Europarlementariërs kritisch over te verlenen décharge over 2008 voor Europese instellingen (en)
Council's discharge for 2008 should be postponed, because of lacking transparency and internal problems in control of its spending, MEPs argued in their annual debate on how the EU institutions manage their finances. The Budgetary Control Committee proposes granting discharge to all other institutions, but MEPs will put forward recommendations to improve accountability and efficiency of EU spending when they vote in May.
Polish MEP Ryszard Czarnecki (ECR) had examined the budget of the Council and cited a number of problems, including lacking cooperation with the Budgetary Control Committee: "We asked the Council some questions last year and the answers we got were not satisfactory", he said. Among other problems needing to be solved Mr Czarnecki mentioned some aspects of the common foreign and security policy, public procurement and the use of extra budgetary accounts and invoices. "I was rapporteur for seven institutions; in six institutions everything is more or less okay, but one institution always has so many irregularities." the rapporteur concluded.
Regarding the discharge of Parliament's own budget, MEPs from most political groups underlined that it should be a role model for other institutions if MEPs want to be credible in their criticism of others. As a consequence of earlier years' discharge reports, many improvements - such as the introduction of a statute for MEPs and their assistants - have been made."I think we can grant discharge. We have not seen any fraud or scandals. But my report is also critical, we can do better." said Belgian Green Bart Staes, rapporteur for the EP discharge.
Polish socialist Bogus?aw Liberadzki, responsible for examining the Commission budget, had not been able to come to the debate in Strasbourg because of the traffic problems caused by the volcanic ash cloud. The Budgetary Control Committee recommended granting the discharge when they adopted Mr Liberadzki's draft report.
Regarding Véronique Mathieu's (EPP, FR) reports on discharge of the agencies, the Budgetary Control Committee recommends granting discharge for all except for the European Police College, which is undergoing an OLAF investigation. During the debate, Inés Ayala Sender (S&D, ES) also presented her findings about 7th, 8th, 9th and 10th European development funds, for which she recommends discharge.
MEPs will vote during next plenary, 5-6 May.
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