2014 discharge: European Union's Judicial Cooperation Unit (Eurojust)

PURPOSE: to grant discharge to EUROJUST in respect of the Agency’s budget for the financial year 2014.

NON LEGISLATIVE ACT: Decision (EU) 2016/1567 of the European Parliament on discharge in respect of the implementation of the budget of Eurojust for the financial year 2014.

CONTENT: with the present decision, the European Parliament grants discharge to EUROJUST’s Administrative Director for the implementation of its budget for the financial year 2014.

This decision is in line with the European Parliament's resolution adopted on 28 April 2016 and comprises a series of observations that form an integral part of the discharge decision (please refer to the summary of the opinion of 28 April 2016).

Amongst Parliament’s main observations in the resolution accompanying the discharge decision, it noted with concern from the Court's report that the financial impact of salary adjustments and of the increase in the correction coefficient were not included in the initial budget for the financial year 2014. It regretted that the shortfall in the salary budget of approximately EUR 1.8 million required temporary reductions in operational expenditure and substantial transfers from administrative and operating budget lines at year-end. Although this shortfall was partly balanced by an amending budget, Parliament called on Eurojust to remedy this issue.

Parliament brought attention to the ethical issues relating to the political role of lobbies, their practices and their influence. It proposed that common rules governing the pursuit of lobbying activities within the Union institutions and agencies should be introduced.