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2012 discharge: European Police Office (Europol)

2013/2235(DEC)

The European Parliament adopted a decision concerning the discharge to be granted to the Director of the European Police Office (Europol) in respect of the implementation of the Office's budget for the financial year 2012. The vote on the discharge decision approved the closure of the accounts (in accordance with Annex VI, Article 5(1) of the Rules of Procedure of the European Parliament.

Noting that the Court of Auditors stated that it has obtained reasonable assurances that the annual accounts of the Office for the financial year 2012 are reliable and that the underlying transactions are legal and regular, Parliament adopted by 480 votes to 69, with 20 abstentions, a resolution containing a series of recommendations that form an integral part of the discharge decision and as well as the general recommendations that appear in the draft resolution on performance, financial management and control of EU agencies.

These recommendations are summarised as follows:

  • Financing, budget and financial management: Parliament recalled that the Office's overall budget for 2012 amounted to EUR 84.15 million. It also noted that budget monitoring efforts during the financial year 2012 resulted in a budget implementation rate of 98.8 % and that the payment appropriations execution rate was 79.7 %.
  • Implementation rate of appropriations: Parliament observed that the Office carried over EUR 1.2 million which were mostly related to the new task assigned to the Office in June 2012 of running the European Cybercrime Centre, as well as EUR 100 000 related to the introduction of a new human resources system. It regretted that commitments amounting to EUR 2.6 million (out of EUR 15 million) carried over from 2011 had to be cancelled in 2012. Parliament made a series of observations as regards the accounting system, procurement and recruitment procedures of this Agency.
  • Performance: Parliament asked that the Office communicated the results and impact its work had on the European citizens in an accessible way, mainly through its website.

Lastly, Parliament stressed the need to strengthen transparency and prevent conflicts of interests. It called on EUROPOL to make publicly available the Declarations of Interests of certain members.