1999 discharge: EC general budget, other sections

PURPOSE: presentation of the Council recommendation on the discharge to be granted to the Commission on the implementation of the Communities' budget for the 1999 financial year (other sections). CONTENT: Based on the observations contained in the Court of Auditors' report concerning the 1999 financial year, the Council calls on the Parliament to grant discharge on the implementation of the 'other sections' part of the 1999 budget. However, the budgetary implementation calls for a series of comments from the Council which have to be fully taken into account without delay. Firstly, the Council welcomes the fact that the Court considers that overall activities and accounts covered by heading 5 of the financial perspectives are generally satisfactory, as was the case for the 1998 financial year. It notes that on 29 December 2000 the Commission adopted a regulation on the accounting management of the European Communities' non-financial fixed assets and hopes that this text in parallel with the intensified inter-institutional co-operation will result in improving the presentation of the consolidated balance and off-balance-sheet commitments. As far as real estate expenditures are concerned, the Council shares the Court's opinion according to which the Institutions' real estate projects should fall within a long-term inter-institutional real estate policy, as already specified in its conclusions in the Court's special report 5/2000 concerning real estate expenditures of the Court of Justice.