2004 discharge: EC general budget, European Parliament

The European Parliament adopted a resolution based on the report by Markus FERBER (EPP-ED, DE) on granting discharge for the European Parliament's 2004 budget. (Please refer to the summary on proceedings in committee dated 14/09/2006.)The report on the discharge was adopted with 535 votes in favour, 45 against with 51 abstentions. In addition, on the matter of the buildings, Parliament noted thatthe lease agreement by virtue of which Parliament leases the two buildings involves a triangular relationship between, on the one part, the Parliament itself as the lessee of the WIC and SDM buildings, on the second part, the City of Strasbourg as the lessor and on the third part, SCI Erasme as the private investor and owner of the buildings. Parliament considered that this triangular relationship was not conducive to full transparency or to guarantees of sound financial management and, therefore, that it should be avoided in the buildings policy of EU institutions and bodies.

Parliament also made some remarks on the Members’ voluntary pension scheme. It noted with concern that the deduction of contributions to the pension scheme from the general expenditure allowance left Members exposed to allegations that public funds may be put towards the cost of private pension contributions. Parliament’s Bureau was asked to ensure that such payments were made directly by pension scheme members through direct debit orders. It felt that Members' contributions to the voluntary pension scheme should be paid directly from personal income rather than through the parliamentary allowance system.It noted, however, that the Court of Auditors saw no problems in maintaining the voluntary pension scheme system provided that it was better defined and its operation set down in a formal document.