2015 discharge: EU general budget, European Ombudsman

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

NON-LEGISLATIVE ACT: Decision (EU) 2017/1626 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 VIII — European Ombudsman.

CONTENT: with the present decision, the European Parliament grants the European Ombudsman discharge in respect of the implementation of the budget of the European Ombudsman for the financial year 2015.

This decision is in line with the European Parliament's resolution adopted on 27 April 2017 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 April 2017).

Amongst Parliament’s main observations in the resolution accompanying the discharge decision, the latter called for further improvement of the transparency of recruitment conditions and processes. It welcomed the continuation of the Ombudsman's investigations into ‘revolving door’ cases in the Commission.

As regards the process of introducing internal rules for the protection of whistleblowers, Parliament asked the Ombudsman to monitor the implementation of those rules on an ongoing basis and to evaluate whether they provide appropriate protection for Parliament's accredited parliamentary assistants.

The clear geographic imbalance at middle and senior management level should also be remedied according to Parliament.