The European Parliament decided to grant discharge to the Secretary-General of the Committee of the Regions in respect of the implementation of the general budget of the European Union for the financial year 2015.
In its resolution accompanying the decision on discharge, adopted by 517 votes to 107 with 11 abstentions, Parliament noted that in its 2015 annual report, the Court of Auditors observed that no significant weaknesses had been identified in respect of the audited topics relating to human resources and procurement for the Committee.
The payments as a whole for the year ended 31 December 2015 for administrative and other expenditure of the institutions and bodies were free from material error.
Budgetary and financial management: in 2015, the Committee had an approved budget of EUR 88 900 000 (compared with EUR 87 600 000 in 2014), of which EUR 87 200 000 comprised commitment appropriations with a utilisation rate of 98.2 %, a slight decrease.
Parliament noted with satisfaction that the report on the implementation of the Cooperation Agreement between Parliament and the Committee was timely and positively assesses the cooperation between both institutions. It reiterated its request for a joint assessment of the budgetary savings resulting from the Agreement to be included in the next follow-up report of the Agreement.
Members welcomed the Committees interest in having a more systematic approach to the cooperation with Parliament, particularly in political areas and with Parliaments research service (EPRS). They noted with concern that none of the targets set by the Committee in 2015 to increase involvement of Parliament and Council in activities related to the Committee opinions were achieved.
CoR actions: Members made a series of observations and recommendations on the management of the Committee:
Lastly, Parliament noted that the outsourcing rate of translation increased from 2.57 % in 2014 to nearly 10 % in 2015 due to the transfer of staff to Parliament under the Agreement. It called on the Committee for an assessment of the cost-effectiveness of the new arrangement now in practice.