2012 discharge: European Union Agency for Fundamental Rights (FRA)

The Committee on Budgetary Control adopted the report by Petri SARVAMAA (EPP, FI) on discharge in respect of the implementation of the budget of the European Union Agency for Fundamental Rights for the financial year 2012, and called on the European Parliament to grant the Director of the Agency discharge in respect of the implementation of the Agency’s budget for the financial year 2012.

Noting that the Court of Auditors stated that it has obtained reasonable assurances that the annual accounts of the Agency for the financial year 2012 are reliable, and that the underlying transactions are legal and regular, Members approved the closure of the Agency’s accounts. They made, however, a number of recommendations that needed 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 recalled that the budget of the Agency for the financial year 2012 was EUR 20. 376 million. They noted that budget monitoring efforts during the financial year 2012 resulted in a budget implementation rate of 100 %; notes that the payment appropriations execution rate was 78.5 %. Budget implementation for operational expenditure was low at 49 % of committed appropriations, due to the multiannual nature of certain activities.

·        Legality and regularity of operations: Members were concerned that in 2012, the Agency procured cleaning services via cascading framework contracts to two suppliers and due to a clerical error during the evaluation of offers, the ranking of the contractors was incorrect. They acknowledged that following the Court of Auditors’ audit, the Agency has amended the ranking of the contractors accordingly.

·        Carryovers: the report commended the Agency for adhering to the principle of annuality and for the timely execution of its budget.

Members also made a series of observations on transfers, procurement and recruitment procedures as well as comments on internal controls.

Lastly, they acknowledged that the Agency would review its policy on the prevention and management of conflicts of interests on the basis of the Commission's Guidelines on the Prevention and Management of Conflict of Interest in EU Decentralised Agencies. They called on the Agency to inform the discharge authority on the assessment results once available.