What changed between the draft committee report and the plenary report

2. MOTION FOR A EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT RESOLUTION

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with observations forming an integral part of the decision on discharge in respect of the implementation of the general budget of the European Union for the financial year 2022, Section I – European Parliament

(2023/2130(DEC))

The European Parliament,

– having regard to its decision on discharge in respect of the implementation of the general budget of the European Union for the financial year 2022, Section I – European Parliament,

– having regard to Rule 100 and Rule 104(3) of, and Annex V to, its Rules of Procedure,

– having regard to the opinion of the Committee on Legal Affairs,

Changed:– having regard to the report of the Committee on Budgetary Control (A90000/2024),(A9-0067/2024),

A. whereas, in his certification of the final accounts, the European Parliament’s (the ‘Parliament’) accounting officer stated his reasonable assurance that the accounts, in all material aspects, present fairly the financial position, the results of the operations and the cash-flow of Parliament;

B. whereas, in accordance with the usual procedure, 60 questions were sent to Parliament’s administration and written replies were received and discussed publicly by Parliament’s Committee on Budgetary Control on 4 December 2023, in the presence of the Secretary-General, the director of the Authority for European Political Parties and European Political Foundations (the ‘Authority’) and the Internal Auditor;

Change 2

Changed:C. whereas there is always scope for improvement in terms of quality, efficiency and effectivenesseffectiveness, as well as transparency in the management of public finances; whereas thorough scrutiny is necessaryimperative to ensure that political leadership and Parliament’s administration are held accountable to Union citizens; whereas Parliament’s integrity is paramount for the functioning of European democracy and increases the citizens’ trust in European institutions;

Parliament’s budgetary and financial management

Change 3

Changed:1. Notes that Parliament’s final appropriations for 2022 totalled EUR 2 161 million, or 19,55 % of Heading 7 of the Multiannual Financial Framework set aside for the 2022 administrative expenditure of the Union institutions as a whole, representing a ,764,76 % increase compared to the 2021 budget (EUR 2 064 million);

2. Notes that total revenue entered in the accounts as of 31 December 2022 was EUR 250 473 772 (compared to EUR 215 332 108 in 2021); notes that assigned revenue made available in 2022 amounted to EUR 61 267 620 (compared to EUR 37 150 962 in 2021);

3. Emphasises that five chapters accounted for 76,5 % of total commitments: Chapter 10 ‘Members of the institution’; Chapter 12 ‘Officials and temporary staff’; Chapter 14 ‘Other staff and external services’; Chapter 20 ‘Buildings and associated costs’; and Chapter 42 ‘Expenditure relating to parliamentary assistance’;

4. Notes the figures on the basis of which Parliament’s accounts for the financial year 2022 were closed, namely:

Change 4

Changed:5. Notes that 21 transfers were approved by Parliament’s Committee on Budgets (‘C transfers’), in accordance with Articles 31 and 49 of the Financial Regulation, in the financial year 2022, amounting to EUR 88 449 115 or 4,09 % of final appropriations; notes that the President authorised 11 transfers (‘P transfers’) amounting to EUR 34 246 879 or 1,6 % of the 2022 budget; enquires between which budget lines these P transfers occurred; calls on the presidency to inform the Committee on Budgetary Control proactively of the amounts and budget lines concerned;

6. Notes that the COVID-19 pandemic is estimated to have generated a moderate surplus of EUR 16 417 325, which was transferred out of items such as those related to travel expenses, the organisation and reception of groups of visitors, the operation of Parliament visitors' centres, external in-person training, documentation/publications and local parliamentary assistants and trainees for Members; observes that at the same time, the COVID-19 pandemic made it necessary to reinforce other budget lines by a total of EUR 7 549 000; highlights that those lines relate mainly to the provision of financial support to staff working at home, health and prevention, and additional expenditure on interpretation to support teleworking and multilingual remote and hybrid meetings;

