2015 discharge: European Union's Judicial Cooperation Unit (Eurojust)

The Committee on Budgetary Control adopted the report by Inés AYALA SENDER (S&D, ES) on discharge in respect of the implementation of the budget of the European Union's Judicial Cooperation Unit (Eurojust) for the financial year 2015.

The committee called on the European Parliament to grant the Administrative Director of Eurojust discharge in respect of the implementation of Eurojust’s budget for the financial year 2015.

Noting that the Court of Auditors stated that it had obtained reasonable assurance that the annual accounts of Eurojust for the financial year 2015 were reliable and that the underlying transactions were legal and regular, Members called on Parliament to approve the closure of its 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:

• Eurojust’s financial statements: Members noted that Eurojust’s final budget for the financial year 2015 was EUR 33 818 351 entirely derived from the Union budget.
• Budget and financial management:  Members also noted that the budget monitoring efforts during the financial year of 2015 resulted in a budget implementation rate of 99.99 %, representing an increase of 0.17 % from 2014. They regretted that Eurojust faced budgetary availability issues due to known structural problems with its funding and that for the second successive year was forced to resort to mitigation measures subject to an amending budget. They equally regretted that the financial uncertainty with which Eurojust was confronted required the postponement of some of its on-going activities and the deferral of valuable technological developments and called on Eurojust and the Commission to solve these known structural problems and secure a proper level of funding for the coming years.

Members also made a series of observations regarding commitment and carry-overs, the prevention and management of conflicts of interests, procurement and recruitment procedures and internal audits and controls.

Members acknowledged that Eurojust is currently, together with its host Member State, in the process of preparing for the transition to its new premises. They noted that the construction of the premises started in spring 2015 and the expected move was planned for spring 2017. They invited Eurojust to report further to the discharge authority on the transition to its new premises, as well as to outline total incurred transition costs.

Lastly, they regretted that in its 2015 annual report, Eurojust stated that corruption is not a Union priority.