Discharge 2024: General budget of the EU - European Parliament
The European Parliament decided to grant discharge in respect of the implementation of the European Parliament's budget for the financial year 2024.
Parliament’s budgetary and financial management
In its resolution adopted by 431 votes to 131, with 81 abstentions, Parliament noted that its final appropriations for 2024 totalled EUR 2 383 million, or 20.2 % of Heading 7 of the Multiannual Financial Framework set aside for the 2024 administrative expenditure total for the Union institutions, representing a 6.05 % increase compared to the 2023 budget (EUR 2 247 million).
Total revenue entered in the accounts as of 31 December 2024 was EUR 281 517 001 (compared to EUR 255 205 473 in 2023). Assigned revenue made available in 2024 amounted to EUR 40 277 555 (compared to EUR 50 186 995 in 2023).
The following six chapters accounted for 85.7 % of total commitments: Chapter 1 0 ‘Members of the institution’, Chapter 1 2 ‘Officials and temporary staff’, Chapter 1 4 ‘Other staff and external services’, Chapter 2 0 ‘Buildings and associated costs’, Chapter 2 1 ‘Data processing, equipment and movable property’ and Chapter 4 2 ‘Expenditure relating to parliamentary assistance’.
Parliament welcomed the Secretary-General's commitment to simplification, good administration, and reinforcement of the scrutiny function of Parliament, with simplification considered as a guiding principle to be systematically applied across all areas of Parliament's work. Members welcomed the continued emphasis on Parliament’s core business, its legislative, budgetary and scrutiny activities, and in particular the creation of four thematic directorates-general, including the Directorate-General for Budgetary Affairs.
Political priorities
Parliament recalled the findings of Parliament’s administration that at least EUR 4 333 635,78 of budget item 400 appropriations were unduly spent by the former Identity and Democracy (ID) political group over the 2019-2024 term, exposing Parliament to a significant financial and reputational risk. Shortcomings were also identified in the public procurement procedures which represent significant reputational risks for Parliament. The Bureau awaits to know the outcome of the EPPO’s investigation before taking any recovery action.
The Bureau is urged to ensure that external auditors fully comply with their letter of engagement and to ensure, for future audits, adequate oversight of groups by external auditors.
Members welcomed the use of Parliament as a platform to raise awareness about gender-based and domestic violence. In addition, they stressed the need to:
- secure information related to the activity of political groups via European infrastructures;
- preserve institutional integrity and prevent any undue external interference, in particular Russian influence, by means of stricter measures; in this context, the essential responsibility incumbent upon the European Anti-Fraud Office (OLAF) to carry out all necessary in-depth investigations is emphasised;
- ensure that internal safeguards and transparency requirements are in place, and to cooperate with the relevant Union bodies, in order to protect the integrity of the Parliament and the Union budget;
- ensure that declarations of paid or unpaid outside activities are sufficiently detailed in order to avoid any problems regarding the quality of controls relating to conflicts of interest;
- resolve the recurring problems of completeness posed by the current framework with regard to the clarity of the mandatory publication of meetings and declarations of private interests, in particular declarations of material and financial support;
- inform Parliament about the conclusions of the internal working group established by the Commission, tasked with investigating allegations that Member States have engaged in spying and targeted Parliament;
- strengthen protection measures, including secure device management, the establishment of rapid incident reporting channels for Members and staff, and the organisation of regular threat-briefings on threats, while ensuring full respect for fundamental rights and data protection.
While acknowledging the potential of artificial intelligence (AI), Parliament expressed concern about the dominance of AI tools from third-country companies, as well as about privacy and data protection considerations when using third-party AI tools. It requested that Parliament's administration provide Members and staff with a range of AI tools, tailored to the needs of each category, that meet the professional requirements of Members and ensure the confidentiality, integrity, and availability of the data they process, using on-premises infrastructure to prevent data leaks.
Members called on Parliament to continue strengthening its action to address concrete critical challenges such as cybersecurity and AI. They stressed the urgent need to adopt a comprehensive AI strategy and roadmap, including a proposed action plan.
Considering that roll-call voting is a key instrument for ensuring transparency and accountability towards EU citizens, Members called on Parliament to introduce measures to avoid abuse of voting by the secret ballot procedure.
Parliament welcomed the progress made in integrating a gender perspective and gender-responsive budgeting, as well as the adoption of the 2025 Gender Equality Action Plan. It called for the swift publication and implementation of this action plan through its accompanying roadmap.
Lastly, Members believe that measures promoting transparency, accountability, and ethical governance must be strengthened. They reiterated that rules prohibit Members from engaging in paid lobbying activities directly linked to the EU's decision-making process and called for sanctions to be applied when breaches are established. They welcomed the introduction of robust standards in Parliament regarding transparency and access to institutions for entities registered in the Transparency Register and called for the inter-linking of the Transparency Register with the Financial Transparency System.