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2011 discharge: European Police Office (EUROPOL)

2012/2205(DEC)

The European Parliament adopted a decision on discharge to be granted to the Director of the European Police Office (EUROPOL) 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 EUROPOL 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: the Office’s overall budget for 2011 was EUR 84.8 million, which represents a decrease of 7.69% compared to 2010. The contribution of the Union to the Office's budget of for 2011 was EUR 83.46 million.
  • Implementation rate of appropriations and carryovers: noting the good rate of overall implementation on the one hand, Parliament regrets that more than EUR 1.9 million had to be cancelled. It calls on the Office to inform the discharge authority of the actions taken to address those deficiencies, as the high carry-over and cancellation rates indicate difficulties in the planning and/or implementation of the Office's activities.
  • Assets: Parliament also notes weaknesses were found as regards the physical verification and recording of assets before and after the move to the new headquarters and expects the Office to remedy the situation.

Parliament believes that common elements between the Office and the European Police College should be explored further. It reiterates its call on the Commission to prepare a comprehensive impact assessment regarding a potential merger of those two Agencies setting out the cost and benefits, considering the complementarities between the Office and the European Police College and the potential synergies.

Lastly, Parliament makes a series of observations as regards the Office’s recruitment procedures, validation system, financial regulation, as well as its internal audit systems.