Having examined the revenue and expenditure
accounts for the financial year 2016 and the balance sheet as at 31
December 2016 of the European Asylum Support Office (EASO), as well
as the Court of Auditors' report on the annual accounts of the
Office for the financial year 2016, accompanied by the Office's
replies to the Court's observations, the Council recommended the
European Parliament to give a discharge to the Executive Director
of the Office in respect of the implementation of the budget for
the financial year 2016.
The Council welcomed the Court's opinion that,
in all material respects, the Office's annual accounts present
fairly its financial position as at 31 December 2016 and the
results of its operations and its cash flows for the year then
ended, in accordance with the provisions of the Office's Financial
Regulation, and that the underlying transactions for 2016 are legal
and regular in all material respects.
Nevertheless, the following observations were
made:
-
procurement:
the Council noted the increased level of responsibility and the
Office's involvement in tackling the migration crisis in 2016. In
this regard, it regretted the Court's qualified opinion on the
legality and regularity of payments underlying the accounts due to
the lack of rigour in the management of two procurement procedures.
It called on the Office to request further explanations from
tenderers that present abnormally low offers and introduce
systematic checks for every supplier's quotes and invoices issued
to the framework contractor. The Council also called on the Office
to improve the planning for procurement procedures for
administrative expenditure and to improve the monitoring of
procedures and contracts under framework contracts, as already
agreed in an action plan between the Office and Commission's
Internal Audit Service;
-
financial planning: the Council called on the Office to continue
improving its financial programming in order to reduce the level of
commitments carried over to the next financial year to the minimum
strictly necessary;
-
action plan:
lastly, the Office is encouraged to implement the action plan to
increase the efficiency of operations and to further ensure
cooperation and coherence of activities with its EU and
international partners working on migration related
issues.