The European Parliament adopted by 597 votes to 43 with 17 abstentions, a decision granting the European Ombudsman discharge in respect of the implementation of its budget for the financial year 2011.
In its resolution accompanying the discharge, Parliament welcomes the fact that the Court of Auditors concluded that the payments as a whole for the year ended on 31 December 2011 for administrative and other expenditure of the institutions and bodies were free from material error. It also notes that no significant weaknesses had been identified in respect to the audited topics related to the human resources and the procurement for the European Ombudsman.
At the same time, Parliament stresses that the Ombudsman's budget is purely administrative and amounted in 2011 to EUR 9 427 395 and that of the total appropriations, 92.54% were committed and 85.62% paid. It calls for further efforts to improve the utilisation rate and wants the changes made to be monitored.
Parliament invites the Ombudsman to include the following in the next annual activity report:
Parliament also calls for a sustainable increase of the percentage of decisions on admissibility taken within one month of receiving a complaint, which attained a figure of 70% in 2011. It believes that the re-structuring of the Ombudsman's office, put in place at the beginning of 2012, together with a more streamlined procedure of the Registry can contribute to a better performance of the Complaint Unit in the coming years.