European Parliament Committee on Budgetary Control

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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:

Name Group Member state
Arias Cañete, Miguel EPP  Spain
Deutsch, Tamás EPP  Hungary
Gräßle, Ingeborg EPP  Germany
Macovei, Monica Luisa EPP  Romania
Martusciello, Fulvio EPP  Italy
Sarvamaa, Petri EPP  Finland
Schmidt, Claudia EPP  Austria
Zeller, Joachim EPP  Germany
Ayala Sender, Inés S&D  Spain
Balčytis, Zigmantas S&D  Lithuania
Geier, Jens S&D  Germany
Liberadzki, Bogusław S&D  Poland
Nica, Dan S&D  Romania
Pargneaux, Gilles S&D  France
Pirinski, Georgi S&D  Bulgaria
Vaughan, Derek S&D  United Kingdom
Bradbourn, Philip ECR  United Kingdom
Czarnecki, Ryszard ECR  Poland
Vistisen, Anders Primdahl ECR  Denmark
Ali, Nedzhmi ALDE  Bulgaria
Dlabajová, Martina ALDE  Czech Republic
Theurer, Michael ALDE  Germany
de Jong, Dennis GUE/NGL  Netherlands
Kari, Rina Ronja GUE/NGL  Denmark
Šoltes, Igor Greens/EFA  Slovenia
Staes, Bart Greens/EFA  Belgium
Arnott Jonathan EFDD  United Kingdom
Beghin, Tiziana EFDD  Italy
Aliot, Louis NI  France

See also

References

  1. [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. [2], Overview of Discharge Procedure 2011, Budget Control Committee of the European Parliament, retrieved 29 May 2013.

External links