2013 discharge: EU general budget, European Council and Council

PURPOSE: to refuse discharge to the Council for the 2013 financial year.

NON-LEGISLATIVE ACT: Decision (EU) 2015/2214 of the European Parliament on discharge in respect of the implementation of the general budget of the European Union for the financial year 2013, Section II — European Council and Council.

CONTENT: with the present decision, the European Parliament refuses to grant the Secretary-General of the Council discharge in respect of the implementation of the European Council's and the Council's budget for the financial year 2013.

This decision is in line with the European Parliament's resolution adopted on 27 October 2015 and comprises a series of observations that form an integral part of the discharge decision (please refer to the summary of the opinion of 27/10/2015).

In particular, Parliament insisted that the expenditure of the Council must be scrutinised in the same way as that of other institutions and stressed that the Council's failure to submit the requested documents to Parliament above all undermines the right of citizens of the Union. The European Council and the Council, as Union institutions, should be subject to democratic accountability towards the citizens of the Union as far as they are beneficiaries of the general budget of the European Union.