The European Parliament adopted by 514
votes to 83, with 38 abstentions a decision to grant discharge 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, 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):
- carry-over appropriations: Parliament notes 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. It expresses its concern that
this is at odds with the budgetary principle of annuality and urges the
Agency to rectify the situation;
- procurement procedure: Parliament calls 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. Parliament calls for a
series of measures to be taken to improve the procedures and their
transparency;
- errors on budget transfers: Parliament calls 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;
- refund from the tax authorities of
the host Member State: Parliament regrets
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. It urges the
Agency to inform the discharge authority when this refund is made by the
host Member State;
- human resources: Parliament notes that deficiencies in staff selection
procedures still remain and put at risk the transparency of these
procedures. It therefore urges the Agency to redress this situation and
inform the discharge authority on the actions taken.