2019 discharge: European Environment Agency (EEA)

The European Parliament decided by 613 votes to 82, with 3 abstentions, to grant discharge to the Executive Director of the European Environment Agency (EEA) for the financial year 2019 and to approve the closure of the accounts for that year.

Noting that the Court of Auditors has stated that it has obtained reasonable assurance that the Agency's annual accounts for the financial year 2019 are reliable and that the underlying transactions are legal and regular, Parliament adopted, by 603 votes to 87 with 1 abstention, a resolution containing a series of recommendations which form an integral part of the discharge decision and which complement the general recommendations contained in the resolution on the performance, financial management and control of EU agencies.

Agency’s financial statements

The Agency's final budget for the financial year 2019 was EUR 75 663 812, an increase of 14.99% compared to 2018. The Agency's budget comes mainly from the Union budget (86.85%) and from contributions under specific agreements, namely the Copernicus programme (13.15%).

Budgetary and financial management

Parliament welcomed the budget monitoring efforts made during the 2019 financial year, which resulted in a budget implementation rate of 99.99%, which represents an increase of 0.04% compared to the 2018 financial year. However, it is concerned about the implementation rate of payment appropriations which amounted to 89.83% (a decrease of 1.23% compared to the previous year).

Other observations

Members also made a series of observations concerning performance, staff, procurement, sustainability, prevention of conflicts of interest and internal controls.

In particular, they noted that:

- the Agency provides independent and authoritative environmental information: its publications are of high quality and the maps and data section is the most visited section on the Agency's website, with over 2.75 million views;

- the Agency established new data streams for monitoring CO2 emissions from new heavy duty vehicles, supported the implementation of the Energy Union Governance and continued to streamline environmental reporting;

- in collaboration with other relevant EU agencies, the Agency published an environmental report on European aviation and planned an innovative virtual EU observatory on climate change and health;

- the Agency committed to being more visible in the media, on the internet and on social networks to publicise its work;

- on 31 December 2019, the establishment plan was executed at 96.77%, with 3 officials and 117 temporary agents appointed out of the 124 posts authorised under the EU budget. However, there is no gender balance in senior management and the Management Board;

- steps have been taken to ensure that in future any change to a contract, including its budget ceiling, is formalised by an amendment and to remind financial officers to always check that the budget available for contracts is within the ceilings before awarding specific contracts;

- the Agency has taken steps to ensure transparency, prevent and manage conflicts of interest and protect whistleblowers; Members called for the creation of a common ethical framework for all EU institutions and agencies;

- the Agency is working to create an economically efficient and environmentally friendly workplace and to take steps to reduce its carbon footprint and energy consumption.

The Agency has prepared for the UK's withdrawal from the EU, including preparing its IT systems for this in 2019.