Author, Jean-Charles Leygues, presents the Audit Board as being the external audit body of Community finances. He considers the transformation of this body into a European court of auditors.

According to Sacchettini, an adviser to the legal department of the Council of the European Communities, the Court of Auditors, as established by the Treaty of 22 July 1975, is not an institution in the sense laid down by the Treaties and, within the institutional structure, it is at a similar level to the Economic and Social Committee. The author describes the Court of Auditors as an auxiliary body of an administrative nature, which assists the Assembly and the Council in the exercise of their duty as regards overseeing the implementation of the budget.

In the French magazine L'Europe en formation, a few months after the establishment in October 1977 of the European Court of Auditors, Paul Gaudy, a Member of the Court from 1977 to 1987, explains the reasons why this new body was established and describes its role and its powers and responsibilities.

The Treaty of July 1975, completed by the general financial regulations of the Community, compels the Court of Auditors to compile an Annual Report at the end of each financial year and to ensure that this report is published in the Official Journal of the European Communities, together with replies from the institutions. The Court must submit its Annual Report to the discharge authority and to the other institutions by 30 November. The Report is an important element of the discharge procedure. Discharge is granted by the European Parliament on the recommendation of the Council.

In December 1979, the monthly journal 30 Jours d’Europe interviews Albert Leicht, Member of the Court of Auditors, on the role and the powers of the Court in the area of budgetary control.

First Statement of Assurance relating to activities arising from the general budget. Since the entry into force of the Maastricht Treaty, the Court of Auditors must give its endorse the entire budget. It provides the European Parliament and the Council with a Statement of Assurance concerning the reliability of the accounts, and the legality and regularity of the underlying operations. The Court has decided to submit three different Statements of Assurance dedicated respectively to activities arising from the general budget, from the European Development Funds and from the ECSC. In those three cases, the Statement of Assurance is based on a special report, attached to the Statement, which develops each of the points.

Speech by the President of the European Court of Auditors Jan O. Karlsson, on the occasion of the presentation of the Annual Report concerning the financial year 1999 to the European Parliament in Strasbourg on 15 November 2000.

On 17 November 2000, the daily newspaper La Voix du Luxembourg outlines the main thrust of the annual report on the implementation of the budget of the Union for the financial year 1999, submitted the previous day by the Court of Auditors.

On 13 November 2001, Jan O. Karlsson, President of the European Court of Auditors from 1999 to 2001, presents to the European Parliament the Annual Report concerning the financial year 2000 at the plenary session in Strasbourg.

As the financial conscience of the Union, the Court of Auditors has the task of auditing the implementation of the budget and of indicating ways to improve financial management.

The Court of Auditors assists the budgetary authority of the Union, in other words the European Parliament and the Council of the European Union, in their task of ensuring sound budgetary management.

In a special supplement to La Voix du Luxembourg of April/May 2003 devoted to the European institutions within the Grand Duchy, the President of the European Court of Auditors, Juan Manuel Fabra Vallés, gives an interview to the newspaper La Voix du Luxembourg. Commenting on the audit task incumbent on the institution, he seeks to remove the confusion between fraud and irregularity and to dismiss the cliché of wasteful management of Community funds.

On 4 December 2003, in Brussels, Juan Manuel Fabra Vallés, President of the Court of Auditors, submits the annual report of his institution to the European Parliament.

This film outlines the working methods of the European Court of Auditors. Field surveys, cooperation with national audit bodies and the challenge of multilingualism constitute important aspects of its work.

This film highlights the transparency of the European Court of Auditors and its independence from the other European Union (EU) institutions. The Court of Auditors delivers opinions and draws up reports, including an annual report on the implementation of the general budget of the EU. In this way, it seeks to ensure the sound management of the Community’s finances.

In this film, produced in 2004, Diemut Theato, Chairman of the European Parliament’s Committee on Budgetary Control, discusses the role played by the European Court of Auditors in the budgetary discharge procedure, particularly through its annual and special reports.

On 16 November 2005, the day after the submission of the annual report of the Court of Auditors to the European Parliament, the Europe Daily Bulletin echoes the Court’s reservations about the operations of the European Union budget for 2004. For its part, the European Parliament is threatening not to approve the agreement on the forthcoming financial framework until audit and control procedures are improved in the Member States.

On 18 November 2005, the Luxembourg weekly newspaper D’Lëtzeburger Land comments on the 28th annual report on the implementation of the budget of the Union drawn up by the Court of Auditors.

On 24 October 2006, the Court of Auditors publishes the annual report on the 2005 budget and refuses, for the 12th consecutive year, to give a positive statement of assurance on all operations of the Union’s budget. The Europe Daily Bulletin outlines the main thrust of the report.

On 12 November 2007, the European Court of Auditors publishes its annual report on the 2006 budget, thereby giving the green light for the discharge procedure to the European Parliament. In its 14 November edition, the Bulletin Quotidien Europe comments on the substance of this report.

In connection with the evolution of the right to audit and give discharge in respect of the implementation of the general budget as a result of the Treaty of Luxembourg of 22 April 1970, the European Parliament exercises its new joint prerogative and, by means of this Decision, gives discharge to the Commission.

