Text · Opinion parliamentary committee
On the 2022 discharge: General budget of the EU - European Parliament
Document JURI-AD-753632 · 2023/2130(DEC)
- Kind
- Opinion parliamentary committee JURI-AD-753632
- Date
- 4 December 2023
- Committee
- Committee on Legal Affairs
- Rapporteur
- Heidi Hautala
- Dossier
- 2023-2130
More facts (3)
- Formats
- Official page PDF Word
- Subject matter
- BUDG
- Reference
- 2023/2130(DEC)
In short
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The Committee on Legal Affairs gives its opinion on the 2022 discharge of Parliament's budget, asking the Committee on Budgetary Control to include its suggestions in the discharge resolution. It stresses that decisions by Parliament's governing bodies on budget, administration and staff affect the whole administration, and that their financial statements and budgetary impact must be clear. It welcomes the Bureau's ad-hoc working group overhauling the rules for Members' expenses (IMMS) to increase transparency and accountability, and the Bureau's amendments to the voluntary pension scheme. It is concerned about allegations of misuse of parliamentary assistance expenses and calls for systematic investigation of all cases, and welcomes Bureau consultation with the committee on measures touching the Members' Statute.
Position. The Committee on Legal Affairs calls on the Committee on Budgetary Control to incorporate its suggestions into the motion for a resolution on the 2022 discharge. It proposes welcoming the IMMS overhaul and pension amendments, stressing sound financial management, and calling for investigation of misuse of assistance expenses.
Key points
- The Committee on Legal Affairs asks the Committee on Budgetary Control to incorporate its suggestions into the motion for a resolution on the 2022 discharge.
- It points out that budgetary, administrative and staff decisions by Parliament's governing bodies have a cross-cutting impact on the administration, affecting the implementation phase.
- It stresses the importance of the financial statements and budgetary impact of proposals by Parliament's governing bodies to guarantee good administration.
- It welcomes the creation of a Bureau ad-hoc Working Group to overhaul the Implementing Measures for the Statute for Members of the European Parliament (IMMS).
- The IMMS amendment aims to increase transparency, accountability and sound financial management of funds for Members, while respecting the independence of the mandate and avoiding unnecessary administrative burdens.
- It notes that the Voluntary Pension Fund's actuarial deficit was EUR 379 million on 31 December 2021, compared with EUR 371.4 million on 31 December 2020.
- It welcomes the Bureau's amendments to Article 76 of the IMMS on the Additional (Voluntary) Pension Scheme, in force since 1 July 2023, to reduce future pension obligations and the actuarial deficit.
- It is concerned about the high number of allegations of misuse and misappropriation of parliamentary assistance expenses.
- It calls on Parliament and its administration to apply the Statute of Members and its implementing measures correctly and to systematically investigate and follow up all cases of misuse and misappropriation.
- It welcomes any Bureau initiative to consult the Committee on Legal Affairs about measures touching the Members' Statute, to reach adjustment goals efficiently.
Who is affected
- Parliament's governing bodies, whose decisions on budget, administration and staff affect the whole administration.
- Members of the European Parliament, affected by the IMMS overhaul and the voluntary pension scheme changes.
- Parliament and its administration, asked to apply the Statute of Members correctly and investigate misuse of assistance expenses.
- The Committee on Legal Affairs, to be consulted by the Bureau on measures touching the Members' Statute.
Figures and deadlines
- EUR 379 million: actuarial deficit of the Voluntary Pension Fund on 31 December 2021.
- EUR 371.4 million: actuarial deficit of the Voluntary Pension Fund on 31 December 2020.
- 1 July 2023: entry into force of the Bureau's amendments to Article 76 of the IMMS.
- EUR 362.7 million to estimated EUR 139 million: reduction in future pension obligations.
- EUR 310 million to estimated EUR 86 million: reduction in the Fund's actuarial deficit.
- 21 November 2022: date of the President's announcement on the Bureau ad-hoc Working Group.
