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European Parliament
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2010 discharge: European Network and Information Security Agency (ENISA)

2011/2228(DEC)

The European Parliament adopted a decision to grant discharge to the Executive Director of the European Network and Information Security Agency in respect of the implementation of the Agency's budget for the financial year 2010.

Noting that the Court of Auditors has stated that it has obtained reasonable assurances that the annual accounts of the Agency are reliable and that the underlying transactions are legal and regular, Parliament adopted a resolution containing a series 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 performance, financial management and control of EU agencies.

These recommendations may be summarised as follows:

  • Budget and Financial Management: Parliament recalls that the payments reached the level of 76.46% of the total appropriations managed, compared with 75.67% in 2009 and that EUR 1 987 011 of the commitment appropriations contracted by the end of 2010 but not yet paid were carried forward to 2011. Parliament is also concerned that, once again, the Court of Auditors reported 52 % of carryovers from the Agency’s operational budget and they are concerned that this situation indicates delays in the implementation of the Agency’s activities. It urges the Agency to inform the discharge authority of the action taken by the Agency to address this deficiency;
  • Procurement procedures: Parliament notes that in 2011 the Agency implemented ex-post controls in order to improve the internal control performance in procurement procedures;
  • Refund from the tax authorities of the host Member State: Parliament notes, once more, with disappointment, that there has been no progress on the previous year concerning the refund of EUR 45 000, which is the amount of VAT paid in advance by the Agency to the tax authorities of the host Member State. It urges the Agency, therefore, to inform the discharge authority when this refund is made by the host Member State;
  • Human Resources (HR): Parliament is concerned that, once again, the deficiencies in staff selection procedures still remain and put at risk the transparency of the procedures (the Court of Auditors reported that neither the thresholds that candidates were required to meet in order to be invited to interview nor those standards necessary in order for them to be put on the reserve list were fixed in advance by the selection boards). It urges, therefore, the Agency to address this situation and that the discharge authority should no longer accept a recurrence of this deficiency;
  • Internal Audit: Parliament notes that the Agency has an enhanced risk in its planning, accounting, budget execution, IT development and management, business continuity, stakeholder relations, external communication, and impact assessment and evaluation. It urges the Agency, therefore, to promptly establish the necessary measures to reduce the risks in the above-mentioned subjects and to take account of the IAS recommendations.