REPORT on discharge in respect of the implementation of the budget of Eurojust for the financial year 2009

1. PROPOSAL FOR A EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT DECISION

6.4.2011 - (C7‑0234/2010 – 2010/2174(DEC))

Committee on Budgetary Control
Rapporteur: Georgios Stavrakakis

Procedure : 2010/2174(DEC)

Document stages in plenary

Document selected :

A7-0133/2011

Texts tabled :

A7-0133/2011

Debates :

PV 10/05/2011 - 4
CRE 10/05/2011 - 4

Votes :

PV 10/05/2011 - 9.22
Explanations of votes
Explanations of votes
Explanations of votes

Texts adopted :

P7_TA(2011)0181

1. PROPOSAL FOR A EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT DECISION

Date adopted

Result of final vote

+:

–:

0:

Members present for the final vote

Sonia Alfano, Alexander Alvaro, Rita Borsellino, Emine Bozkurt, Simon Busuttil, Carlos Coelho, Cornelis de Jong, Agustín Díaz de Mera García Consuegra, Kinga Gál, Kinga Göncz, Nathalie Griesbeck, Sylvie Guillaume, Ágnes Hankiss, Salvatore Iacolino, Sophia in ‘t Veld, Lívia Járóka, Teresa Jiménez-Becerril Barrio, Juan Fernando López Aguilar, Monica Luisa Macovei, Véronique Mathieu, Louis Michel, Claude Moraes, Georgios Papanikolaou, Judith Sargentini, Birgit Sippel, Renate Sommer, Rui Tavares, Wim van de Camp, Daniël van der Stoep, Axel Voss, Renate Weber, Tatjana Ždanoka

Substitute(s) present for the final vote

Edit Bauer, Leonidas Donskis, Monika Hohlmeier, Stanimir Ilchev, Franziska Keller

Substitute(s) under Rule 187(2) present for the final vote

Marina Yannakoudakis

on discharge in respect of the implementation of the budget of Eurojust for the financial year 2009

(C7‑0234/2010 – 2010/2174(DEC))

The European Parliament,

– having regard to the final annual accounts of Eurojust for the financial year 2009,

– having regard to the Court of Auditors’ report on the annual accounts of Eurojust for the financial year 2009, together with Eurojust’s replies[1],

– having regard to the Council's recommendation of 15 February 2011 (5892/2011 – C7-0052/2011),

– having regard to Article 276 of the EC Treaty and Article 319 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union,

– having regard to Council Regulation (EC, Euratom) No 1605/2002 of 25 June 2002 on the Financial Regulation applicable to the general budget of the European Communities[2], and in particular Article 185 thereof,

– having regard to Council Decision 2002/187/JHA of 28 February 2002 setting up Eurojust with a view to reinforcing the fight against serious crime[3], and in particular Article 36 thereof,

– having regard to Commission Regulation (EC, Euratom) No 2343/2002[4] of 19 November 2002 on the framework Financial Regulation for the bodies referred to in Article 185 of Regulation (EC, Euratom) No 1605/2002, and in particular Article 94 thereof,

– having regard to Rule 77 of, and Annex VI to, its Rules of Procedure,

– having regard to the report of the Committee on Budgetary Control and the opinion of the Committee on Civil Liberties, Justice and Home Affairs (A7-0133/2011),

1. Grants the Administrative Director of Eurojust discharge in respect of the implementation of Eurojust’s budget for the financial year 2009;

2. Sets out its observations in the resolution below;

3. Instructs its President to forward this Decision and the resolution that forms an integral part of it to the Administrative Director of Eurojust, the Council, the Commission and the Court of Auditors, and to arrange for their publication in the Official Journal of the European Union (L series).

2. PROPOSAL FOR A EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT DECISION

on the closure of the accounts of Eurojust for the financial year 2009

(C7‑0234/2010 – 2010/2174(DEC))

The European Parliament,

– having regard to the final annual accounts of Eurojust for the financial year 2009,

– having regard to the Court of Auditors’ report on the annual accounts of Eurojust for the financial year 2009, together with Eurojust’s replies[5],

– having regard to the Council's recommendation of 15 February 2011 (5892/2011 – C7-0052/2011),

– having regard to Article 276 of the EC Treaty and Article 319 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union,

– having regard to Council Regulation (EC, Euratom) No 1605/2002 of 25 June 2002 on the Financial Regulation applicable to the general budget of the European Communities[6], and in particular Article 185 thereof,

– having regard to Council Decision 2002/187/JHA of 28 February 2002 setting up Eurojust with a view to reinforcing the fight against serious crime[7], and in particular Article 36 thereof,

– having regard to Commission Regulation (EC, Euratom) No 2343/2002[8] of 19 November 2002 on the framework Financial Regulation for the bodies referred to in Article 185 of Regulation (EC, Euratom) No 1605/2002, and in particular Article 94 thereof,

– having regard to Rule 77 of, and Annex VI to, its Rules of Procedure,

– having regard to the report of the Committee on Budgetary Control and the opinion of the Committee on Civil Liberties, Justice and Home Affairs (A7-0133/2011),

1. Approves the closure of the accounts of Eurojust for the financial year 2009;

2. Instructs its President to forward this Decision to the Administrative Director of Eurojust, the Council, the Commission and the Court of Auditors, and to arrange for its publication in the Official Journal of the European Union (L series).

