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2011 discharge: Agency for the Cooperation of Energy Regulators (ACER)

2012/2210(DEC)

The European Parliament adopted a decision on discharge to be granted to the Director of the European Agency for the Cooperation of Energy Regulators (ACER) in respect of the implementation of the budget of the Agency for the financial year 2011. The vote on the decision to grant discharge covers the closure of the accounts (in accordance with Annex VI, Article 5(1) of the European Parliament’s Rules of Procedure).

Noting that the Court of Auditors stated that it has obtained reasonable assurances that the annual accounts of the European Agency for the Cooperation of Energy Regulators for the financial year 2011 are reliable and that the underlying transactions are legal and regular, Parliament adopted a resolution containing 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:

  • Financing, budget and financial management: Parliament recalls that the overall budget of the Agency for 2011 was EUR 4.8 million whereas the contribution of the Union to the budget of the Agency for 2011 amounted to EUR 4.362 million.
  • Implementation rate of appropriations and carryovers: it notes that appropriations were committed at a rate of 67%, while payments reached a level of 74% of the total appropriations managed in its first operational year. It also notes the high level of appropriations not used and of carryovers, as well as the low level of payments which are at odds with the budgetary principle of annuality.
  • Irregular payments: Parliament notes with concern that in 2011, the Agency paid subsistence allowances to seconded experts who were nationals of the State where the Agency is situated, and that those payments conflicted with the Rules on the Secondment of National Experts adopted by the Administrative Board of the Agency. Parliament notes however that the Agency had already stopped the payment of allowances in such cases.

Lastly, Parliament made a series of observations as regards the Agency’s recruitment system.