2014 discharge: EU general budget, European Council and Council

PURPOSE: refusal to grant discharge to the European Council and the Council for the financial year 2014.

NON-LEGISLATIVE ACT: Decision (EU) 2016/2152 of the European Parliament on discharge in respect of the implementation of the general budget of the European Union for the financial year 2014, Section II — European Council and Council.

CONTENT: with this Decision, the European Parliament refused to grant the Secretary-General of the Council discharge in respect of the implementation of the budget of the European Council and of the Council for the financial year 2014.

This decision is in line with the European Parliament's resolution adopted on 27 October 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 27 October 2016).

Among Parliament’s main observations made in the resolution accompanying the discharge decision, it regretted that the European Council and the Council do not provide Parliament with their annual activity reports. It regarded this as inadmissible and detrimental to the reputation of the institutions.

It also regretted that the budget of the European Council and the Council have not yet been separated, as recommended by Parliament in recent discharge resolutions.