2022 discharge: Agency for Support for BEREC (BEREC Office)
The European Parliament decided to grant discharge to the Director of the Agency for Support for BEREC (BEREC Office) in respect of the implementation of the Agency's budget for the 2022 financial year and to approve the closure of the Joint Undertaking's accounts for the same financial year.
Noting that the Court of Auditors stated that it had obtained reasonable assurance that the Office's annual accounts for the financial year 2022 were reliable and that the underlying transactions were legal and regular, Parliament adopted, by 528 votes to 45 with 29 abstentions, a resolution containing a series of recommendations which form an integral part of the discharge decision and which complement the general recommendations set out in the resolution on the performance, financial management and control of EU agencies.
Agency's financial statements
The final adopted budget of the Agency for the financial year 2022 was EUR 7 428 456, representing an increase of 1.19 % compared to 2021.
Budget and financial management
Parliament noted with appreciation that budget monitoring efforts during the financial year 2022 resulted in a budget implementation rate of 99.99 % for the commitment appropriations of the final adopted budget for the year, representing an increase of 0.02 % compared to 2021. The budget implementation rate is within the threshold of above 95 % established by the management board. Payment appropriations execution rate was 82.78 %, representing an increase of 13.44 % compared to 2021.
Other observations
Parliament also made a series of observations concerning performance, staff policy, public procurement and internal controls.
In particular, it noted that:
- the Agency continued to provide high-quality administrative and professional support to the BEREC Board of Regulators, the BEREC Contact Network, the Public debriefings, the BEREC Working Groups, including the Ad Hoc Working Groups and the BEREC Office Advisory Group;
- telecoms regulator NCEC was taken on board of the Agency as a member without voting rights;
- in 2022, the Agency continued the use of interinstitutional procurement procedures and joined seven interinstitutional procurement procedures, which resulted in the conclusion of six framework contracts during the reporting period;
- the Agency has been operating since its establishment with lacking human resources capacity for certain posts;
- on 31 December 2022, the establishment plan consisted of 16 temporary agents authorised under the Union budget (the same number of authorised posts as in 2021);
- the digitalisation of procedures should be accelerated;
- the management board adopted the Agency’s anti-fraud strategy 2023-2025 that aims at improving the detection, sanctioning and prevention of fraud and counteract any other illegal activities that may affect its financial interest;
- the Agency was applauded for establishing a collaborative framework to address connectivity challenges and pave the way for harmonizing Ukrainian electronic communications regulations with the European telecoms framework.