2016 annual management and performance report for the EU budget

The EU budget is a key instrument for implementing European policies. Together with regulatory instruments, it complements national budgets to deliver on the shared political priorities and respond to the challenges the EU faces.

The need to ensure that resources are allocated to priorities and that actions financed through the EU budget bring high performance and added value is at the heart of the Commission's EU Budget Focused on Results initiative. This initiative, building on the performance frameworks in the 2014–2020 programmes, promotes a coherent balance between compliance and performance.

The 2016 Annual Management and Performance Report for the EU Budget provides a comprehensive overview of the performance, management and protection of the EU budget. It explains how the EU budget supports the EU's political priorities and describes both the results achieved with the EU budget, and the role the Commission plays in ensuring the highest standards of financial management.

Demonstrating the Commission's efforts towards streamlined performance reporting, this second edition of the annual report incorporates the former Communication on the protection of the EU budget and, as last year, will be part of the EU budget Integrated Financial Reporting Package. This package is an essential input for the annual 'discharge procedure' by which the European Parliament and the Council scrutinise the implementation of the EU budget.