The European Parliament decided to grant discharge to the Executive Director of the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) for the financial year 2017 and to approve the closure of the accounts for the financial year in question.
Noting that the Court of Auditors has stated that it has obtained reasonable assurances that the Authority’s annual accounts for the financial year 2017 are reliable and that the underlying transactions are legal and regular, Parliament adopted by 496 votes to 132 with 4 abstentions, a resolution containing a series of recommendations, which form an integral part of the decision on discharge and which add to the general recommendations set out in the draft resolution on performance, financial management and control of EU agencies:
Authority’s financial statements
The final budget of the European Food Safety Authority for the financial year 2017 was EUR 79 558 730.31, representing an increase of 0.08 % compared to 2016.
Budget and financial management
The budget monitoring efforts during the financial year 2017 resulted in a budget implementation rate of 99.98 %, representing a slight decrease of 0.02 % compared to 2016. Payment appropriations execution rate was at 92.31 %, representing an increase of 2.65 % compared to 2016. Parliament regretted the growing mismatch between increasing tasks and shrinking resources, which resulted in relevant delays in the delivery of some projects.
The cancellations of carry-overs from 2016 to 2017 amounted to EUR 291 011.86, representing 3.55 % of the total amount carried over, showing a decrease of 2.31 % in comparison to 2016.
Members also made a series of observations regarding performance, staff policy, procurement and internal controls.
In particular, they noted that:
- 2017 was the first year of the implementation of the Authority’s Strategy 2020 plan and of the new policy set up to ensure the independence of professionals involved in the Authority;
- that a group of Members of the European Parliament filed a lawsuit against the Authority on grounds of limiting of access to documents in the “glyphosate"case. The Authority is called on to fully and without further delay implement the ruling of 7 March 2019 of the Court of Justice of the European Union;
- on 31 December 2017, the establishment plan was 96.28 % executed, with 311 officials and temporary agents appointed out of 323 posts authorised under the Union budget;
- the Parliament has repeatedly called on the Authority through its annual discharge reports to implement a two-year cooling off period which would prevent experts with financial interests linked to companies whose substances are evaluated by the Authority from sitting in the Authority's scientific panels or working groups.