7. Notes the fact that 2022 was a year of transition for the Union institutions, including Parliament; notes that measures introduced as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic were discontinued by June 2022; welcomes the efforts of all DGs and the Secretary-General to put the necessary tools in place to resume parliamentary work so that it functions in the same way as it did before the COVID-19 pandemic; welcomes the successful resumption of in-presence plenary sessions as of March 2022; remarks that this followed a two-year period during which more than 12 000 voting operations had to take place remotely over no fewer than 175 voting sessions, spread over 30 part-sessions;

Change 5

Changed:8. Notes that the Russian war of aggression against Ukraine and the exceptionally high level of inflation, which by the end of the year 2022 still stood at 10,4 % for the Union on an annual basis, had a profound influence on the 2022 financial year; acknowledges that all Directorates-General and the Secretary-GeneralParliament’s haveadministration has put considerable effort into the implementation of Parliament’sthe budget with a view to meeting urgent needs arising from the crisis situation; welcomes the donations of technical equipment by Parliament to support Ukraine in difficult times of war;

European Court of Auditors’ opinions on the reliability of the 2022 accounts and on the legality and regularity of the transactions underlying those accounts

9. Recalls that the European Court of Auditors (the ‘Court’) performs a specific assessment of administrative and other expenditure as a single policy group for all Union institutions; highlights that administrative expenditure comprises expenditure on human resources including pensions, which in 2022 accounted for about 70 % of the total administrative expenditure, and on buildings, equipment, energy, communications and information technology; highlights that the Court’s work over many years indicates that, overall, this spending is low risk;

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Changed:10. Notes that the Multiannual Financial Framework Heading 7 ‘European public administration’ accounts for EUR 11.611,6 billion or 5,9% of the Union budget in 2022, of which Parliament accounts for EUR 2.22,2 billion or 18,9 %; welcomes the fact that the Court found that the level of error in spending on ‘European public administration’ was not material; calls on the Parliament to check and identify which type of transactions had a high share of errors, although below the materiality threshold and explore the changes in procedure needed to avoid and detect similar errors in the future;

Change 7

Changed:11. Notes that the Court’s annual report on the implementation of the budget concerning the financial year 2022 presents specific findings on Parliament; notes the Court’s recommendation that Parliament’s administration strengthens its guidance on the implementation of budget appropriations by the European political groups and that it keeps working to improve the internal rules and ensure compliance with procurement rules and procedures;

12. Notes that the Court selected a sample of 13 transactions for Parliament, and that they found quantifiable errors in three of them; notes that procurement was one of the issues raised by the Court; highlights that this type of finding has also been raised in the past;

13. Takes note of the observations of the Court with regard to Parliament’s internal rules; recalls that the political groups manage the funds allocated to them according to the principles of indirect management of funds in analogical application of Article 62(1)(c) of the Financial Regulation; considers that these rules themselves replace the ‘contribution agreements’ (as referred to in Article 155(6) of the Financial Regulation);

14. Recalls, that according to Parliament’s internal rules, the political groups are responsible to the institution for the management of appropriations, within the limits of the powers conferred upon them by the Bureau; takes note that the appropriations are to be managed in accordance with these rules and appropriate action should be taken to prevent any non-compliance;

Change 8

Added:15. The political groups receive assistance and advice from Parliament when they request; notes that in 2022 the financial departments of the political groups intensified their signatures with national delegations in order to ensure the sound management of the appropriations in line 400;

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16. Welcomes the commitment of the administration to increase the guidance for political groups on the proper implementation of Parliament’s internal rules and assist them with the aim of improving their internal financial management; welcomes the fact that it will further clarify the guidelines on procurement by political groups;

Internal Auditor’s annual report

17. Notes that, at the meeting between the committee responsible and the internal auditor held on 4 December 2023, the internal auditor presented his annual report and described the assurance audits he carried out and consulting services he provided and reported on the outcome of the current state of play, which in 2022 covered a transversal follow-up of open actions from internal audit reports, an audit of staff missions, a review of Parliament’s risk management framework, an audit of the procurement process in DG INLO, an audit of the purchase and use of security equipment and services in DG SAFE, an audit of the financing of European political parties and European political foundations – second assignment, and a periodic review of the ADENAUER 2 building project – Phase 3 (completion of East Wing);

