2015 discharge: European Aviation Safety Agency (EASA)

2016/2173(DEC)

PURPOSE: to grant discharge to the European Aviation Safety Agency (EASA) in respect of the Agency’s budget for the financial year 2015.

NON-LEGISLATIVE ACT: Decision (EU) 2017/1648 of the European Parliament on discharge in respect of the implementation of the budget of the European Aviation Safety Agency for the financial year 2015.

CONTENT: with the present decision, the European Parliament grants discharge to the Executive Director of the European Aviation Safety Agency for the implementation of its budget for the financial year 2015.

This decision is in line with the European Parliament's resolution adopted on 27 April 2017 and comprises a series of observations that form an integral part of the discharge decision (please refer to the summary of the opinion of 27 April 2017).

Amongst Parliament’s main observations in the resolution accompanying the discharge decision, the latter highlighted the Agency's vital role in ensuring the highest possible level of aviation safety throughout Europe but stressed that a common European assessment and alerting system is needed in Europe, in particular in the context of flights over conflict zones. The Agency should be given the necessary financial, material and human resources to successfully perform its regulatory and executive tasks in the fields of safety and environmental protection, but always without compromising its independence and impartiality.

Parliament noted that the Agency and the German Transport Ministry recently agreed on a text for the Agency's headquarters agreement, which was subsequently signed in December 2016. The annual costs per square metre after relocation is expected to be 20 % less than in the previous building. This decrease shall allow the delivery of better facilities.