The European Parliament decided to grant discharge to the Executive Director of the European Environment Agency (EEA) for the financial year 2021 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 2021 are reliable and that the underlying transactions are legal and regular, Parliament adopted, by 544 votes to 78 with 4 abstentions, 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 2021 was EUR 64 867 177 representing a decrease of 27.64 % compared to 2020. The Agency’s budget derives mainly from the Union budget and the EFTA contribution (79.26 %) and the contributions under specific agreements (20.73 %), in particular for the Copernicus programme.
Budgetary and financial management
Parliament noted with appreciation that the budget monitoring efforts during the financial year 2021 resulted in a budget implementation rate of 100 % of the current year commitment appropriations, representing a slight increase of 0.04 % compared to 2020. The payment appropriations execution rate was 84.90 %, representing a decrease of 1.18 % compared to the previous year.
Other observations
Parliament also made a series of observations concerning performance, staff, internal controls and digitalisation.
In particular, it noted that:
- 2021 was the first year of implementation of the EEA-Eionet Strategy 2021-2030, which is aligned with the Union’s policy priorities;
- on 31 December 2021, the establishment plan was 99.28 % implemented, with 3 permanent officials and 136 temporary agents appointed out of 140 posts authorised under the Union budget (compared to 130 authorised posts in 2020);
- to properly perform the tasks on the Union’s path to climate neutrality, a circular economy and nature restoration, the number of staff within the Agency should grow in the years to come;
- the e-procurement IT tools developed by the Commission should be implemented;
- more systematic rules on transparency, incompatibilities, conflicts of interest, illegal lobbying and revolving doors should be put in place;
- an internal anticorruption mechanism should be set up;
- the digitalisation of procedures should be accelerated.