The Treaty of Brussels of 22 July 1975 confers on the European Parliament the exclusive power to give discharge to the Commission in respect of the implementation of the budget of the European Communities. Pending the entry into force of this Treaty, scheduled for 1 June 1977, the Council continues to give discharge — jointly, with Parliament — to the Commission in respect of the closure of the budget.

The Treaty of Luxembourg of 22 April 1970 confers on the European Parliament the power to give — jointly with the Council — discharge to the Commission in respect of the implementation of the budget of the European Communities. This decision shows Parliament’s use of its prerogative. On 14 December 1976, the European Parliament grants discharge in respect of the 1972, 1973 and 1974 financial years.

The Treaty of Luxembourg of 22 April 1970 confers on the European Parliament the power to give — jointly with the Council — discharge to the Commission in respect of the implementation of the budget of the European Communities. This decision shows Parliament’s application exercise of its prerogative. On 14 December 1976, the European Parliament gives discharge in respect of the 1972, 1973 and 1974 financial years.

The Treaty of Luxembourg of 22 April 1970 grants the European Parliament the power to give discharge to the Commission — jointly, with the Council — in respect of the implementation of the budget of the European Communities. This Decision shows Parliament’s application of its prerogative.

The Treaty of Brussels of 22 July 1975, which entered into force on 1 June 1977, confers on Parliament the exclusive power to give discharge to the Commission in respect of the implementation of the budget of the European Communities. This Decision, dated 25 April 1977, which gives discharge to the Commission, is the final Decision that the Council takes in this field.

The 1975 Brussels Treaty confers on the European Parliament the sole power to give discharge to the Commission in respect of the implementation of the budget. This decision on the budgetary discharge for the 1975 financial year, dated 7 July 1977, is the final decision that Parliament takes in accordance with its shared powers.

This decision taken by the European Parliament on 13 December 1978 on the discharge to be granted to the Commission in respect of the implementation of the budget of the European Communities for the 1976 financial year is the first that the Parliament takes alone in this field.

In its resolution of 31 March 1998, the European Parliament informs the Commission of the reasons for the postponement of the decision on the discharge in respect of the implementation of the general budget of the European Union for the 1996 financial year.

On 13 November 2001, Jan O. Karlsson, President of the European Court of Auditors from 1999 to 2001, presents to the European Parliament the Annual Report concerning the financial year 2000 at the plenary session in Strasbourg.

In this film, produced in 2004, Diemut Theato, Chairman of the European Parliament’s Committee on Budgetary Control, discusses the role played by the European Court of Auditors in the budgetary discharge procedure, particularly through its annual and special reports.

As part of the discharge procedure, the Council must send a Recommendation to the European Parliament so that it ‘frees’ the Commission in respect of the implementation of the European Union budget. In this note, the Budget Committee informs the Permanent Representatives Committee (Coreper) that it has been able to secure an agreement on the draft Council Recommendation.

After having examined the annual report of the Court of Auditors, the Budget Committee submits a draft Council Recommendation to the Permanent Representatives Committee (Coreper) concerning the discharge to be given to the Commission in respect of the implementation of the European Union general budget. The Budget Committee also invites Coreper to suggest that the Council adopt this draft Recommendation.

On 15 March 2006, ahead of the discharge procedure, the Council recommends the European Parliament grant the Commission discharge in respect of the implementation of the 2004 budget. The Europe Daily Bulletin outlines the Council’s observations.

European Parliament Decision giving discharge to the Commission in respect of the implementation of the European Union general budget.

European Parliament resolution with comments forming an integral part of the decision giving discharge to the Commission in respect of the implementation of the European Union general budget. Such a resolution systematically accompanies the Parliament Decision concerning discharge.

On 27 April 2006, the European Parliament postpones the vote on the discharge in respect of its operating expenditure. The Europe Daily Bulletin considers the reasons behind this postponement.

This article, published in the Europe Daily Bulletin on 28 April 2006, illustrates the fact that, in accordance with the timetable laid down for the discharge procedure, the European Parliament gives its decision on the discharge to be given to the Commission in respect of the implementation of the Community budget no later than 30 April of the second year following the financial year involved.

In 2007, the European Commission publishes a brochure which provides answers to a number of questions on the budget and financial planning of the European Union.

In this article, published in the Luxembourg weekly newspaper Le Jeudi on 26 April 2007, Erna Hennicot-Schoepges, MEP, considers the issue of budgetary control and its implications.

Interview conducted on 24 April 2007 by the European Parliament Press Service with Herbert Bösch, Chairman of the Committee on Budgetary Control. During the interview, Herbert Bösch outlines, among other things, the implications of the budgetary discharge given in respect of the 2005 financial year.

On 23 April 2009, the European Parliament gives discharge to the Commission in respect of the implementation of the budget for 2007, but refuses to do so for the Council. The Europe Daily Bulletin looks at the reasons for this refusal.

This table portrays the various stages in the timetable drawn up for the discharge procedure and the changes made to it as the Financial Regulation has been amended over the years.