Subject files
At the CONT meeting of 14 October 2021, OLAF Director-General Ville Itälä will present the 32nd annual report 2020 from the Commission to the European Parliament and the Council (under Article 325 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union) on the Protection of the European Union's financial interests.
On 22 and 23 March 2021 the CONT Members voted on the adoption of the draft reports concerning the 2019 Discharge to the Commission, EDF, Agencies and Joint Undertakings. On 1 March, the CONT adopted the draft reports concerning the European Parliament and the Other Institutions. In total 2456 amendments were tabled to 52 draft reports and 46 opinions were given by other Committees. The vote in Plenary will take place on 26-29 April 2021, thus closing the 2019 discharge cycle.
In September 2020, the Commission released its first annual Rule of Law Report as a basis on which to build the new cycle of the rule of law mechanism. This annual report includes four areas of assessment, namely the justice system, the anti-corruption framework, media pluralism, and other institutional checks and balances, which are key interdependent pillars for ensuring the rule of law, the fight against fraud and the protection of the financial interests of the Union.
The Commission published a proposal for a new Regulation establishing the EU Anti-Fraud Programme on 30 May 2018 as part of the new Multiannual Financial Framework (MFF).
Following the presentation of the draft opinion, Members tabled 55 amendments to the original text. Based on those, the Rapporteur proposed nine compromise amendments, which the Shadows supported. The amendments concern, among others, the acknowledgment of the specific nature of the Union trust funds and demand to address challenging circumstances in a rapid and forceful manner, without precluding a qualitative scrutiny of the results on the ground. Members adopted this opinion on 14/4/2021.
The CONT Committee decided to submit an opinion on strengthening transparency and integrity in the EU institutions by setting up an independent EU ethics body. The Committee on Budgetary Control calls on the Committee of Constitutional Affairs, as the committee responsible, to incorporate it's suggestions into its motion for a resolution. The opinion was considered by the CONT committee on 25.01.2020 and the vote is due to take place in March 2021.
The Committee on Budgetary Control decided to submit an opinion in the form of a letter on the EU/Euratom/UK Trade and Cooperation Agreement and EU/UK Agreement concerning security procedures for exchanging and protecting classified information.
On 28.10.2020, the CONT Committee held a discharge hearing with the EU Commissioner responsible for Budget and Human Resources, Johannes Hahn. Commissioner Hahn presented the Commission's Integrated Financial and Accountability Reporting package for 2019. The package provides information on the implementation, performance, results, financial management and protection of the EU budget.