2007 discharge: EU general budget, Council

2008/2277(DEC)

PURPOSE: to grant discharge to the Council for the financial year 2007.

LEGISLATIVE ACT: Decision 2010/40/EC of the European Parliament on discharge in respect of the implementation of the European Union general budget for the financial year 2007, Section II — Council.

CONTENT: with the present decision, the European Parliament grants the Secretary-General of the Council discharge in respect of the implementation of the budget for the financial year 2007.

This decision is in line with the European Parliament’s second resolution adopted on 25 November 2009 and comprises a series of observations that form an integral part of the discharge decision (please refer to the summary of the opinion of 25/11/2009).

In April 2009, the European Parliament had postponed its discharge decision due to a lack of transparency in terms of the Council’s budgetary expenditure as well as a lack of openness for an official and formal dialogue from the Council's side regarding control of its expenditure.

Parliament now considers that the discharge should be granted to the Council given that it has duly obtained all the necessary documents.