The European Parliament decided to grant discharge to the Executive Director of the European Environment Agency (EEA) for the financial year 20187 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 Agency’s annual accounts for the financial year 2018 are reliable and that the underlying transactions are legal and regular, Parliament adopted by 606 votes to 82 with 5 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 resolution on performance, financial management and control of EU agencies:
Agency’s financial statements
The final budget of the European Environmental Agency for the financial year 2018 was EUR 65 800 176.52, representing a decrease of 6.57 % compared to 2017.
Budget and financial management
The budget monitoring efforts during the financial year 2018 resulted in a budget implementation rate of 99.96 %, representing a slight decrease of 0.01 % compared to 2017. The payment appropriations execution rate was 91.06 %, representing an increase of 2.03 % compared to the previous year.
Other observations
Members also made a series of observations regarding performance, staff, procurement and internal controls.
In particular, they noted that:
- substantial progress was made in the sharing of resources on overlapping tasks among other agencies with similar activities; including shared efforts with other science-based agencies, including the European Chemicals Agency and the European Food Safety Authority, on issues related to human health;
- some activities could not be fully delivered in 2018 due to a number of circumstances, including limited IT and staff resources;
- on 31 December 2018, the establishment plan was 98.39 % executed, with 3 officials and 119 temporary agents appointed out of 124 posts authorised under the Union budget;
- there is an uneven gender balance reported for 2018 with regard to senior managers (seven men and two women), but there is a good balance achieved within the management Board (15 men and 17 women);
- serious concerns were raised as to the Agency’s sound financial management and the fact that the Agency has not put in place a system for declarations of conflict of interest for in house experts.