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2013 discharge: European Police Office (Europol)

2014/2118(DEC)

The European Parliament adopted by 545 votes to 134, with 5 abstentions, a decision to grant discharge to the Director the European Police Office for the financial year 2013. 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 2013 are reliable, and that the underlying transactions are legal and regular, Parliament adopted by 567 votes to 103, with 14 abstentions, a resolution containing a number of recommendations that form an integral part of the discharge decision and as well as the general recommendations that appear in the resolution on performance, financial management and control of EU agencies:

  • EUROPOL’s financial statements: Parliament noted that the final budget of the “the Office for the financial year 2013 was EUR 82 520 500, representing a decrease of 1.94% compared to 2012.
  • Commitments and carryovers: Parliament noted that budget monitoring efforts during the financial year 2013 resulted in a budget implementation rate of 98.6% and that the payment appropriations execution rate was 87.2%. It acknowledged that the level of committed appropriations carried over decreased but that the level of carry-overs of committed appropriations was still high at 41% for administrative expenditure. It called on the Office to increase its efforts to reduce future carry-overs.

Parliament also made a series of observations on procurement procedures, recruitment, internal audits and the prevention and management of conflicts of interests.

With regard to the legality and regularity of transactions, Parliament observed that the effectiveness of the procurement procedures in 2013 was affected by some decisions not being based on sufficiently specific selection criteria or realistic price offers, as well as by not being in accordance with the established professional requirements. It called on the Office to inform the discharge authority on the outcome of the review and planned improvements to the procurement process. Parliament recalled the Court’s comment in its 2011 report that the Office's Financial Regulation referred to detailed rules and procedures laid down in the Office's Implementing Rules which had not yet been adopted. It urged the Office to take corrective actions in this regard.

Lastly, Parliament noted that it was envisaged that the Europol Pension Fund would be consolidated with the annual accounts of the Office with effect as of 1 January 2016.