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2013 discharge: European Banking Authority (EBA)

2014/2120(DEC)

The Committee on Budgetary Control adopted the report by Ryszard CZARNECKI (ECR, PL) on discharge in respect of the implementation of the budget of the European Banking Authority (EBA) for the financial year 2013.

It called on the European Parliament to grant the Executive Director of the Authority discharge in respect of the implementation of the Authority’s budget for the financial year 2013.

Noting that the Court of Auditors stated that it has obtained reasonable assurances that the annual accounts of the Authority for the financial year 2013 are reliable, and that the underlying transactions are legal and regular, Members called on the Parliament to approve the closure of the Authority’s accounts. They made, however, a number of recommendations that needed 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.

  • Authority’s financial statements: Members noted that the final budget of the Authority for the financial year 2013 was year 2013 was EUR 25 967 360, representing an increase of 25.16% compared to 2012, due to the Authority’s recently established nature of which the initial contribution of the Union to the Authority’s budget for 2013 amounted to EUR 10 386 944.
  • Carry-overs: Members noted that the Authority managed to significantly reduce the overall level of committed appropriations carried over from EUR 6 547 808 in 2012 (36%) to EUR 3 876 564 in 2013 (17%). They noted with concern that the levels of carry-overs (36%) were relatively high, mainly due to the planned procurement of IT infrastructure and IT services, and the related services provided in 2014.

Members also made a series of observations on transfers, the prevention and management of conflicts of interests, recruitment, procurement procedures and internal control.

Lastly, Members noted that the Authority closely cooperates with the European Insurance and Occupational Pensions Authority and the European Securities and Markets Authority across all support functions in order to reduce administrative costs where possible, to leverage synergies and to share best practices. They look forward to further efforts from the Authority to enhance cooperation with other decentralised agencies.