The European Parliament adopted a decision on
discharge to be granted to the Director of the European Agency for
Safety and Health at Work (EU-OSHA) in respect of the
implementation of the Agency's budget 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
Agency 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
from the Court of Auditors' report that the Agency’s 2011
budget amounted to EUR 16.4 million, which represents a 5.8%
increase.
- Implementation rate of appropriations: it regrets that at the same time, the cancellation
rate for appropriations doubled from 4% in 2010 to 8% of the total
budget for 2011, indicating difficulties in the implementation of
the actions foreseen in the annual work programme and in complying
with the budgetary principle of annuality. It calls for a more
realistic and feasible programme to be presented in
future.
- Seat agreement:
Parliament notes with concern the Court of Auditors' finding that
the Agency has not concluded a seat agreement. It takes note of the
Agency's reply that negotiations concerning the Agency's seat
agreement continue. It calls on the Agency to duly inform the
discharge authority on the progress of the negotiations and invites
the Member State hosting the Agency to take steps to speed up the
negotiations and to conclude the seat agreement in the near
future.
Lastly, Parliament made a series of observations
concerning its performances and its control systems.