Report from the Commission to the European Parliament and the Council on the follow-up to the discharge for the 2014 financial year (Summary)

The discharge for the financial year 2014 was marked by the alignment of the most involved European Institutions – European Parliament (EP), Council, European Court of Auditors (ECA), Commission - on the importance of focusing on the performance of the EU budget. In the discharge proceedings, a new balance was thus struck between issues relating to the results delivered by the EU budget and issues concerning the formal compliance with rules.

The Commission welcomes this new approach which is in line with the commitment made by the Juncker Commission at the start of its mandate, to strengthen the performance culture in relation to the EU budget. The commitment was followed up in 2015 with the launch of the Budget Focused on Results (BFOR) initiative which covers a broad range of activities, including simplification of rules, improving information on performance of policies and ensuring cost-effective controls.

In 2015, progress was made on the BFOR initiative in relation to inter alia developing a conceptual framework, reinforcing programme statements in the annual budget, and upgrading the Commission's Strategic Planning and Programming cycle. The work continues in 2016 with meetings of the expert group on performance based budgeting, a streamlining of reporting on both performance and compliance issues in the new Annual Management and Performance Report, and the review of the Financial Regulation.

Also the ECA stressed the need for a revised balance between performance and compliance issues, calling for a 'wholly new approach to investment and spending' when it published its annual report concerning the 2014 financial year. It invited EU decision-makers, EU legislators and financial managers to ensure that EU funds are spent in line with strategic priorities and achieve the intended results. These issues were discussed extensively during the discharge proceedings in the EP as well as in the Council.

The present report takes into account these commitments whilst updating the situation by providing an overview of further actions taken up to now. It is accompanied by two Commission Staff Working Documents containing replies to 350 EP and 57 Council specific discharge requests. The Commission agrees to start new actions on 100 requests (88 from the EP and 12 from the Council). It considers that for 272 requests (227 from the EP and 45 from the Council), the required action has already been taken or is on-going, though in some cases the results of the actions will need to be assessed. Finally, for reasons related to the existing legal and budgetary framework or its institutional role or prerogatives, the Commission cannot accept 35 requests from the EP. A detailed justification is provided in the attached Commission Staff Working Document.

EUR-Lex: SWD(2016)338: Replies to requests from the European Parliament http://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/TXT/?uri=SWD:2016:338:FIN

EUR-Lex: SWD(2016)339: Replies to requests from the Council http://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/TXT/?uri=SWD:2016:339:FIN

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