2009 discharge: European Aviation Safety Agency EASA

The European Parliament adopted by 513 votes to 66, with 27 abstentions a decision on discharge to be granted to the Executive Director of the European Aviation Safety Agency in respect of the implementation of its budget for the financial year 2009.

Noting that the Agency’s annual accounts for the financial year 2009 are reliable, and the underlying transactions are legal and regular, Parliament approves the closure of the Agency’s accounts. However, it makes 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 resolution on financial management and control of EU agencies - see DEC/2010/2271):

• performance: Parliament urges the Agency to implement an activity-based structure for the operational budget in order to establish a clear link between the work programme and the financial forecasts and improve performance monitoring and reporting. It stresses that the Agency should prepare a multiannual plan every year, discussed with all stakeholders and approved by the Management Board;
• carryover of appropriations: Parliament draw attention to the fact that the Agency carried forward to 2010 a high level of appropriations for operating expenditure (65% from Title III – Operational activities - when assigned revenues are excluded from the carryovers). It stresses that this is at odds with the principle of annuality and that this situation reveals weaknesses in the Agency’s resource planning system. It calls for more accurate and timely management of contracts and for far more realistic forecasts to be presented to Parliament and the Commission for the next financial year, allowing sufficient time for these to be analysed;
• fees and charges levied by the Agency: Parliament notes that 2009 was the second full year of implementation of certification tasks under Commission Regulation (EC) No 593/2007 on the fees and charges levied by the European Aviation Safety Agency. It calls once more on the Agency to improve its monitoring system for certification projects to make sure that, over the entire project duration, the fees levied do not deviate significantly from the actual cost. It calls on the Agency, specifically, to correctly estimate, for the establishment of the 2010 financial statements, the accrued expenditure related to the management of certification tasks outsourced to national Aviation Authorities;
• human resources: Parliament notes the shortcomings in staff selection procedures highlighted by the Court which put at risk the transparency of these procedures. It urges the Agency to inform the discharge authority on the actions taken to redress this situation and make more transparent the selection procedures of its experts/staff. It stresses that the impact of these deficiencies is even more crucial when considering that the Agency has the objectives of issuing certification specifications, taking decisions regarding the airworthiness and environmental certification and conducting standardisation inspections of the competent authorities in the Member States.