2009 discharge: European Environment Agency EEA

Based on the observations contained in the expenditure account and balance sheet of the European Environment Agency for the financial year 2009, as well as on the Court of Auditor’s report and the Agency’s replies to the Court’s observations, the Council recommends that Parliament grant the Executive Director of the Agency discharge in respect of the implementation of the budget for the financial year 2009.

The Council welcomes the Court's opinion that, on the one hand, the Agency's annual accounts present fairly, in all material aspects, the financial position as at 31 December 2009 and the results of operations and cash-flows for the year then ended, in accordance with the provisions of the Agency's Financial Regulation, and that, on the other hand, the underlying transactions for the financial year ended on 31 December 2009 are, in all material respects, legal and regular.

However, the Council considers that observations made in the Court of Auditor’s report call for a certain number of observations to be taken into account when granting discharge, particularly on the following points:

• budgetary implementation: the Council asks the Agency to review its procedures for budget planning, monitoring and implementation, to take operational needs resulting from its work programme better into account, to increase the accuracy of up-to-date financial information, and to strictly respect the budgetary principle of annuality;
• recruitment procedures: the Council encourages the Agency to remedy the weaknesses identified by the Court in its staff selection procedures and to increase their transparency.