The European Parliament adopted by 510
votes to 82, with 32 abstentions a decision to grant discharge 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, Parliament approves the closure of the
Authority’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 notes that the Authority's 2009 budget amounted to
EUR 71.4 million compared to EUR 66.4 million in 2008. It recalls 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. It notes 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. It
stresses 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. It recommends, particularly in the interests of
transparency, measures to further foster and monitor internal rules on
declarations of interest of staff of the Authority;
- budgetary and financial management: Parliament calls on the Authority to strengthen the budget
processes related to its differentiated appropriations and the planning
and monitoring of its multiannual implementation. It notes 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. It, therefore, urges the Authority to improve its budget
management in order to reduce its high carryover amounts. It stresses
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 remedy this recurring problem;
- internal audit: Parliament calls on the Authority to be more transparent and
to take appropriate measures in case of conflicts of interest (between 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.