2018 discharge: European Union Agency for Law Enforcement Cooperation (Europol)

The European Parliament decided to grant discharge to the Executive Director of the European Union Agency for Law Enforcement Cooperation (Europol) for the financial year 2018 and to approve the closure of the accounts for the financial year in question.

Noting that the Court of Auditors has stated that it has obtained reasonable assurances that the Agency’s annual accounts for the financial year 2018 are reliable and that the underlying transactions are legal and regular, Parliament adopted by 501 votes to 179 with 12 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:

Financial statements of Europol

The final budget of the European Union Agency for Law Enforcement Cooperation for the financial year 2018 was EUR 135 737 021, representing an increase of 13.84 % compared to 2017. The increase was due to additional tasks expanding its mandate.

Budget and financial management

Budget monitoring efforts during the financial year 2018 resulted in a budget implementation rate of 96.10 %, representing a slight decrease of 3.62 % compared to 2017. The payment appropriations execution rate was 86.92 %, representing a decrease of 2.09 % compared to 2017.

Other observations

Members also made a series of observations regarding performance, staff policy, procurement, conflicts of interest and internal controls.

In particular, they noted that:

- the Agency achieved 78 % of the targets set for performance indicators and that it progressed in the implementation of 79 % of the actions contained within the 2018 work programme;

- a feasibility study should be conducted in order to assess the possibility of, at the very least, setting up shared synergies with the European Union Agency for Law Enforcement Training (CEPOL), if not of fully merging them;

- the number of operations that the Agency supported grew from 1 496 in 2017 to 1 748 in 2018 (representing an increase of 16.8 %);

- on 31 December 2018 the establishment plan was 96.35 % executed, with 555 temporary agents appointed out of 576 temporary agents authorised under the Union budget (compared with 550 authorised posts in 2017);

- an uneven gender balance was reported for 2018 among the senior managers – 145 men and 27 women, with 43 men and 10 women on the management board.