The European Parliament decided to grant discharge to the Executive Director of the European Environment Agency (EEA) for the financial year 2022 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 2022 are reliable and that the underlying transactions are legal and regular, Parliament adopted, by 529 votes to 67 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 2022 was EUR 88 173 021, representing an increase of 35.93 % compared to 2021.
Budgetary and financial management
Parliament noted with appreciation that the budget monitoring efforts during the financial year 2022 resulted in a budget implementation rate of 100 % of the current year commitment appropriations, the same as 2021. It noted that the current year payment appropriations execution rate was 86.66 %, representing an increase of 1.75 % compared to 2021.
The Court concluded in its report in 2021 that the use of a negotiated procedure without prior publication to amend a framework contract by doubling the initial budget to EUR 1 million was irregular and as a result, all subsequent payments made in connection with this procedure are irregular. The contract expired in December 2022 and the associated 2022 payments amounted to EUR 470 660. Parliament noted that the current status of the Court’s observation on this is already closed.
Other observations
Parliament also made a series of observations concerning performance, staff policy, digitalisation and internal controls.
In particular, it noted that:
- the delivery rate of the annual work programme as regards key reports and assessment achieved 95 % and 96 %, respectively, as regards updated core set indicators, both above the target established at 90 %;
- in 2022, the Agency continued to play a key role in informing actions to support the environment, responding to the objectives of the European Green Deal and the 8th Environment Action Programme (‘8th EAP’), as well as to Europe's overall ambitions and global commitments;
- the Agency should be more proactive regarding digitalisation;
- on 31 December 2022, the establishment plan was 97.33 % implemented, with three permanent officials and 143 temporary agents appointed out of 150 posts authorised under the Union budget (compared to 140 authorised posts in 2021);
- the Agency should review its staffing policy given the substantial increase of workload;
- the Agency is in the process of reviewing its policy on the prevention and management of conflict of interest to assess its fitness and relevance following a risk-based approach;
- while the Agency’s visibility has been achieved, there is still a room for greater visibility in the media, internet, and social media in order to make its work and the dangers to our environment known to the citizens;
- the documentation of procedures should be updated to remedy the weaknesses identified in the Agency’s internal control framework.