The Committee
on Budgetary Control adopted the report by Georgios STAVRAKAKIS (S&D, EL)
on discharge to be granted to the Executive Director of the European Network
and Information Security Agency in respect of the implementation of the
Agency’s budget for the financial year 2009.
Noting that
the Agency’s annual accounts for the financial year 2009 are reliable, and
the underlying transactions are legal and regular, MEPs approve the closure
of the Agency’s accounts. However, they make a number of recommendations that
need to be taken into account when the discharge is granted, in addition to the
general recommendations that appear in the draft resolution on financial
management and control of EU agencies (see DEC/2010/2271):
- carry-over
appropriations: Members note that the
appropriations carried forward to the following year amounted to 19% of
the Agency’s total budget and note that 41% of operational
appropriations were carried forward to 2010 mainly due to delays in two
big projects. They express their concern that this is at odds with the
budgetary principle of annuality and urge the Agency to rectify the
situation;
- procurement
procedure: Members call on the Agency to strengthen its internal
controls in order to make sure that contracts and procurement procedures
are correctly applied. The Court of Auditors reported various instances
of errors made during the contract award phase. Members call for a
series of measures to be taken to improve the procedures and their
transparency;
- errors on
budget transfers: Members call on the Agency to avoid transfers made without
obtaining the prior consent of its Governing Board, which are contrary
to the budgetary principles of specification (as in the case of one
transfer of EUR 24 000 between titles);
- refund from
the tax authorities of the host Member State:
Members regret that there has been no progress since the previous year
concerning the refund of EUR 45 000, which is the amount of VAT paid in
advance by the Agency, to the tax authorities of the host Member State.
They urge the Agency to inform the discharge authority when this refund
is made by the host Member State;
- human
resources: Members note
that deficiencies in staff selection procedures still remain and put at risk
the transparency of these procedures. They therefore urge the Agency
to redress this situation and inform the discharge authority on the
actions taken;
- internal
control systems: Members urge the Agency to put in place an exhaustive
physical inventory and ensure the correctness of the accounting records.
They welcome the performance by the Commission’s Internal Audit Service
(IAS) of several audits between 2007 and 2009 and note that out of 18 IAS recommendations, 13 were accepted and
five were refused by the Agency.