The European Parliament adopted by 514
votes to 79, with 36 abstentions a decision to grant discharge to the Executive Director of the European Environment Agency
in respect of the implementation of its 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, Parliament approves the closure of the Agency’s accounts.
However, it makes 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 resolution on financial management and
control of EU agencies - see DEC/2010/2271):
- performance: Parliament encourages the Agency to continue its efforts to
further develop its communication methods in order to attract more media
coverage for its findings and thus feed public debate on important
environmental issues, such as climate change, biodiversity and the
management of natural resources. It also considers that such measures
may lead to a more transparent working method and greater public
interest in the Agency’s work;
- budgetary procedures: Parliament acknowledges that the Court of Auditors reported
insufficiently rigorous procedures for drawing up the budget leading to
a considerable number of budgetary transfers affecting most of the
budget lines (equivalent to 8 % of the Agency's budget). It is concerned
about the Agency's practice of making transfers to increase a budget
line in order to pay the rent for the Agency’s premises for the first
quarter of 2010 and charging it to the 2009 budget. This practice by the
Agency is at odds with the principle of annuality. It therefore calls on
the Agency to improve, by the end of the year, the accuracy of the
information provided by the operational departments on the estimation of
accrued operational expenditure;
- human resources: lastly, Parliament calls on the Agency to redress its
deficiencies in the recruitment procedures. It notes, in particular, that
vacancy notices did not specify a number of crucial aspects and calls on
the Agency to enhance the transparency of its procedures in this regard.