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2006 discharge: European Agency for the Management of Operational Coordination at the External Borders of the Member States of the European Union Frontex

2007/2214(DEC)

Based on the observations contained in the revenue and expenditure account and the balance sheet of the European Agency for the Management of Operational Coordination at the External Borders of the Member States of the European Union (FRONTEX) for the financial year 2006, as well as on the Court of Auditor's report and the Agency's replies to the Court's observations, the Council recommends that the Parliament grant the Director of the Agency discharge in respect of the implementation of the budget for the financial year 2006.

In doing so, the Council confirms that the appropriations carried over from 2006 to 2007 amounted to EUR 11.9 million and that a total of EUR 1.7 million was cancelled.

Recalling that the Court of Auditors was able to obtain reasonable assurance that the Agency's annual accounts were, in all material aspects, reliable, the Council believes that there is a certain number of observations that must be taken into consideration when providing the discharge on the implementation of the 2006 budget, particularly regarding the following points:

  • carryovers and transfers: aware of the inherent difficulties due to the fact that 2006 was the start-up period of the Agency, the Council, however, notes with concern the rate of carryovers, as well as the significant amount of transfers of appropriations between chapters or titles of the budget. It calls on the Agency to take appropriate measures to improve the planning and implementation of the budget in order to strictly conform to the budgetary principles of annuality and specification;
  • budgetary commitments: the Council also calls upon the Agency to strictly respect the provisions of the Financial Regulation, by establishing budgetary commitments before legal commitments are made;
  • recruitment procedure: the Council regrets the inadequacies noted by the Court in the recruitment criteria and procedures used by the Agency, which are not in line with the provisions of the statute, particularly concerning the minimum experience required for a given grade, the role of the Selection Committee and the documentation of the pre-selection process. It calls on the Agency to adapt its criteria and procedures and to make them conform to the existing rules in terms of staff recruitment.