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2015 discharge: Agency for the Cooperation of Energy Regulators (ACER)

2016/2189(DEC)

The Committee on Budgetary Control adopted the report by Inés AYALA SENDER (S&D, ES) on discharge in respect of the implementation of the budget of the Agency for the Cooperation of Energy Regulators (ACER) for the financial year 2015.

The committee called on the European Parliament to grant the Director of the Agency discharge in respect of the implementation of the Agency’s budget for the financial year 2015.

Noting that the Court of Auditors stated that it had obtained reasonable assurance that the annual accounts of the Agency for the financial year 2015 were reliable and that the underlying transactions were legal and regular, Members called on Parliament to approve the closure of the Agency’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:

  • Agency’s financial statements: Members noted that the final budget of the Agency for the financial year 2015 was EUR 11 266 000, representing an increase of 3.55 % compared to 2014. They recalled that the Agency’s entire budget derives from the Union budget.
  • Budget and financial management: Members noted that budget monitoring efforts during the financial year 2015 resulted in a budget implementation rate of 95.09 %, reaching the Agency’s planned target and representing an increase of 0.09 % compared with 2014.
  • Commitments and carry-overs: Members stressed that carry-overs may often be partly or fully justified by the multiannual nature of the agencies’ operational programmes and do not necessarily indicate weaknesses in budget planning and implementation nor are they always at odds with the budgetary principle of annuality. They noted the fact that the Agency found it difficult to reconcile the principle of annuality with the multi-annual nature of the REMIT implementation project.

Members also made a series of observations regarding procurement, recruitment procedures and internal audits.

Lastly, as regards the prevention and management of conflicts of interests, Members stated that the Agency’s administrative board published the declarations of conflicts of interests on its website. However, it pointed out that some CVs and declarations of the members of the board of regulators remain missing. They called on the Agency to provide further information about this issue to the discharge authority.