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2011 discharge: European Aviation Safety Agency (EASA)

2012/2194(DEC)

The European Parliament adopted a decision 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. The vote on the decision to grant discharge covers the closure of the accounts (in accordance with Annex VI, Article 5(1) of the European Parliament’s Rules of Procedure).

Noting that the Court of Auditors stated that it has obtained reasonable assurances that the annual accounts of the EASA for the financial year 2011 are reliable and that the underlying transactions are legal and regular, Parliament adopted a resolution containing 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: Parliament recalls 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: it states that budget monitoring efforts during the financial year contributed to the high budget implementation rate of 98.8%. It regrets the significant amount of carryovers to 2012 and calls 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.
  • Recruitment procedures: Parliament acknowledges from the Court of Auditors' report the Agency's further need to improve the transparency of staff selection procedures. It calls on the Agency to ensure adequate training and qualification criteria for inspection teams and team leaders.
  • Conflict of interest: Parliament regrets that according to the findings of the Court of Auditors, the Agency did not adequately manage conflict of interest situations in particular as regards buildings policy. Parliament reiterates 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. It calls on the Agency to describe the measures taken to prevent and management conflicts of interest.

Lastly, Parliament made a series of observations as regards the EASA’s internal audit procedures.