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2015 discharge: EU general budget, European Commission and executive agencies

2016/2151(DEC)

PURPOSE: to grant discharge to the European Commission for the financial year 2015.

NON-LEGISLATIVE ACT: Decision (EU, Euratom) 2017/1606 of the European Parliament on discharge in respect of the implementation of the general budget of the European Union for the financial year 2015, Section III Commission.

CONTENT: with the present decision, the European Parliament grants discharge to the Commission for the implementation of its budget for the financial year 2015.

In its resolution attached to the Decision on discharge, the European Parliament recalled that in 2015 the budget of the Union had to support the achievement of the objectives of two different long-term political programmes:

  • the Europe 2020 Strategy on the one hand; and
  • the 10 political priorities set out by President Juncker on the other hand, while also responding to a number of crisis situations: refugees, insecurity in Europe and its neighbourhood, financial instability in Greece and the economic impact of the Russian ban exports, as well as the prolonged impact of the financial crisis and its structural consequences of unemployment, poverty and inequality.

Parliament also noted that Union policies may have different short-, medium- and long-term objectives, whose realisation cannot necessarily be determined by a single multiannual financial framework. In its opinion, consideration needs to be given to a new balance between political agenda setting, policy implementation and financial framework needs.

Parliament welcomed Commissioner Oettinger's intention to bring the various shadow budgets, in the long run, back under the roof of the Union budget. It considered that this would hugely increase democratic accountability. The Commission is called on to prepare a communication on this issue before November 2017.

Parliament deeply regretted that for the 22nd year in a row payments are materially affected by error because of the fact that the supervisory and control systems are only partially effective.