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2014 discharge: European Police Office (Europol)

2015/2186(DEC)

The European Parliament decided to grant discharge to the Director of Europol in respect of the implementation of the budget for the financial year 2014. The vote on the discharge decision covers the closure of the accounts (in accordance with Annex V, Article 5(1)(a) to its Rules of Procedure).

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, Parliament adopted by 505 votes to 108, with 17 abstentions, a resolution containing 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:

  • Financial statements of Europol: Parliament noted that the final budget of the European Police Office for the financial year 2014 was EUR 84 339 820, representing an increase of 2.2 % compared to 2013.
  • Budget and financial management: Parliament noted that the budget monitoring efforts during the financial year 2014 improved significantly and resulted in a high budget implementation rate of 99.7 %. It noted with concern that the cancellation rate of the committed appropriations carried forward from 2013 was high at 22 %, representing an increase of 13 % compared to the previous year.

Parliament also made a series of observations regarding the prevention and management of conflicts of interest, as well as regarding procurement, audit and control procedures.

In this context, it called on the Office to pay special attention to the protection of whistleblowers in the context of the soon-to-be-adopted Directive on the protection of undisclosed know-how and business information (trade secrets) against their unlawful acquisition, use and disclosure.

Parliament also called for an overall improvement in the prevention of, and the fight against, corruption through a holistic approach, commencing with better public access to documents and more stringent rules on conflicts of interest, the introduction or strengthening of transparency registers and the provision of sufficient resources for law enforcement measures, and also through improved cooperation among Member States and with relevant third countries.

Lastly, Parliament noted that Europol reviewed its financial regulation to bring it in line with the provisions contained in Commission Delegated Regulation (EU) No 1271/2013.