2017 discharge: EU general budget, European Data Protection Supervisor

PURPOSE: presentation by the Commission of the consolidated annual accounts of the European Union for the financial year 2017, as part of the 2017 discharge procedure.

Analysis of the accounts of the EU Institutions: European Data Protection Supervisor.

CONTENT: the organisational governance of the EU consists of institutions, agencies and other EU bodies whose expenditure is included in the general budget of the Union.

This Commission document concerns the EU's consolidated accounts for the year 2017 and details how spending by the EU institutions and bodies was carried out. The consolidated annual accounts of the EU provide financial information on the activities of the institutions, agencies and other bodies of the EU from an accrual accounting and budgetary perspective.

It is the responsibility of the Commission's Accounting Officer to prepare the EU's consolidated annual accounts and ensure that they present fairly, in all material aspects, the financial position, the result of the operations and the cash flows of the EU institutions and bodies with a view to granting discharge.

Discharge procedure: the final step of a budget lifecycle is the discharge. It is the decision by which the European Parliament ‘releases’ the Commission from its responsibility for management of a given budget by marking the end of that budget's existence. It is granted by the European Parliament on the recommendation of the Council.

The decision is based in particular on the European Court of Auditors reports, in particular its annual report, in which the Court provides a Statement of Assurance (DAS) on the legality and regularity of transactions (payments and commitments).

The procedure results in the granting, postponement or refusal of discharge. 

The final discharge report including specific recommendations to the Commission for action is adopted in plenary by the European Parliament and are subject to an annual follow up report in which the Commission outlines the concrete actions it has taken to implement the recommendations made.

All EU institutions and other agencies, bodies and joint undertakings are subject to their own discharge procedures.

(2) Implementation of the EDPS’s appropriations for the financial year 2017: the EDPS was allocated a budget of EUR 11 324 735. This represents an increase of 20.9% compared to the 2016 budget. The 2017 budget was heavily influenced by two major legislative changes, the new General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) and the Europol Regulation, both of which require increased human and financial resources.

As regards the budget implementation of the EDPS, the Annual Report 2017 stated that the 2017 was characterised by the following:

• preparing for the new legislative framework: General Data Protection Regulation which shall apply from 25 May 2018;
• dealing with its new supervisory role with Europol in carrying out various supervision tasks, including complaint handling, consultations, requests for information, inquiries and inspections. The aim being to ensure that Europol strikes the right balance between security and privacy when processing data for the purpose of law enforcement;
• the launch of the Digital Clearinghouse. A project which aims to bring together agencies from the areas of competition and consumer and data protection who are willing to share information and discuss how to enforce rules that support the interests of the individual in the digital space.