PURPOSE: presentation of the EU Court of
Auditors’ report on the annual accounts of the European Asylum
Support Office (EASO) for the year 2014, together with the
Office’s reply.
CONTENT: in accordance with the tasks conferred
on the Court of Auditors by the Treaty on the Functioning of the
European Union, the Court presents to the European Parliament and
to the Council, in the context of the discharge procedure, a
Statement of Assurance as to the reliability of the annual accounts
of each institution, body or agency of the EU, and the legality and
regularity of the transactions underlying them, on the basis of an
independent external audit.
This audit concerned, amongst others, the annual
accounts of the European Asylum Support Office (EASO).
Statement of Assurance:
pursuant to the provisions of Article 287 of the Treaty on the
Functioning of the European Union (TFEU), the Court has
audited:
- the annual accounts of the Foundation, which comprise
the financial statements and the reports on the implementation of
the budget for the financial year ended 31 December
2014;
- the legality and regularity of the transactions
underlying those accounts.
Opinion on the reliability of the
accounts: in the Court’s
opinion, the Office’s annual accounts present fairly, in all
material respects, its financial position as at 31 December
2014 and the results of its operations and its cash flows for the
year then ended, in accordance with the provisions of its Financial
Regulation and the accounting rules adopted by the
Commission’s accounting officer.
Opinion on the legality and regularity of the
transactions underlying the accounts:
the Court considers that the transactions underlying the annual
accounts for the year ended 31 December 2014 are legal and
regular in all material respects. However, it stresses that the
Office, in its budget management system (ABAC) for the year 2014,
carried over budgetary commitments amounting to some EUR
1.3 million which were not covered by legal commitments. This
is in contradiction to the Financial Regulation. Following the
Court’s audit, the Office decided to correct the irregular
carry-overs. However, the 2014 financial period was already closed,
and correction in the system was no longer possible. The Court
specifies that needs to be done in the 2015 financial
period.
The report also makes a series of observations on the
budgetary and financial management of the Office, accompanied by
the latter’s response. The main observations may be summarised
as follows:
The Court’s observations:
- internal control: the
Court notes that the Office made 1 062 (28.6 %) payments
after the time limits set in the Financial Regulation. The average
delay for late payments was 24 days.
- budgetary management:
the Court notes the large sums of committed appropriations
cancelled in 2014, which indicates weaknesses in the Agency’s
budget planning and is at odds with the budgetary principle of
annuality. It also notes the high level of carry-overs for
administrative expenditure to 2015.
- recruitment: the Court
notes that the Office has a high staff turnover, which causes a
considerable risk to the achievement of the objectives set in the
annual and multiannual work programmes.
The Office’s replies:
- budgetary management:
the EASO recognises that the percentage of late payments is too
large and is addressing the root causes of this situation. In the
second half of 2015, specific measures shall be put in place for
substantially reducing the current rate of late payments by the
closing of the financial year. EASO will review its annual budget
at least twice a year, starting in the second quarter of 2015, in
order to improve its budget planning and implementation process and
reduce any disproportionate carry-overs at the end of the financial
year. Through these combined measures, EASO expects to achieve much
improved results for its budget implementation in 2015;
- recruitment: the Office
indicates that it has recruited replacements for the staff that
left last year and all posts are occupied or recruitment procedures
are currently being done. Staff is recognised to be the most valued
asset of the Office and human resources activities to support this
approach will be put in place.
Lastly, the Court of Auditors’ report contains
a summary of the Office’s activities in 2014. This
is focused on the following:
Budget: EUR 15.664
million.
Activities: the
Office’s activities cover five main areas: (i) permanent
support; (ii) special support; (iii) emergency support; (iv)
information and analysis support; (v) third-country
support.
- Permanent support:
organisation of train-the trainer sessions; work on quality of
asylum processes and decisions (thematic mapping of access to
procedure, identification of persons with special needs…);
practical cooperation conference on unaccompanied minors; country
of origin information (COI), with four new COI specific networks on
Iran, Iraq, Russia and Afghanistan and two COI reports (on Somalia
and on Chechnya) and a publication on ‘Tools and tips for
online COI research.
- Special support: special support was provided to
Italy, completing the implementation of the special support
plan, which started in 2013, and, as from June 2014, to Cyprus.
EASO, in collaboration with other stakeholders, implemented eight
actions within the framework of the Task Force
Mediterranean.
- Emergency support: EASO provided emergency support to Greece and
to Bulgaria
- Information and analysis support: EASO published its Annual Report on the state
of asylum in the EU in 2013 as well as other technical
reports.
- Third country support: EASO started the implementation of its EASO
external dimension strategy, particularly through the
implementation of a European Neighbourhood and Partnership
Instrument (ENPI) project with Jordan, Tunisia and
Morocco.
With regard to organisation and cooperation
with stakeholders, EASO organised three Management Board
meetings, signed a working arrangement with eu-LISA, and consulted
civil society on various topics.