3. MOTION FOR A EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT RESOLUTION

with observations forming an integral part of its decision on discharge in respect of the implementation of the budget of Eurojust for the financial year 2009

(C7‑0234/2010 – 2010/2174(DEC))

The European Parliament,

– having regard to the final annual accounts of Eurojust for the financial year 2009,

– having regard to the Court of Auditors’ report on the annual accounts of Eurojust for the financial year 2009, together with Eurojust’s replies[9],

– having regard to the Council's recommendation of 15 February 2011 (5892/2011 – C7-0052/2011),

– having regard to Article 276 of the EC Treaty and Article 319 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union,

– having regard to Council Regulation (EC, Euratom) No 1605/2002 of 25 June 2002 on the Financial Regulation applicable to the general budget of the European Communities[10], and in particular Article 185 thereof,

– having regard to Council Decision 2002/187/JHA of 28 February 2002 setting up Eurojust with a view to reinforcing the fight against serious crime[11], and in particular Article 36 thereof,

– having regard to Commission Regulation (EC, Euratom) No 2343/2002[12] of 19 November 2002 on the framework Financial Regulation for the bodies referred to in Article 185 of Regulation (EC, Euratom) No 1605/2002, and in particular Article 94 thereof,

– having regard to Rule 77 of, and Annex VI to, its Rules of Procedure,

– having regard to the report of the Committee on Budgetary Control and the opinion of the Committee on Civil Liberties, Justice and Home Affairs (A7-0133/2011),

A. whereas the Court of Auditors stated that it has obtained reasonable assurances that the annual accounts for the financial year 2009 are reliable and that the underlying transactions are legal and regular,

B. whereas on 5 May 2010 Parliament granted the Administrative Director of Eurojust discharge for implementation of Eurojust’s budget for the financial year 2008, and in its resolution accompanying the discharge decision, inter alia:

- welcomed the conclusion on 24 September 2008 of the Practical Agreement on arrangements of cooperation between Eurojust and OLAF,

- noted the Court of Auditors’ finding that in 2008 Eurojust still had difficulties carrying forward appropriations, even if the amount appeared to be lower than in the previous year (13 % of final budget appropriations, instead of 25 % of appropriations carried over in 2007),

- regretted that the Court of Auditors again found deficiencies in procurement procedures, as in the previous three years,

C. whereas the subsidy to the Agency was EUR 26 400 000 in 2009, 6,4 % more than in 2008;

Performance

1. Welcomes the Agency’s initiative to include Key Performance Indicators in its 2010 unit plans; calls, nevertheless, on the Agency to inform the discharge authority on these key indicators and their links to Eurojust’s objectives, budget and work programme; considers, in fact, that linking indicators to the objectives, budget and work programme of the Agency will allow stakeholders to evaluate Eurojust’s performance better;

2. Welcomes the Agency's initiative to have presented, in the table annexed to the Court of Auditors' 2009 report, a comparison of the operations that were carried out during 2008 and 2009 so as to enable the discharge authority to assess more effectively its performance from one year to the next;

Carryover of appropriations

3. Notes with satisfaction that the Court of Auditors does not comment on the level of carryovers and cancellations of appropriations in 2009;

4. Notes that the discharge for the implementation of the budget for the Agency should be further based on its performance throughout the year;

5. Calls on the Agency to inform the discharge authority of the steps taken to avoid carrying forward appropriations, such carrying forward of appropriations has been a constant issue during the previous discharge procedures;

Improvement in procurement procedures

6. Congratulates the Agency for establishing measures to estimate the market value of relevant products/services before commencing a procurement procedure; considers this initiative an important practice to be followed by other agencies; welcomes, in addition, the Agency’s annual procurement plan for 2009 which greatly helped Eurojust’s units and services in the management of their tenders; considers that these initiatives improve the authorising officer’s guidance and control;

Human resources

7. Expresses concern at the fact that the Court of Auditors has again noted shortcomings in the planning and implementation of recruitment procedures; notes in particular that the level of vacant posts (24 %) is still too high, although less than in 2008 (26 %) and in 2007 (33 %); calls, accordingly, on the Agency to set up a comprehensive recruitment action plan to significantly reduce the vacancy rate and inform the discharge authority about this; welcomes, however, the Agency’s intention to reduce the vacancy rate to less than 8 % by the end of 2011;

