PURPOSE: presentation of the EU Court of Auditors report on the annual accounts of the European Environment Agency (EEA) for the financial year 2015, together with the Agencys 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 Environment Agency (EEA). In brief, this Agency is responsible for setting up an observation network to provide the Commission, the Parliament, the Member States and, more generally, the public with reliable information on the state of the environment.
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:
Opinion on the reliability of the accounts: in the Courts opinion, the Agencys annual accounts present fairly, in all material respects, its financial position as at 31 December 2015 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 Commissions accounting officer.
Opinion on the legality and regularity of the transactions underlying the accounts: in the Courts opinion, the transactions underlying the annual accounts for the year ended 31 December 2015 are legal and regular in all material respects.
The report also makes a series of observations on the budgetary and financial management of the Agency, accompanied by the latters response. The main observations may be summarised as follows:
The Courts observations:
The Agencys replies:
Lastly, the Court of Auditors report contains a summary of the Agencys key figures in 2015: