The European Parliament adopted a decision concerning the discharge to be granted to the Executive Director of the European Agency for the Management of Operational Cooperation at the External Borders of the Member States of the European Union (FRONTEX) in respect of the implementation of the Agency's budget for the financial year 2012. The vote on the discharge decision approved the closure of the accounts (in accordance with Annex VI, Article 5(1) of the Rules of Procedure of the European Parliament.
Noting that the Court of Auditors stated that it has obtained reasonable assurances that the annual accounts of the Agency for the financial year 2012 are reliable but that it could not obtain sufficient appropriate audit evidence on the legality and regularity of the underlying transactions, Parliament adopted by 472 votes to 70, with 22 abstentions, a resolution containing a series of recommendations that form an integral part of the discharge decision and as well as the general recommendations that appear in the draft resolution on performance, financial management and control of EU agencies.
These recommendations are summarised as follows:
It acknowledged that the Agency has put in place several measures to manage and prevent situations of conflicts of interests and developed a detailed disciplinary procedure. It called on the Agency to indicate whether or not it has established a specific policy for the prevention and management of conflicts of interests based on the Commission's guidelines.