Text
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Suggestions
The Committee on Legal Affairs calls on the Committee on Budgetary Control, as the committee responsible, to incorporate the following suggestions into its motion for a resolution:
1. Points out that budgetary, administrative and staff related decisions taken by Parliament’s governing bodies have a cross-cutting impact on the administration, thus affecting the implementation phase, for example, services other than those initially envisaged; stresses in that regard the importance of the financial statements and budgetary impact of the proposals made by the competent Parliament's governing bodies in order to guarantee good administration in the institution;
2. Welcomes the creation of a Bureau ad-hoc Working Group to carry out a thorough overhaul of the Implementing Measures for the Statute for Members of the European Parliament (IMMS) while striking a balance between the freedom of the exercise of the mandate, the reputational risks to Parliament and managerial ethics, following the announcement by the President on 21 November 2022; highlights that the amendment of the IMMS is, aimed at increasing transparency, accountability and sound financial management of funds made available to Members, bearing also in mind the principle of the independence of the parliamentary mandate and the importance to avoid creating unnecessary administrative burdens for Parliament, its Members and their offices;
3. Notes that the actuarial deficit of the Voluntary Pension Fund (VPF) on 31 December 2021 amounted to EUR 379 million (compared to EUR 371,4 million on 31 December 2020); welcomes the amendments made by Parliament’s Bureau to Article 76 of the IMMS in relation to the Additional (Voluntary) Pension Scheme, which entered into force on 1 July 2023, and which aim at reducing future pension obligations from EUR 362.7 million to estimated EUR 139 million, and the actuarial deficit of the Fund from EUR 310 million to estimated EUR 86 million;
4. Is concerned about the high number of allegations of misuse and misappropriation of parliamentary assistance expenses; calls the Parliament and its administration to pay attention to the correct application of the Statute of Members and its implementing measures and to systematically investigate and follow up all cases of misuse and misappropriation;
Back matter, 2
Parts that accompany the text rather than belong to it: explanatory statement, annexes, opinions appended by other committees. Collapsed.
Annex: list of entities or persons from whom the rapporteur for the opinion has received input 1 block
Information on adoption in committee asked for opinion 1 block
| Date adopted | 29.11.2023 | |
| Result of final vote | +: –: 0: | 19 0 3 |
| Members present for the final vote | Pascal Arimont, Geoffroy Didier, Ibán García Del Blanco, Virginie Joron, Pierre Karleskind, Sergey Lagodinsky, Gilles Lebreton, Karen Melchior, Sabrina Pignedoli, Jiří Pospíšil, Raffaele Stancanelli, Adrián Vázquez Lázara, Axel Voss, Marion Walsmann, Tiemo Wölken, Javier Zarzalejos | |
| Substitutes present for the final vote | Daniel Buda, Pascal Durand, Heidi Hautala | |
| Substitutes under Rule 209(7) present for the final vote | Sylvie Guillaume, Pedro Marques, Anne-Sophie Pelletier |
Procedure pages and committee votes
How the committees handled the text and how their members voted on it. Collapsed.
Final vote by roll call in committee asked for opinion 3 blocks
19 · For
- No group
- Sabrina Pignedoli
- EPP
- Pascal Arimont, Daniel Buda, Geoffroy Didier, Jiří Pospíšil, Axel Voss, Marion Walsmann, Javier Zarzalejos
- Renew
- Pierre Karleskind, Karen Melchior, Adrián Vázquez Lázara
- S&D
- Pascal Durand, Ibán García Del Blanco, Sylvie Guillaume, Pedro Marques, Tiemo Wölken
- The Left
- Anne-Sophie Pelletier
- Greens
- Heidi Hautala, Sergey Lagodinsky
Connections
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Sources & citation
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- Data source
- Licensed CC BY 4.0.
- Retrieved
- 26 September 2026
Cite as
European Parliament (2023). “OPINION on the 2022 discharge: General budget of the EU - European Parliament”. Text, 4 December 2023. docId JURI-AD-753632. EU Parl Watch Research. https://news.eu-parl.st-solutions.dev/texts/JURI-AD-753632 (retrieved 26 September 2026). Data: EP Open Data API: document record, https://data.europarl.europa.eu/api/v2/documents/JURI-AD-753632 (CC BY 4.0).
BibTeX
@misc{epw-text-juri-ad-753632,
author = {{European Parliament}},
title = {{OPINION on the 2022 discharge: General budget of the EU - European Parliament}},
year = {2023},
date = {2023-12-04},
howpublished = {\url{https://news.eu-parl.st-solutions.dev/texts/JURI-AD-753632}},
url = {https://news.eu-parl.st-solutions.dev/texts/JURI-AD-753632},
urldate = {2026-09-26},
publisher = {EU Parl Watch Research},
note = {Text. docId JURI-AD-753632. Data: EP Open Data API: document record (CC BY 4.0)}
}