18. Welcomes and supports the actions that the internal auditor has agreed with the directorates-general responsible, as a result of the assurance assignments with regard to the audit of staff missions, with regard to the review of Parliament’s risk management framework, and with regard to the audit of the procurement process in DG INLO;

19. Takes note of the assurance assignments for which preliminary conclusions are currently being prepared or for which fieldwork is still ongoing, and which are currently following the process envisaged by the charter of the internal auditor;

Change 9

Changed:19.20. Notes that the 2022 follow-up process resulted in the closure of 38 of the 92 open actions and for which the agreed due dates for implementation had expired; is concerned by the fact that as of 31 December 2022, 29 open actions were overdue for more than 12 months; expects the different directorates-general to ensure that the remaining actions are closed without any further delay and that the agreed actions are implemented in accordance with the due dates set in the internal auditor’s annual report;

Change 10

Changed:20.21. Acknowledges that, in accordance with Article 118(9) of the Financial Regulation, the reports and findings of the internal auditor, as well as the report of the Union institution concerned, shall be accessible to the public afteras soon as the internal auditor has validated the action taken for their implementation; notes that, in practice, the reports and findings are only published once all recommendations have been implemented; recalls that Members may only have access to confidential documents under the Bureau's rules on a need-to-know basis, ; recalls that all Members of the Committee on Budgetary Control have the right to request confidential access to the internal audit report with regard to the discharge procedure; welcomes the fact that the internal auditor reports to the Committee on Budgetary Control on the annual audit activities carried out;

Change 11

Changed:21.22. Notes that as a consequence of a post that remained vacant throughout the year, envisaged for an information systems auditor, one planned audit in the field of IT (on cybersecurity staff awareness) could not be carried out in 2022; notes the difficulty in finding specific audit staff profiles, including in the field of IT, to perform audits as planned according to their requirements; calls the Internal Audit Service to address the issue in order to ensure the completion of the remaining audit in time for the next discharge cycle;

23. Welcomes the fact that the Internal Audit Service has, through its 2022 quality assurance and improvement programme, continued to seek the enhancement of its activity in providing objective assurance to the decision-making and oversight authorities, to authorising officers and to management; takes note that the internal auditor stated that he did not receive instructions or guidance from any source, which would be such as to compromise his independence;

Follow-up to the 2021 discharge resolution

24. Takes note of the written answers to the 2021 discharge resolution provided to Parliament’s Committee on Budgetary Control on 13 September 2023, the presentation by the Secretary-General addressing the issues in Parliament's 2021 discharge resolution and the exchange of views with Members that followed;

Change 12

Changed:24.25. Recalls that pursuant to Rule 25 of and Annex V to the Rules of Procedure and Articles 6 and 262 of the Financial Regulation, once the Plenary calls for different rules or measures to be implemented by Parliament, the rules or measures proposed areshall be discussed and voted on by the Bureau; recalls, in light of Rule 25 of the Rules of Procedure, that the Bureau is responsible for taking decisions on financial, organisational and administrative matters concerning Members; recalls that the Bureau is composed of the President of the European Parliament, the 14 Vice-Presidents and the five Quaestors (non-voting members) democratically elected by Parliament; notes, that the members of the Bureau deliberate on Parliament’s draft estimates; recalls that the discharge is an exercise of democratic scrutiny and that the concrete demands adopted by Plenary in discharge resolutions shall be reflected in the discussions of the Bureau;

Change 13

Changed:25.26. HighlightsIs aware of the fact that since the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic in March 2020 and until the gradual lifting of sanitary restrictions at the beginning of 2022, the Bureau’s deliberations were focused primarily on decisions aiming to protect the integrity of Members and staff while ensuring business continuity and implementing practical solidarity measures vis-à-vis the three host Member States of Parliament;

Directorate-General for the Presidency

27. Recalls that the Directorate-General for the Presidency (DG PRES) provides expertise and facilitates the legislative and parliamentary work of the President, the Plenary and Parliament's governing bodies and Members at each stage of the parliamentary and legislative process; recalls that it is also responsible for interinstitutional relations, for protocol support to official visits and events sponsored by the President, for the management of Union classified information, and for the management of official and registered mail, and that it was responsible for interparliamentary relations until November 2022; notes that by 31 December 2022, there were 364 members of staff, of which 307 were officials, 19 temporary agents, 37 contract agents, and 1 agency member of staff;

