Legislative Observatory
European Parliament
Please fill in this field to find a procedure

2008 discharge: The European Union's Judicial Cooperation Unit EUROJUST

2009/2119(DEC)

The Committee on Budgetary Control adopted the report by Véronique MATHIEU (EPP, FR) calling on the European Parliament to grant the Administrative Director of EUROJUST discharge in respect of the implementation of EUROJUST’s budget for the financial year 2008.

Noting that the Court of Auditors states that it has obtained reasonable assurance that the annual accounts for the financial year 2008 are reliable, and that the underlying transactions are legal and regular, MEPs approve the closure of EUROJUST’s accounts. However, they make a number of recommendations that need to be taken into account when the discharge is granted, in addition to the general recommendations that appear in the draft resolution on financial management and control of EU agencies (see 2010/2007(INI):

  • performance: Members underline that the lack of indicators, the deficits in measurement of user satisfaction and the lack of coordination between the budget and the work programme make it difficult to evaluate Eurojust’s performance. They, therefore, note that, in the coming years, the discharge for the implementation of the budget for Eurojust should be further based on Eurojust's performance throughout the year;
  • carry-over of appropriations: noting that the carry-over of appropriations was still very high, Members call on EUROJUST to take steps to avoid this situation recurring. They also note that, on 31 December 2008, Eurojust's cash holdings amounted to EUR 4 612 878.47 and call on the Commission to examine what scope there is for helping to ensure that the cash holdings are managed entirely on a needs-orientated basis in order to keep Eurojust's cash holdings permanently as low as possible;
  • weaknesses in procurement procedures: Members regret that the Court of Auditors again found deficiencies in procurement procedures, as in the three previous years. They point out that this situation reveals severe weaknesses in the capacity of the various Eurojust departments involved. They, therefore, call on Eurojust to inform the discharge authority of the measures it will take to remedy this situation;
  • human resources: expressing their concern at the fact that the Court of Auditors has again noted shortcomings in the planning and implementation of recruitment procedures, Members ask, in particular, that Eurojust should inform the discharge authority of its new recruitment procedure, launched in 2009, which from now on should ensure more transparency and no discrimination in the treatment of external and internal applicants;
  • internal audit: Members note that none of the 26 recommendations made by the Internal Audit Service (IAS) has been fully implemented. They urge Eurojust, therefore, to put in place without delay the recommendations on human resources management and to make sure that the public procurement procedures are correctly implemented.