2014 discharge: European Union's Judicial Cooperation Unit (Eurojust)

The European Parliament decided to grant discharge to the Administrative Director of the budget of the European Union's Judicial Cooperation Unit (Eurojust) in respect of the implementation of Eurojust’s budget for the financial year 2014. The vote on the decision on discharge covers the closure of the accounts (in accordance with Annex V, Article 5 (1)(a) to Parliament’s Rules of Procedure.

Noting that the Court of Auditors has stated that it has obtained reasonable assurances that Eurojust’s annual accounts for the financial year 2014 are reliable and that the underlying transactions are legal and regular, Parliament adopted by 509 votes to 113 with 13 abstentions, a resolution containing a series of recommendations, which form an integral part of the decision on discharge and which add to the general recommendations set out in the resolution on performance, financial management and control of EU agencies:

• Eurojust’s financial statements: Parliament noted the final budget of Eurojust for the financial year 2014 was EUR 33 667 239, representing an increase of 4.04 % compared to 2013. The entire budget of Eurojust derives from the Union budget.
• Budget and financial management: Parliament noted that the budget monitoring efforts during the financial year of 2014 resulted in a budget implementation rate of 99.82 %, representing an increase of 0.21 % from 2013. It acknowledged Eurojust's statement that it has reduced the number of budget lines for its 2015 budget in order to reduce weaknesses in budget planning and implementation.

Parliament noted that Eurojust provides grants from its own budget to support the joint investigation teams (JIT). It noted, furthermore, that only 32.8 % was paid by the end of the year mainly due to the budget implementation depending on beneficiaries and their submitted claims for reimbursement, putting the budget execution at risk. It called on Eurojust to report to the discharge authority on the measures taken to address this issue and to provide better guidance to its beneficiaries.

Parliament also made a series of observations regarding commitments and carryovers, the prevention of conflicts of interest, as well as on contract award, recruitment and internal audit and control procedures.

It acknowledged Eurojust's statement that the ongoing issue identified by the Court in 2011 regarding the overlap of responsibilities between the administrative director and the college of Eurojust can only be resolved by the legislative authorities in the ongoing legislative proposal for a new Eurojust regulation. It believed that this proposal should be adopted in line with the proposed regulation to create a European Public Prosecutor. It urged the Council to proceed with the necessary reforms in these proposals.

Parliament welcomed the annual learning plan established in 2014 to cover the professional needs of staff, as well as the establishment of a competency framework with the purpose of reflecting the core and leadership needs of Eurojust.

Lastly, Parliament is of the opinion that further steps need to be taken both to tackle ethical issues relating to the political role of lobbies, their practices and their influence and to promote safeguards for integrity, in order to raise the level of transparency of lobbying activities. It proposed that common rules governing the pursuit of lobbying activities within the Union institutions and agencies should be introduced.