2009 discharge: EU general budget, Committee of the Regions

The Committee on Budgetary Control adopted the report by Crescenzio RIVELLINI (EPP, IT)  recommending the European Parliament to grant the Secretary-General of the Committee of the Regions discharge in respect of the implementation of its budget for the financial year 2009.

The committee cites that, in 2009, the Committee of the Regions (CoR) had commitment appropriations available amounting to a total of EUR 88 million (2008: EUR 93 million), with a utilisation rate of 98.37%, higher than the average of the other institutions (97.69%).

Noting that the Court of Auditors had indicated, in its Annual Report, that the audit did not give rise to any significant observations, Members note that, in 2009, the CoR obtained 10 more posts in 2009 (and 4 more in 2010). They welcome in particular the CoR's efforts in exploring of possibilities of teleworking, as well as the considerable increase of the CoR's training budget (12% compared to 2008).

Members also welcome the fact that the CoR had:

• updated its budget analytical-monitoring tool ("BudgetWatch"), providing more comprehensive information on the CoR's budget;
• the Administrative Cooperation Agreement between the CoR and the European Economic and Social Committee (EESC) for the period 2008 to 2014 is sufficiently implemented;
• made efforts in the area of interinstitutional cooperation, in particular, in regard to the ongoing introduction of the staff management system 'Sysper2'.

Lastly, Members remind the CoR of Parliament’s request that CoR members declare their financial interests, disclosing relevant information on declarable professional activities and remunerated posts or activities and call on the CoR to examine this matter in its Annual Activity Report.