Based on the observations contained in the report by the Court of Auditors, the Council called on the European Parliament to grant discharge to all of the EU institutions in respect of the implementation of their respective budgets for the financial year 2016.
The Council notes with satisfaction that the estimated level of error reported by the Court for payments in the "Administration" policy area further decreased by 0.6 percentage points to 0.2 % in 2016, well below the materiality threshold of 2 %. It welcomes that no serious weaknesses were identified by the Court in the systems examined.
The Council underlines the need to respect the principles of annuality and of sound financial management and that the carry-over of appropriations should always be compliant with the rules of the Financial Regulation and be motivated with factual and genuine reasons.
The Council also regrets the Court's observation in relation to the management of funds within the European Parliament and more particularly to the control of allocations for political groups. It underlines that respect of the principle of transparency is instrumental to the Union's accountability towards its citizens. It therefore underlines the importance of strengthening the control framework and providing better guidance to the political groups through reinforced monitoring of the application of the rules of the Financial Regulation.
The Council regrets that not all the EU institutions, bodies and agencies have achieved the 5 % reduction of posts in the establishment plan by the end of 2017 and urges these institutions, bodies and agencies to carry out the remaining reduction as soon as possible in order to achieve this target fully.
The Council also notes the Court's findings that the total number of staff posts in the establishment plans decreased by 1.1 % between 2012 and 2017, the number of posts actually occupied by staff increased by 0.4 % over the period from 1 January 2013 to 1 January 2017, and the actual payments for salaries for permanent officials and temporary agents increased by 9.2 % between 2012 and 2016.
While recognising that during the period 2013-2017 some EU institutions, bodies and agencies were tasked with new responsibilities and equipped with new resources, the Council considers that the gap between the expectations and the outcome is significant.