Change 14

Changed:27.28. Notes that DG PRES’s final appropriations amounted to EUR 1 275 565 in 2022, representing 0.10,1 % of Parliament’s budget; highlights that, of that amount, a total of EUR 1 169 055.78 was committed; welcomes the high use of appropriations;

29. Welcomes the progress made in the implementation of the various components of the eLegislate programme using XML technology for faster and easier drafting of both amendments to legislative proposals and preparatory documents for interinstitutional legislative negotiations; calls on the various services involved to further intensify their efforts and ensure that all steps in the parliamentary legislative process are assisted by the eLegislate tools from the start of the legislative process in the 10th parliamentary term;

Change 15

Changed:29.30. WelcomesStresses that transparency, accountability, and integrity are essential ethics principles within the Union institutions and in particular Parliament as the house of European democracy; welcomes the prompt actions taken by Parliament onregarding the events related to alleged corruption cases concerning Members and employees in December 2022; welcomes the contribution of DG PRES to the 14-point action plan proposed by the President and its efforts in implementing the new rules on integrity and transparency; further welcomes the efforts by Parliament’s political authorities to enhance transparency, integrity and accountability atin Parliament; calls on the administration to track the budgetary and financial impact of these measures; notes that Parliament reconfirms trust in the Union’s decision-making process by improving transparency, ethics and good conduct in the most representative Union institution through its actions;

Change 16

Removed:30. Recalls that, in July 2021, Parliament, the Commission and the Council adopted an Interinstitutional Agreement (IIA) on a mandatory transparency register; notes that while introducing some principles to enhance a common culture of transparency, the IIA leaves the three signatories to implement the conditionality and subsequent complementary measures as they see fit;

Added:31. Recalls that these events are commonly known as the Qatargate;

Change 17

Changed:31.32. Notes that 2022 wasmarked the first year of the full implementation of the mandatory transparency register under the revised IIAInterinstitutional agreement (IIA), adopted in July 2021 by Parliament, the Commission and the Council; notes that thewhile registerintroducing issome principles to enhance a keycommon toolculture forof promotingtransparency, transparentthe andIIA ethicalleaves interestit representationto atthe Unionthree levelsignatories becauseto registrationimplement isthe aconditionality preconditionand forsubsequent interestcomplementary representativesmeasures toas bethey ablesee tofit; carrypoints out certainthat activitiesParliament withhas improved conditionality while the Unioninstitutions,Council’s includingparticipation Parliament;remains limited;

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Removed:32. Welcomes the increased use of the transparency register as an information and reference tool for interest representation activities at Union level; notes the continuous improvement in the quality of information on the public database resulting from eligibility and data quality checks of new applicants; welcomes the regular communication, helpdesk and awareness-raising activities undertaken by the Secretariat among stakeholders both within the institutions and outside, as well as the development of IT solutions to improve the transparency register;

Added:33. Recalls the significance of this register as a pivotal instrument in fostering transparent and ethical interest representation at Union level, establishing mandatory registration as a prerequisite for interest representatives to be able to engage in specific activities with the Union institutions, including Parliament; calls for the provision of all necessary resources to ensure that the internal rules related to the transparency register are effectively enforced, including, where appropriate, the imposition of adequate sanctions;

Removed:33. Calls, as a consequence of the events at the end of 2022, for the establishment of robust standards on transparency and access to institutions for entities listed in the transparency register, including NGOs; recalls that NGOs were allegedly used as vectors of foreign interference in European Parliamentarism; reiterates, in this context, the need for comprehensive financial pre-screening of entities before they are listed in the transparency register;

