A.

whereas ‘citizens have the right to know how their taxes are being spent and how the power entrusted to political bodies is handled’ (6),

1.

Notes that in 2008 the Committee of the Regions (CoR) had commitment appropriations available amounting to a total of EUR 93 million (EUR 68,6 million in 2007; EUR 74,4 million in 2006), with a utilisation rate of 86,87 % (7);

2.

Notes that the Court of Auditors indicated in its annual report that the audit did not give rise to any significant observations as regards the CoR;

3.

Welcomes the implementation of the Administrative Cooperation Agreement between the CoR and the Economic and Social Committee (EESC) for the period 2008 to 2014, and invites the CoR and the EESC to communicate the progress made as regards harmonising their internal control standards, as well as relevant financial procedures relating to the Joint Services; takes note of the mutually satisfactory solution of distributing verification in the Joint Services on the basis of the ‘origin’ of the authorising officer in charge from one Committee or the other;

4.

Recalls that de-coupling resulting from the Administrative Cooperation Agreement should be budget neutral, and is looking forward to the mid-term review of the Agreement, due in 2011, and, as a part of that, to a joint analysis by the CoR and the EESC;

5.

Welcomes the results of the evaluation of the mini-cooperation agreements in the areas affected by de-coupling, as carried out jointly by the CoR and the EESC, in particular, their conclusions that the new governance structure has improved the administrative cooperation between the Committees, that de-coupled services have maintained quality and improved efficiency, and that no supplementary budget means (perhaps resources instead of means?) were needed; also notes the conclusion that some practical aspects of the cooperation should be improved in the future;

6.

Welcomes the CoR’s efforts in the area of interinstitutional cooperation in the domain of IT systems, in particular, the negotiations of the CoR and the EESC with the Commission on the use of the staff management system Sysper2;

7.

Welcomes the ongoing improvements in the internal control environment of the CoR, in particular, the inventory of main administrative, operational and financial procedures of the CoR, development of a guidance note for the staff on deontology and integrity, including a self-assessment checklist regarding conflicts of interests, improvement of the vade mecum of tasks and responsibilities of CoR staff, as well as organisation of an ex-post verification exercise for 2008 in all services of the CoR;

8.

Notes that the risk assessment exercise carried out in 2008 had identified two areas of concern: firstly, issues resulting from the change of the organisation chart and the consequences of the new cooperation agreement between the CoR and the EESC, where an adaptation period was still ongoing, and, secondly, personnel-related issues caused by too high job rotation, difficult and lengthy recruitment procedures and insufficient training; expects these issues to be followed up in the next annual activity report of the CoR;

9.

Notes that the Internal Audit Service carried out audits on the performance of mission expenditure and on the performance of external studies, which allowed for a valid testing of the internal control environment, as well as follow-up audits on salary transfers (second follow-up), on internal control standards (first follow-up) and on the adequacy of financial circuits;

10.

Welcomes the follow-up of the Parliament’s earlier discharge decisions, in particular, on the Parliament’s observations on the OLAF report and the administrative inquiry on weighted salary transfers, where all the amounts unduly received by the officials concerned have been paid back, disciplinary procedures have been opened, and recommendations issued by the internal auditor have been implemented or are in the process of implementation;

11.

Welcomes also the follow-up on the management and control system within the own services, confirming that yearly ex-post controls on a sample basis have been carried out over several years including 2008, and the follow-up on the issue of management and control services within the EESC/CoR joint services, which demonstrated that by de-coupling several services, the management and control systems in both Committees have been improved, ensuring that there is always one Committee fully responsible for an individual expense, thus allowing for full financial and operational responsibility;

12.

Requests that CoR members declare their financial interests, disclosing relevant information on declarable professional activities and remunerated posts or activities, especially since members of the CoR hold an electoral mandate or are politically accountable to an elected assembly;

13.

Praises the CoR for the quality of its annual activity report, and welcomes the inclusion of the explicit follow-up to Parliament’s previous discharge decisions.