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2011 discharge: European Monitoring Centre for Drugs and Drug Addiction (EMCDDA)

2012/2186(DEC)

The European Parliament adopted a decision on discharge to be granted to the Director of the European Monitoring Centre for Drugs and Drug Addiction in respect of the implementation of the 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 Centre 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 overall budget of the Centre for the year 2011 was of 16.274 million, which represents an increase of 2.35%. They note that the contribution of the Union to the Centre's budget for 2011 was EUR 15.4 million.
  • Implementation rate of appropriations: it acknowledges that the financial and budget management demonstrated by the Centre led to a budget execution of almost 100% in commitments and payments. Members are concerned that a significant number of appropriations carried over to 2012 were not related to existing legal commitments and should have been de-committed and paid back to the Commission by the end of 2011.
  • Location: Parliament acknowledges from the Court of Auditors' report that the Centre currently bears the annual cost of about EUR 275 000 for unused office space in its former building and in the new headquarters. It calls on the Centre to continue, in cooperation with the Commission and national authorities, to seek adequate solutions for the unused office space and to keep the discharge authority informed.

Lastly, Parliament made a series of observations as regards its performances, accounting and audit systems as well as the recruitment procedures of this Agency.