8. Congratulates the Agency’s achievement in 2009 of reducing the number of temporary staff "acting as staff members" from 31 to 10 by the end of that year; calls, nevertheless, on the Agency to further reduce this number as recommended by the Internal Audit Service (IAS);

9. Acknowledges that the Agency launched its new recruitment procedure in 2009 which provided that members of the selection board shall only invite applicants to interviews who score a minimum of 75 % on the preliminary evaluation and only place on reserve lists candidates who score a minimum of 75 % on the interview evaluation and on the written tests;

10. Expresses concern that the Court of Auditors has reported that three out of six middle management (Head of Unit) posts at the Agency were filled on a temporary basis by “acting” staff members; underlines that this situation indicates difficulties in attracting and retaining the right staff; welcomes, nevertheless, the Agency’s plan to adopt a decision which will provide that the final assessment of applicants will be based on the combination of the grade given at the moment of the completion of the application form, and the result of interviews and written tests; considers that this approach is an improvement of the Agency’s selection procedures as it takes into account, in an effective manner, each candidate's merits;

Internal audit

11. Acknowledges that out of the 26 recommendations made by the IAS in 31 December 2008 just 4 have been resolved (two of which were considered “critical”); notes, in addition, that the IAS issued an additional recommendation in December 2009 and that 15 of the remaining 23 recommendations have an implementation delay of more than 12 months; calls, accordingly, on the Agency to inform the discharge authority of the reasons for such a delay and to take immediate action on improving the recruitment procedure, reducing the number of interim staff, restructuring the Human Resources(HR) Unit, developing an HR management plan, reinforcing the monitoring of HR activities and reviewing the content of the register of exceptions;

12. Welcomes the Agency’s initiative of providing to the discharge authority the IAS' annual Internal Audit Report on the Agency; considers this a sign of transparency and best practice to be followed by all other relevant agencies;

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13. Refers, in respect of the other observations accompanying its Decision on discharge, which are of a horizontal nature, to its resolution of …. May 2011[13] on the performance, financial management and control of the agencies.

2.3.2011

OPINION of the Committee on Civil Liberties, Justice and Home Affairs

for the Committee on Budgetary Control

on discharge in respect of the implementation of the budget of Eurojust for the financial year 2009

(C7‑0234/2010 – 2010/2174(DEC))

Rapporteur: Simon Busuttil

SUGGESTIONS

The Committee on Civil Liberties, Justice and Home Affairs calls on the Committee on Budgetary Control, as the committee responsible, to incorporate the following suggestions in its motion for a resolution:

1. Is pleased to note that the Court of Auditors has been able to obtain reasonable assurances that the annual accounts of Eurojust for the financial year 2009 are in all material respects reliable and that the underlying transactions, taken as a whole, are legal and regular;

2. Notes with satisfaction that the Court of Auditors does not comment on the level of carryovers and cancellations of appropriations in 2009;

3. Regrets that the Agency's rate of vacant posts is so high (24 %); takes note of the Agency's reply stating that it has difficulties recruiting and retaining staff because of the strong competition with other international organisations in the Hague and that it prepared a recruitment plan to improve the situation; welcomes the information given by the Agency that the vacancy rate was reduced in 2010 to 12 %; points out that this rate is still high and calls on the Agency to continue its efforts to further improve the situation; calls for the recruitment plan mentioned in the Agency's replies to be followed up in 2011;

4. Deplores the fact that certain recruitment contracts which were carried out in an irregular manner are still operative; calls on the Agency to remedy the irregularity without further delay;

5. Notes that the discharge for the implementation of the budget for the Agency should be further based on its performance throughout the year.

RESULT OF FINAL VOTE IN COMMITTEE

RESULT OF FINAL VOTE IN COMMITTEE

[1] OJ C 338, 14.12.2010, p. 144.
[2] OJ L 248, 16.9.2002, p. 1.
[3] OJ L 63, 6.3.2002, p. 1.
[4] OJ L 357, 31.12.2002, p. 72.
[5] OJ C 338, 14.12.2010, p. 144.
[6] OJ L 248, 16.9.2002, p. 1.
[7] OJ L 63, 6.3.2002, p. 1.
[8] OJ L 357, 31.12.2002, p. 72.
[9] OJ C 338, 14.12.2010, p. 144.
[10] OJ L 248, 16.9.2002, p. 1.
[11] OJ L 63, 6.3.2002, p. 1.
[12] OJ L 357, 31.12.2002, p. 72.
[13] Texts adopted, P7_TA-PROV(2011)...

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