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2012 discharge: European Monitoring Centre for Drugs and Drug Addiction (EMCDDA)

2013/2211(DEC)

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 Monitoring Centre for Drugs and Drug Addiction (EMCDDA) for the financial year 2012, and called on the European Parliament to grant the Director of the Centre discharge in respect of the implementation of the Centre’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 Centre for the financial year 2012 are reliable, and that the underlying transactions are legal and regular, Members approved the closure of the Centre’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 Centre for the financial year 2012 was EUR 16 .3 million. They noted at the same time that that the budget monitoring efforts during the financial year 2012 resulted in a budget implementation rate of 99.74 %.

·        Carryovers: they commended the Centre 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.

They noted with concern from the Court of Auditors’ annual audit report that the Centre currently bears the annual cost of about EUR 200 000 for unused office space in its former building and in the new headquarters. Members called on the Centre, as a matter of priority, to seek adequate solutions for this unused office space, and to report to the discharge authority, within the framework of the 2012 discharge follow-up, on the steps taken.

Lastly, they asked the Centre to strengthen transparency and prevent conflicts of interests, as well as make publicly available the Declarations of Interests of certain members.