision, adopted by 521 votes to 66, with 8 abstentions, Parliament noted the conclusion of the Court of Auditors that the payments as a whole for the year ended on 31 December 2012 for administrative and other expenditure were free from material error. It also observed that no significant weaknesses had been identified in respect to the audited topics related to the human resources and procurement for the Supervisor.

Budgetary and financial management: Parliament noted that in 2012, the Supervisor had a total of EUR 7.624 million in commitment appropriations, and that the implementation rate of those appropriations was 89.69%, an increase since 2011). It found this a positive development but called for further efforts to improve the implementation rate and for the changes made to be monitored.

EDPS’s framework action: Parliament also made a series of observations on the daily management of the EDPS and called for:

·        further improvements regarding the monitoring of allowances and performance levels;

  • an assessment of the financial impact of structural changes made recently and the implementation of electronic system of case management;
  • continued implementation of the recommendations made by the Internal Audit Service (IAS) of the Commission;
  • the inclusion of an exhaustive table of all the human resources at the Supervisor's disposal, broken down by category, grade, sex and
  • the strengthening of cooperation with other institutions to develop a unified methodology of presenting the translation costs.

Parliament generally considered that the Supervisor should pay particular attention to sound financial management, namely the economy, efficiency and effectiveness with which it has used its appropriations in carrying out its responsibilities.