2013 discharge: European Police Office (Europol)

Having examined the revenue and expenditure accounts for the financial year 2013 and the balance sheet at 31 December 2013 of the European Police Office (Europol), as well as the Court of Auditors' report on the annual accounts of Europol for the financial year 2013, accompanied by Europol's replies to the Court's observations, the Council recommends the European Parliament to give a discharge to the Director of Europol in respect of the implementation of the budget for the financial year 2013.

Overall, the Council welcomes the Court's opinion that, in all material respects, the Europol's annual accounts fairly present the financial position as at 31 December 2013 and the results of operations and cash flows for the year then ended, in accordance with the provisions of the Europol's Financial Regulation, and that the underlying transactions for that financial year are legal and regular.

Nevertheless, some observations have been made by the Council. They may be summarised as follows:

• public procurement: the Council encourages Europol to further improve its procurement procedures in order to ensure the effectiveness of the process, as well as the full transparency and equal treatment of tenders;
• carry-overs: the Council calls on Europol to continue improving its financial programming and monitoring of the budget implementation in order to reduce the level of commitments carried over to the next financial year to the strict minimum.