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2011 discharge: European Aviation Safety Agency (EASA)

2012/2194(DEC)

The Committee on Budgetary Control adopted the report by Gerben-Jan GERBRANDY (ADLE, NL) on discharge to be granted to the Director of the European Aviation Safety Agency (EASA) in respect of the implementation of the Agency’s budget for the financial year 2011.

Noting that the Court of Auditors stated that it has obtained reasonable assurances that the annual accounts of the FRA for the financial year 2011 are reliable and that the underlying transactions are legal and regular, Members approve the closure of EASA’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 performance, financial management and control of EU agencies:

  • Financing, budget and financial management: Members recall that the Agency is financed by approximately 75% in fees, charges and other revenues and approximately 25% by contribution from the Union budget. This contribution was EUR 34.4 million, which represents an increase of 0.59%.
  • Implementation rate of appropriations and carryovers: Members acknowledge that budget monitoring efforts during the financial year contributed to the high budget implementation rate of 98.8%. They regret the significant amount of carryovers to 2012 and call on the Agency to inform the discharge authority of the actions taken to reduce the high level of carryovers as this is at odds with the budgetary principle of annuality.
  • Conflict of interest: Members regret that according to the findings of the Court of Auditors, the Agency did not adequately manage conflict of interest situations. They regret that the Agency had no policies in place for managing conflicts of interest. They reiterate that the Agency should refrain from assigning a staff member recruited from an aircraft manufacturer to work for the certification of the aircraft he/she used to work on while employed by the manufacturer, given that this could result in a conflict of interest situation. Such a situation occurred at least in one certification case. Members call on the Agency to describe the measures taken to prevent and management conflicts of interest.

Lastly, Members made a series of observations as regards EASA’s recruitment policies and internal audit procedures.