Added:34. Welcomes the increased use of the transparency register as an information and reference tool for interest representation activities at Union level, shown by the rise in applications for registration and increased number of visits to the website year-on-year; welcomes the regular communication, helpdesk and awareness-raising activities undertaken by the Secretariat among stakeholders both within the institutions and outside, as well as the development of IT solutions to improve the transparency register; recalls the necessity to keep strengthening data quality checks of new applicants; notes that the quality of entries in the transparency register has improved over recent years due to increased targeted quality monitoring and as a result of investigations based on complaints or own initiative investigations by the Secretariat, and commends, despite limited resources, the role of the Joint Secretariat in that improvement; notes that the Secretariat's targeted quality checks of 4 238 entries over the course of 2022 found that 44% provided satisfactory data quality from the outset, (a number similar to 2021, + 4%) while an additional 35,2% of interest representatives improved the information further to the targeted checks, and 13,6 % were removed following the checks as a result of ineligibility or a failure to update; stresses the need to allocate additional resources to the Secretariat to allow for scrutiny of the transparency register to ensure data quality; calls for an expansion of its scope to include representatives of non-EU countries; recommends that IT solutions are used to integrate the transparency register in all Parliament’s activities involving external entities to allow their participation to be recorded and tracked through the relevant databases;

Removed:34. Stresses the need for a thorough pre-check as part of registration in the transparency register to disclose all funding sources; notes that funding from Union funds must be traceable from the direct recipient to the final beneficiary when funds are passed on in a chain; calls for a revision of the guidelines for registration in the transparency register to disclose all incoming and outgoing funds, including the transfer of funds from one NGO and stakeholder to another; underlines that NGOs receiving money from third parties, whose registration in the transparency register is not required,need to disclose the source of their funding by specifying the same information as all regular registrants;

Added:35. Calls, as a consequence of the events of alleged corruption within the European Parliament that occurred at the end of 2022, for the establishment of robust standards on transparency and access to Union institutions for all entities listed in the transparency register; recalls that NGOs were allegedly misused as vectors of foreign interference in Parliament's decision-making processes; reiterates, in this context, the need for comprehensive financial pre-screening of all entities, disclosing all funding sources, before they are listed in the transparency register; recalls the obligation of registering in the transparency register prior to participating in the organisation of events and conferences on Parliament’s premises;

Added:36. Calls on the Commission to ensure that all Union funds are effectively traceable from the direct recipient to the final beneficiary when funds are passed on in a chain as reflected in the proposal for a recast of the Financial Regulation and as requested in the own-initiative report “Transparency and accountability of non-governmental organisations funded from the EU Budget” adopted on the 17th of January 2024; calls for a revision of the guidelines for registration in the transparency register to disclose all incoming and outgoing funds, including the transfer of funds from one entity stakeholder to another; underlines that all registrants or entities receiving money from third parties, whose registration in the transparency register is not required, need to disclose the source of their funding;

Added:37. Recalls that Rule 11 of the Rules of Procedure obliges members to publish their meetings with interest representatives; notes with great concern that in the period until 26 January 2023, 261 current Members had not published a single meeting with an interest representative on Parliament’s website; recalls that information and reminder notices on the obligation to publish meetings should be sent to all Members at regular intervals;

Added:38. Considers roll call votes (RCV) to be a key instrument for transparency and accountability towards the Union’s citizens; calls for introducing automatic RCV to any final vote except for secret ballots, and for increasing the number of RCV that are possible for a political group to ask for per part-session in Rule 190(2), or exempting legislative files from that limitation;

39. Notes with satisfaction the successful organisation of mid-term elections in 2022 of the President, Vice-Presidents and the Quaestors in a remote format, as decided by the Conference of Presidents; acknowledges the importance of the plenary remote voting system in the successful running of such a sensitive and complex secret vote;

Change 19

Added:40. Recalls the changes in Parliament’s Rules of Procedure on 20 December 2020 allowing for remote voting and the fact that voting remotely in committee is currently not allowed unless the President establishes the existence of extraordinary circumstances; reiterates its request to the Bureau, adopted at Plenary level on several occasions, to enable Members to exercise their right to vote remotely while benefiting from maternity or paternity leave, during a long term illness or in cases of force majeure, thus capitalising on the great administrative effort and financial investment that Parliament has made in technical solutions to allow remote voting;