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2011 discharge: European Maritime Safety Agency (EMSA)

2012/2193(DEC)

The European Parliament adopted a decision on discharge to be granted to the Executive Director of the European Maritime Safety Agency (EMSA) 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 EMSA 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’s 2011 budget amounted to EUR 56.4 million, compared to EUR 54.4 million in the previous year. It regrets that the Court of Auditors identified the need to improve the Agency’s asset management but acknowledge that the Agency has addressed all the issues.
  • Recruitment procedures: Parliament notes the lack of transparency of recruitment procedures, in particular, the thresholds which candidates had to meet in order to be invited to interview. It acknowledges that the Agency has updated its recruitment procedures accordingly.
  • Conflicts of interest: Parliament calls on the Agency to scrutinise and prohibit possible conflicts of interest when hiring experts and staff from the sector it supervises.

Lastly, Parliament made a series of observations as regards the audit procedures of this Agency.