2017 discharge: European Border and Coast Guard Agency (Frontex)
PURPOSE: presentation by the Commission of the consolidated annual accounts of the European Union for the financial year 2017, as part of the 2017 discharge procedure.
Analysis of the accounts of the European Agency for the Management of Operational Cooperation at the External Borders (Frontex).
CONTENT: the organisational governance of the EU consists of institutions, agencies and other EU bodies whose expenditure is included in the general budget of the Union.
This Commission document concerns the EU's consolidated accounts for the year 2017 and details how spending by the EU institutions and bodies was carried out. The consolidated annual accounts of the EU provide financial information on the activities of the institutions, agencies and other bodies of the EU from an accrual accounting and budgetary perspective.
It is the responsibility of the Commission's Accounting Officer to prepare the EU's consolidated annual accounts and ensure that they present fairly, in all material aspects, the financial position, the result of the operations and the cash flows of the EU institutions and bodies with a view to granting discharge.
Discharge procedure: the final step of a budget lifecycle is the discharge. It is the decision by which the European Parliament ‘releases’ the Commission from its responsibility for management of a given budget by marking the end of that budget's existence. It is granted by the European Parliament on the recommendation of the Council.
The decision is based in particular on the European Court of Auditors reports, in particular its annual report, in which the Court provides a Statement of Assurance (DAS) on the legality and regularity of transactions (payments and commitments).
The procedure results in the granting, postponement or refusal of discharge.
The final discharge report including specific recommendations to the Commission for action is adopted in plenary by the European Parliament and are subject to an annual follow up report in which the Commission outlines the concrete actions it has taken to implement the recommendations made.
All EU institutions and other agencies, bodies and joint undertakings are subject to their own discharge procedures.
FRONTEX: the Agency, which is located in Warsaw (PL), was established by Council Regulation (EC) No 2007/2004, amended by Regulation (EC) No 863/2007 of the European Parliament and of the Council.
In 2016, Frontex’s mandate was boosted with the adoption of the European Border and Coast Guard Regulation (EU) 2016/1624. Under the new mandate, the role and activities were significantly expanded with its permanent staff being more than doubled. While the “European Border and Coast Guard Agency” replaces the “European Agency for the Management of Operational Cooperation at the External Borders of the Member States of the European Union”, it has the same legal personality and the same name: Frontex.
In 2017, Member States reported a 60% drop in the detections of illegal border crossing along the EU’s external border compared to 2016.
As regards Frontex’s accounts, these are presented in detail in the document on the consolidated annual accounts of the European Union for 2017:
Commitment appropriations:
- available: EUR 310 million;
- made: EUR 297 million.
Payment appropriations:
- available: EUR 384 million;
- made: EUR 264 million.
For further details on expenditure, please refer to final accounts of Frontex.