The Committee on Budgetary Control adopted the report
by Monica Luisa MACOVEI (PPE, RO) on discharge in respect of the
budget of the European Agency for the Management of Operational
Cooperation at the External Borders of the Member States of the
European Union (FRONTEX) and called on the European Parliament to
grant the Executive Director of the Agency discharge in respect of
the implementation of the Agency's budget for the financial year
2010.
Noting that the Court of Auditors stated that it has
obtained reasonable assurances that the annual accounts for the
financial year 2010 are reliable and that the underlying
transactions are legal and regular, Members approve the closure of
the Agency’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 performance, financial management and
control of EU agencies:
- Budget and Financial Management: Members note that the Agency only used 69% of
payment appropriations in 2010 and that there have been significant
carryovers since 2006; Whilst taking note of the justifications
given by the Agency, namely the need to ensure continuity in the
Agency's operational activities and to allocate funds for
deployment in the first quarter of the following year, the
committee reiterates that the practice of carryovers of
appropriations should be strongly curtailed and should not hamper
sound financial management practices. It requests that the Agency
follow the principle of annuality in the future. It also wonders
whether it would not be more responsible for the budgetary
authorities to take greater care in the future when deciding on
increases in the Agency's budget in the light of the time needed to
carry out new activities.
- Public procurement and grants: Members note that according to the Final Accounts,
the Agency has two ongoing litigation cases related to tender
procedures and that the applicants have claimed damages for a total
amount of EUR 10 794 806. They urge the Agency to regularly inform
the discharge authority of developments in these two
cases.
- Performance: the
committee calls on the Agency to develop further coherence in the
strategic and annual planning of its operations. It notes, in fact,
that the objectives of the Annual Work Programme (AWP) for 2010 are
not clearly linked with those for 2010 in the Multi-Annual Plan
2010-2013. It notes that discharge in respect of the implementation
of the budget of the Agency should continue to be based on its
performance throughout the year.
- Internal audit: Members
acknowledge that in 2010 the Internal Audit Service (IAS) performed
an audit on operational planning and that the IAS still needs to
review the Agency's implementation of seven "very important"
recommendations from the IAS's previous audit. They call on the
Agency to implement the recommendations.