2013 discharge: European Union Agency for Fundamental Rights (FRA)

PURPOSE: presentation by the Commission of the consolidated annual accounts of the European Union for the financial year 2013, as part of the 2013 discharge procedure.

Analysis of the accounts of the European Fundamental Rights Agency (FRA).

CONTENT: this Commission document sets out the consolidated annual accounts of the European Union for the financial year 2013 as prepared on the basis of the information presented by the institutions, organisations and bodies of the EU, in accordance with Article 129 (2) of the Financial Regulation applicable to the EU's General Budget, including the European Fundamental Rights Agency (FRA).

The document contains the figures on which the discharge procedure is based.

Discharge procedure of the EU agencies: the EU Budget finances a wide range of policies and programmes throughout the EU. In accordance with the priorities set by the European Parliament and the Council in the multi-annual financial framework (MFF), the European Commission carries out specific programmes, activities and projects in the field with the technical support of some specialised agencies.

The consolidated annual accounts of the EU provide information on the activities of the institutions, agencies and other bodies of the EU from a budgetary and accrual accounting perspective.

The consolidated reports on the implementation of the general budget of the EU include the budget implementation of all Institutions. Agencies do not have a separate budget inside the EU budget; and they are partially financed by a Commission budget subsidy.

Each agency is subject to its own discharge procedure.

FRA: in 2013, the tasks and budget of this agency were as follows:

• description of FRA's tasks: the Agency, which is located in Vienna, was established by Council Regulation (EC) No 168/2007. Its main objective is to provide the relevant authorities of the Union and its Member States with assistance and expertise when implementing Union law relating to fundamental rights. The Agency’s task is to collect information as well as providing expert advice to the institutions on a range of issues.

• FRA's budget for the 2013 financial year: the Agency’s budget for 2013, as presented in the Commission document on the consolidated annual accounts of the European Union, gives the following figures:

§         Commitment appropriations :

- committed : EUR 22 million;

- paid : EUR 22 million;

- carried-over : 0.

§         Payment appropriations :

- committed : EUR 26 million;

- paid : EUR 20 million;

- carried-over : EUR 7 million.

Please refer also to the final accounts of the FRA.