The European Parliament decided to grant discharge to the Director of the Agency for Support for BEREC in respect of the implementation of the Agency’s budget for the financial year 2018 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 Office’s annual accounts for the financial year 2018 are reliable and that the underlying transactions are legal and regular, Parliament adopted by 604 votes to 85 with 3 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:
Office’s financial statements
The final budget of the Agency for Support for BEREC for the financial year 2018 was EUR 4 331 000, representing an increase of 2% compared to 2017.
Budget and financial management
Budget monitoring efforts during the financial year 2018 resulted in a budget implementation rate of 99.85 %, representing a decrease of 0.09 % compared to 2017. Payment appropriations execution rate was 82.68 %, representing a decrease of 4.24 % compared to 2017. The Agency has been affected by a high staff turnover, which poses risk to the implementation of the Agency’s work programme. As part of mitigation techniques, the management committee requested the establishment of reserve list for 75 % of all job profiles with the aim of keeping the vacancy rate below 15 %.
Other observations
Members also made a series of observations regarding performance, staff policy, procurement, conflicts of interest and internal controls.
In particular, they noted that:
- on 31 December 2018, the establishment plan was 100 % executed, with 14 temporary agents appointed out of 14 temporary agents authorised under the Union budget;
- gender balance was almost achieved at staff level (52 % women and 48 % men) and was achieved in middle management positions (50 % women and 50 % men), however, this was not achieved among the members of the management board, with only 5 women among the 28 members;
- the Agency finally adopted its guidelines on whistleblowing at the end of 2018;
- the Agency has carried out an analysis of the likely impact of the United Kingdom’s decision to withdraw from the Union and identified the necessary mitigating steps. The Agency has no members of staff with only UK citizenship and that there is therefore no risk related to human resources issues.