Summary : This document contains the presentations by the three experts invited and the subsequent discussion with Members of the Committee on Budgetary Control and the representative of the European Parliament's Legal Service, as taken from the recording of the English interpretation.

Authors : Academic editor : Carlino Antpöhler (Max Planck Institute for Public Law, Heidelberg, Germany) ; Contributing experts : Matthias Rossi (University Augsburg, Germany), Florence Chaltiel Terral (University Grenoble, France), Carlino Antpöhler (Max Planck Institute for Public Law, Heidelberg, Germany) and Ricardo Passos (European Parliament)

Committees : Budget Control, Budget affairs

Summary : The study summarises the results of a peer review of the CIP and EIP evaluation reports. The peer review was conducted in two stages: first, the general CIP evaluation and, second, a detailed review of the EIP evaluation with regard to the specific needs of SMEs and how the EIP programme has targeted these needs. The peer review process was conducted with consideration of the heterogeneity and complexity of the nature of SMEs. The conclusions and recommendations highlight themes for the focus of future evaluations and make suggestions for future SME support on a European level.

Authors : Study team: Ingrid Bauer, Christine Hamza and Herta Tödtling-Schönhofer (Metis GmbH) Peer review experts: Giel Dubbeld, Manfred Horvat and Tea Petrin

Committees : Budget Control, Budget affairs

Summary : The European Commission oversees the recovery by Member States of Traditional Own Resources (TOR), that is customs debt and sugar levies, for the European Union’s budget revenue. It fulfils high standards of control each year. According to the Commission 98 per cent of customs debt identified by Member States is entered in national accounts and transferred as TOR to the EU accounts without particular problems. Yet significant differences of performance exist between Member States. The report examines these differences, using published and accessible data to estimate the effects of such differences for the EU budget. It makes recommendations on how to improve even further the collection of this revenue and better safeguard all Member States share in TOR recovery.

Authors : James SPENCE (Institut d’Etudes politiques - Sciences Po, Paris, France), and Hans DAVIDS (EurBalance, The Netherlands)

Committees : Budget Control, Budget affairs

Summary : The catalogue provides the list of publications (2005-2012) prepared by Policy Department D Budgetary Affairs. Short summaries describe the content of each document. Abbreviations inform the reader about the range of available language versions. The reader is invited to either consult them online or request hard copies for further reading. The full-text versions of all documents are available on our Intranet site at: http://www.ipolnet.ep.parl.union.eu/ipolnet/cms/poldeptd/pid/1517 and most of the studies can be found also in the study database at: http://www.europarl.europa.eu/studies.

Authors : Policy Department on Budgetary Affairs, European Parliament

Committees : Budget affairs, Budget Control

Summary : The Workshop has been organised in order to provide the Committee on Budgetary Control with external expertise on the legal position of the European Parliament with regard to the discharge of the Council's budget. Three briefing papers by academic experts have been prepared, giving different views on the topic. All experts agree on the Parliament's right to receive information considered necessary. Its legal authorisation to grant discharge to the Council has not been supported by all experts.

Authors : Matthias Rossi (Universität Augsburg, Germany), Florence Chaltiel Terral (University Grenoble, France) and Carlino Antpöhler (Max Planck Institute for Public Law, Heidelberg, Germany)

Committees : Budget Control, Budget affairs

Summary : The study depicts the state of investigative journalism in the 27 EU member states, with a focus on Denmark, Hungary, Italy, Romania, Spain, UK and a special focus on the interaction between European institutions and investigative journalists. It illustrates conditions promoting or impeding good investigative journalism in general, and in particular for reporting on fraud with EU funds and revenues. It recommends: a swift implementation of workable freedom of information laws across the EU, comprehensiveness of data provided by EU bodies and member states on their spending, targeted training for journalists, promotion of investigative centres and more cooperation between journalists and officials at EU and national levels, this in view of advanced transparency and helping citizens to understand the added value of EU spending.

Authors : Principal author : Margo Smit (Fonds Pascal Decroos, Vereniging van Onderzoeksjournalisten) ; Co-authors : Brigitte Alfter, Mar Cabra, Annamarie Cumiskey, Ides Debruyne, Marcos García Rey, Rafael Njotea, Albrecht Ude

Committees : Budget Control, Budget affairs

Summary : This study aims to describe control of the EU budget exercised by the European Parliament, in particular ex-post control of the budget after it has been implemented, and to compare it to ex-post control of national budgets carried out by the parliaments of the EU Member States. The subject is introduced by a brief overview of budgetary control in the different phases of the EU budgetary cycle. The study then focuses on the discharge procedure itself. After considering what this control function consists of, the study presents how parliaments carry it out and provides an overview of the examination of the EU budget by Member States. Subsequently, it identifies prerogatives and roles of other actors involved in the discharge procedure, notably the Supreme Audit Institutions and the Executive. The study closes with a brief presentation of the consequences resulting from exercising budgetary control.

Authors : Anna Marlene KANIS

Committees : Budget Control, Budget affairs

Summary : The study looked into the impact - on both EU and national budgets - of transferring responsibilities/tasks from the national to the European level following the creation of EU agencies and also examined possible synergies and duplications between them. The study focused on two growing EU agencies - the European Aviation Safety Agency and the European Medicines Agency - which cooperate with the national agencies in different ways. The study covers all 27 Member States and provides an analysis of available financial figures and qualitative assessments in order to evaluate the impact at national and EU level.

Authors : PricewaterhouseCoopers SARL, Luxembourg

Committees : Budget affairs, Budget Control

Summary : The study assesses the budget discharge procedures in ten EU Member States and one Third Country (Canada), in order to identify good practices to help the European Parliament to enhance its own budget discharge procedure. The focus is on the effectiveness of the national budget discharge procedures, in terms of achieving two objectives, i.e. to ensure sound financial management and to enhance transparency. The study takes the European Parliament’s budget discharge procedure as a point of reference in order to better understand the national parliaments’ procedures. The study findings identify best practices that might contribute to a further enhancement of the European Parliament’s budget discharge procedure in the following areas:  a robust and trust instilling multi-facetted auditing framework;  public transparency and accessibility of the budget;  documentary basis;  fostering accountability in Members of Parliament’s expenses;  building skills;  formalising the discharge procedure.

Authors : Blomeyer & Sanz

Committees : Budget Control, Budget affairs