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 Food
Safety Authority for implementation of the Authority's
budget for the financial year 2009.
Noting that
the Authority’s annual accounts for the financial year 2009 are reliable, and
the underlying transactions are legal and regular, MEPs approve the closure
of the Authority’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):
- performance: Members note that the Authority's 2009 budget amounted to
EUR 71.4 million compared to EUR 66.4 million in 2008. They recall that an
overall reserve of EUR 4.546 million was introduced by the budgetary
authority to the Authority's budget and that EUR 2 million of the
reserve was released in November 2009 to implement the IT development
and infrastructure projects of the Authority once it had clarified some
issues relating to the budget reserve. They note that the other part of
the reserve has been allocated to the same policy area in order to
contribute to effective response measures against the H1N1 pandemic.
They stress the need for the Authority to ensure its advice is of a high
quality and is independent, in order to guarantee compliance with Union
safety standards, scientific excellence and independence on all matters
with a direct or indirect impact on food and feed safety, and plant
protection. They recommend, particularly in the interests of
transparency, measures to further foster and monitor internal rules on
declarations of interest of staff of the Authority and of experts
working for it;
- budgetary
and financial management: Members call on
the Authority to strengthen the budget processes related to its
differentiated appropriations and the planning and monitoring of its
multiannual implementation. They note that the Court of Auditors
reported that EUR 6 million (75 %) of the differentiated appropriations
for science grants and scientific cooperation projects had to be
cancelled, of which EUR 3.1 million were funds allocated in excess of
the needs identified by the Authority. They urge the Authority to improve
its budget management in order to reduce its high carryover amounts.
They stress that, for the fourth successive year, the Court of Auditors
has flagged up carryovers of appropriations to the following year and
that this situation demonstrates weaknesses in the Authority's contract
management. They also regret that certain commitments for operational
activities carried over from the previous year had to be cancelled and
urge the Authority to change this situation;
- internal
audit: Members are concerned that there were
48 recommendations made by the Internal Audit Service (IAS), of which one
is considered "critical" (on grant management). Noting the
lack of information on these matters, Members call on the Authority to
provide information concerning the recommendations. Members reiterate
their demand on the Authority to take appropriate measures in case of
conflicts of interest; invites the Authority to initiate a survey on
potential conflicts of interest of its leading scientists, board and
panel members, so that possible omissions in the declarations of
interest can be detected and followed by action in a timely manner.