European Parliament Committee on Budgetary Control

The Committee on Budgetary Control (CONT) is a committee of the European Parliament. with 30 permanent members. It can be seen as the European Union's internal "political watchdog", seeking to identify undesirable developments within EU institutions and other bodies and then to elaborate constructive suggestions for improvement.

The committee's current chair, elected on 7 July 2014, is Ingeborg Grässle.[1]

Responsibilities of the committee

The Committee on Budgetary Control is responsible for the control of the implementation of the Union's budget, meaning that the taxpayers' money is spent efficiently, effectively and according to EU law. In close cooperation with the Court of Auditors, it audits the accounts of EU Institutions and suggests improvements in order to ensure sound financial management. It considers fraud and irregularities in the budget implementation, and suggests measures aimed at preventing and prosecuting such cases. In this context, it liaises with the Union's Anti-Fraud Office OLAF to strengthen the fight against fraud and corruption.[2]

The discharge procedure is the main tool at hand of the parliamentarians in the committee. During this procedure it scrutinises the implementation of the EU Budget by all actors involved, i.e. inter alia the Commission, Parliament, other institutions and Agencies on the basis of the yearly annual report of the European Court of Auditors.[3] For this purpose, the Committee organizes hearings to which it invites members of the examined bodies. The parliamentarians then transmit detailed questions about the activities and the performance of the respective proceeding working year (x, e.g. 2011). This process usually starts in October of the following year (x+1, e.g. 2012) and is then voted in the Committee in March and in the Plenary in April of the next following year (x+2, e.g. 2013).[4]

Membership

As of 7 July 2014:

NameGroupMember state
Arias Cañete, MiguelEPP Spain
Deutsch, TamásEPP Hungary
Gräßle, IngeborgEPP Germany
Macovei, Monica LuisaEPP Romania
Martusciello, FulvioEPP Italy
Sarvamaa, PetriEPP Finland
Schmidt, ClaudiaEPP Austria
Zeller, JoachimEPP Germany
Ayala Sender, InésS&D Spain
Balčytis, ZigmantasS&D Lithuania
Geier, JensS&D Germany
Liberadzki, BogusławS&D Poland
Nica, DanS&D Romania
Pargneaux, GillesS&D France
Pirinski, GeorgiS&D Bulgaria
Vaughan, DerekS&D United Kingdom
Bradbourn, PhilipECR United Kingdom
Czarnecki, RyszardECR Poland
Vistisen, Anders PrimdahlECR Denmark
Ali, NedzhmiALDE Bulgaria
Dlabajová, MartinaALDE Czech Republic
Theurer, MichaelALDE Germany
de Jong, DennisGUE/NGL Netherlands
Kari, Rina RonjaGUE/NGL Denmark
Šoltes, IgorGreens/EFA Slovenia
Staes, BartGreens/EFA Belgium
Arnott JonathanEFDD United Kingdom
Beghin, TizianaEFDD Italy
Aliot, LouisNI France

See also

References

  1. ↑ European Parliament press release 2014-07-07
  2. ↑ Committee on Budgetary Control, EPP Group in the European Parliament, retrieved on 13 April 2013.
  3. ↑ Overview, Committee on Budgetary Control, retrieved 13 April 2013.
  4. ↑ , Overview of Discharge Procedure 2011, Budget Control Committee of the European Parliament, retrieved 29 May 2013.
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