2000 discharge: EC general budget, European Parliament

The committee adopted the report by Kyösti Tapio VIRRANKOSKI (ELDR, FIN) recommending that the Secretary General of Parliament be granted discharge in respect of the implementation of the 2000 budget. The committee called for the EP accounts to be presented in a more user-friendly form. It welcomed the downward trend in the overall number and costs of staff missions (down from EUR 3.4m in 1998 to EUR 28m in 2000). It wanted to increase the recruitment of women to senior posts in Parliament, and therefore insisted that a yearly number of such appointments should be laid down, as was the case at the Commission. It also underlined Parliament's commitment to establish an independent internal audit service. Lastly, it called for a clear regulation of the particular responsibilities of the political groups and looked forward to a marked improvement in the future concerning the auditing of the accounts of the political groups. �