PURPOSE: to grant discharge to the European Securities and Markets Authority (ESMA) for the financial year 2015.
NON-LEGISLATIVE ACT: Decision (EU) 2017/1696 of the European Parliament on discharge in respect of the implementation of the budget of the European Securities and Markets Authority for the financial year 2015.
CONTENT: with the present decision, the European Parliament grants discharge to the Executive Director of the European Securities and Markets Authority for the implementation of the latter’s budget for the financial year 2015.
This decision is in line with the European Parliament's resolution adopted on 27 April 2017 and comprises a series of observations that form an integral part of the discharge decision (please refer to the summary of the opinion of 27 April 2017).
Amongst Parliament’s main observations in the resolution accompanying the discharge decision, the latter noted that, in 2015, the Authority implemented a policy on conflict of interest for staff, which, inter alia, requires all members of staff to fill out an annual declaration regarding potential conflicts of interest. Also in 2015, the Authority's management board adopted the Anti-Fraud Strategy 2015-2017, which aims at enhancing the Authority's capabilities in preventing, detecting, investigating and sanctioning potential fraud cases.
Parliament concluded that the Authority's financing arrangement is to be reviewed and called on the Commission to examine the possibility of modifying the current financing arrangement by introducing additional appropriately and proportionately calibrated fees for market participants, possibly replacing in part the contributions of national competent authorities whilst ensuring its autonomy and supervisory action.