2014 discharge: European Banking Authority (EBA)

The Committee on Budgetary Control adopted the report by Derek VAUGHAN (S&D, UK) on discharge in respect of the implementation of the budget of the European Banking Authority (EBA) for the financial year 2014.

The parliamentary committee calls on the European Parliament to grant the Executive Director of the Authority discharge in respect of the implementation of the EBA’s budget for the financial year 2014.

Noting that the Court of Auditors issued a statement of assurance as to the reliability of the accounts and the legality and regularity of the underlying transactions for the financial year 2014, Members call on Parliament to approve the closure of the Authority’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:

·         Authority’s financial statements: Members note that the final budget of the European Banking Authority for financial year 2014 was EUR 33 599 863 representing an increase of 29.39 % compared to 2013, due to the Authority’s recently established nature.

·         Budget and financial management: Members note that the budget monitoring efforts during the financial year 2014 resulted in a budget implementation rate of 99.81 %, resulting from improvements in budget planning and monitoring;

Members also made a series of observations regarding commitments and carryovers, payment transfers, the prevention and management of conflicts of interest, recruitment and contract award procedures, and internal audit procedures.

As regards performance, Members note that the Authority closely cooperates with the European Insurance and Occupational Pensions Authority and the European Securities and Markets Authority. This cooperation is across all support functions in order to reduce administrative costs were possible, to leverage synergies and to share best practices. They look forward to further efforts from the Authority to enhance its cooperation with other decentralised agencies.

Lastly, Members underline that the Authority’s role in promoting a common supervisory regime across the internal market is essential in order to ensure financial stability. They point out that it is of particular importance that provisions drafted by the Authority are designed in a way that allows them to be equally applied by smaller entities. They stress that, while making sure that all assignments are carried out in full, the Authority must carefully stick to the tasks assigned to it by the Union legislator and must not seek to de facto broaden its mandate beyond those assignments. They regret, in particular, the EBA’s lack of transparency on certain aspects.