Skip to content
EU Parl Watch

opinion parliamentary committee draft, 24 October 2024

On discharge in respect of the implementation of the general budget of the Commission for the financial year 2023

Document EMPL-PA-765076 · (2024/2019(DEC))

Committee on Employment and Social Affairs · Rapporteur: Romana Tomc

On Parliament’s site PDF Word

AI:In short

The Committee on Employment and Social Affairs calls on the Committee on Budgetary Control to incorporate its opinion into the motion for a resolution on the Commission's 2023 budget discharge. It welcomes the Court of Auditors' clean opinion on the 2023 accounts, but flags record outstanding commitments, high error rates in cohesion spending, forecast decommitments, and inflation's impact on the budget. It asks the Commission to implement all outstanding Court of Auditors' recommendations as soon as possible.

Position. The Committee on Employment and Social Affairs proposes that the Committee on Budgetary Control incorporate these points into its motion for a resolution on the 2023 discharge.

Key points

  1. The Court of Auditors declared the 2023 consolidated accounts fair in all material respects.
  2. Total outstanding commitments reached a record EUR 543 billion by end of 2023, mainly due to shared management funds and NextGenerationEU, but are expected to decrease in 2024-2026.
  3. The error rate for MFF heading 2 'Cohesion, resilience and values' rose to 9.3% in 2023 from 6.4% in 2022; calls for urgent action to reduce it.
  4. Concerned that Commission forecast decommitments for cohesion funds, including the European Social Fund Plus, at EUR 2.2 billion for 2024-2027, five times higher than its 2022 forecast.
  5. High inflation (6.4%) continued to affect the Union budget; warns the budget could lose about 13% of its purchasing power by end of 2025.
  6. Asks the Commission to implement all outstanding Court of Auditors' recommendations as soon as possible.

Who is affected

  • The Commission, which must implement the Court of Auditors' recommendations and address the concerns raised.
  • Beneficiaries of cohesion policy funds, including the European Social Fund Plus, face potential decommitments.

Figures and deadlines

  • EUR 543 billion: total outstanding commitments by end of 2023.
  • 9.3%: error rate for MFF heading 2 in 2023, compared with 6.4% in 2022.
  • EUR 2.2 billion: forecast decommitments for cohesion funds for 2024-2027.
  • 6.4%: inflation rate affecting the Union budget.
  • 13%: potential loss of purchasing power by end of 2025.

Written by AI from the full text · every figure comes from the text · ¶ opens the paragraph · 4 Sept 2026 · Report a problem

Full text

Opinion 8 paragraphs

The Committee on Employment and Social Affairs calls on the Committee on Budgetary Control, as the committee responsible, to incorporate the following into its motion for a resolution:

–having regard to the Court of Auditors’ annual report on the implementation of the budget for the financial year 2023, together with the institutions’ replies, and to the Court of Auditors’ special reports;

1.Expresses its satisfaction that the Court of Auditors has declared that the consolidated accounts of the Union for the year 2023 present fairly, in all material respects, the Union’s financial position at this date;

2.Observes that the total outstanding commitments reached a record high of EUR 543 billion by the end of 2023, mainly due to an increased commitment of shared management funds, as well as NextGenerationEU (NGEU), but notices that the total outstanding commitments are expected to decrease in the 2024-2026 period;

3.Notes with concerns that the Court of Auditors estimates that the level of error for MFF heading 2 ‘Cohesion, resilience and values’ in 2023 reached 9,3 %, compared with 6,4 % in 2022; recognises that the majority of spending in this area is deemed high-risk expenditure as mainly reimbursement-based and often subject to complex rules; calls for urgent action to decrease the error rate in the future;

4.Expresses concerns that the Commission forecast decommitments for cohesion policy funds, including the European Social Fund Plus, at EUR 2,2 billion for the 2024-2027 period, five times higher its 2022 forecast, mainly due to persistent low absorption;

5.Notes that high inflation (6,4 %) continued to affect the Union budget; warns that, based on the Commission’s inflation forecast, the Union budget could lose about 13 % of its purchasing power by end of 2025;

6.Asks the Commission to implement as soon as possible all outstanding Court of Auditors' recommendations.

Annex: entities or persons from whom the rapporteur has received input 1 paragraph

The rapporteur for opinion declares under her exclusive responsibility that she did not receive input from any entity or person to be mentioned in this Annex pursuant to Article 8 of Annex I to the Rules of Procedure.