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European Parliament
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2016 discharge: European Insurance and Occupational Pensions Authority (EIOPA)

2017/2172(DEC)

PURPOSE: presentation by the Commission of the consolidated annual accounts of the European Union for the financial year 2016, as part of the 2016 discharge procedure.

Analysis of the accounts of the European Insurance and Occupational Pensions Authority (EIOPA).

CONTENT: the organisational governance of the EU consists of institutions, agencies and other EU bodies whose expenditure is included in the general budget of the Union.

This Commission document concerns the EU's consolidated accounts for the year 2016 and details how spending by the EU institutions and bodies was carried out. The consolidated annual accounts of the EU provide financial information on the activities of the institutions, agencies and other bodies of the EU from an accrual accounting and budgetary perspective.

It is the responsibility of the Commission's Accounting Officer to prepare the EU's consolidated annual accounts and ensure that they present fairly, in all material aspects, the financial position, the result of the operations and the cash flows of the EU institutions and bodies, including the European Insurance and Occupational Pensions Authority (EIOPA), with a view to granting discharge.

Discharge procedure: the final step of a budget lifecycle is the discharge of the budget for a given financial year. It represents the political aspect of the external control of budget implementation and is the decision by which the European Parliament, acting on a Council recommendation, "releases" the Commission (and other EU bodies) from its responsibility for management of a given budget by marking the end of that budget's existence. The European Parliament is the discharge authority within the EU.

The discharge procedure may produce three outcomes: (i) the granting; (ii) postponement or; (iii) the refusal of the discharge.

The final discharge report including specific recommendations to the Commission for action is adopted in plenary by the European Parliament and are subject to an annual follow up report in which the Commission outlines the concrete actions it has taken to implement the recommendations made.

Each agency is subject to its own discharge procedure, including the EIOPA.

The European Insurance and Occupational Pensions Authority (EIOPA): the EIOPA, which is located in Frankfurt (DE), was set up by Regulation (EU) No 1094/2010 of the European Parliament and of the Council with a view to improving the functioning of the internal market by means of ensuring a high, effective and consistent level of prudential regulation and supervision, protecting policyholders, pension scheme members and other beneficiaries.

As regards the accounts, EIOPA’s operating budget for 2016 was EUR 21 762 500. By the end of 2016, the budget implementation rate was 99.68% for commitment appropriations.

Commitment appropriations:

  • available: EUR 22 million;
  • made: EUR 22 million.

Payment appropriations:

  • available: EUR 25 million;
  • paid: EUR 22 million.

For further details on expenditure, please refer to the 2016 final accounts of the Insurance and Occupational Pensions Authority.