Having examined the revenue and expenditure accounts for the financial year 2016 and the balance sheet as at 31 December 2017 of the European Agency for the operational management of large-scale IT systems in the area of freedom, security and justice (eu-LISA), as well as the Court of Auditors' report on the annual accounts of the Agency for the financial year 2017, accompanied by the Agency's replies to the Court's observations, the Council recommended the European Parliament to give a discharge to the Executive Director of the Agency in respect of the implementation of the budget for the financial year 2017.
The Council welcomed the Court's opinion that, in all material respects, the Agency's annual accounts present fairly its financial position as at 31 December 2017 and the results of its operations and its cash flows for the year then ended, in accordance with the provisions of the Agency's Financial Regulation, and that the underlying transactions for 2017 are legal and regular in all material respects.
Nevertheless, the following observations were made:
- procurement: once again, the Council regretted the weaknesses found by the Court in the Agency's procurement procedures and called on the Agency to take appropriate actions in order to ensure the effectiveness of the process, as well as the full implementation without unjustified delay of electronic public procurement;
- financial management: the Agency is called upon to continue improving its financial programming and monitoring of budget implementation with a view to limit the use of corrective measures to the strict minimum, in line with the budgetary principle of sound financial management;
- IT issues: the Council encouraged the Agency to pursue its efforts to improve the efficiency of its internal IT processes and to address the issue of the over-reliance and dependency on external contractors.