2011 discharge: European Insurance and Occupational Pensions Authority (EIOPA)

Having examined the revenue and expenditure accounts for the financial year 2011 and the balance sheet at 31 December 2011 of the European Insurance and Occupational Pensions Authority, as well as the Court of Auditors' report on the annual accounts of the Authority for the financial year 2011, accompanied by the Authority's replies to the Court's observations, the Council recommends the European Parliament to give a discharge to the Executive Director of the Authority in respect of the implementation of the budget for the financial year 2011.

The observations in the Court of Auditors' report in relation to the financial year 2011 call for some comments by the Council, which may be summarised as follows:

• the Council welcomes the Court's opinion that, in all material respects, the Authority's annual accounts present fairly its financial position as at 31 December 2011 and the results of its operations and its cash flows for the year then ended, in accordance with the provisions of the Authority's Financial Regulation, and that the underlying transactions for that financial year are legal and regular;
• in line with the budgetary principle of annuality, the Council calls on the Authority to pay due attention to a proper budget planning and implementation in order to improve the low implementation rate of commitments in the future;
• the Council calls on the Authority to take the necessary steps to validate its accounting system and regrets the irregularities found by the Court regarding the award criteria in the audited procurement procedures;
• lastly, it encourages the Authority to pursue its efforts to address the shortcomings detected by the Court in its staff recruitment procedures.