5.9.2014   

EN

Official Journal of the European Union

L 266/183

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having regard to the final annual accounts of the European Aviation Safety Agency for the financial year 2012,

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having regard to the Court of Auditors’ report on the annual accounts of the European Aviation Safety Agency for the financial year 2012, together with the Agency’s replies (1),

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having regard to the Council’s recommendation of 18 February 2014 (05849/2014 - C7-0054/2014),

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having regard to Article 319 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union,

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having regard to the 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,

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having regard to Regulation (EU, Euratom) No 966/2012 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 25 October 2012 on the financial rules applicable to the general budget of the Union and repealing Council Regulation (EC, Euratom) No 1605/2002 (3), and in particular Article 208 thereof,

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having regard to Regulation (EC) No 216/2008 of the European Parliament and of the Council (4) establishing a European Aviation Safety Agency, and in particular Article 60 thereof,

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having regard to Commission Regulation (EC, Euratom) No 2343/2002 of 19 November 2002 on the framework Financial Regulation for the bodies referred to in Article 185 of Council Regulation (EC, Euratom) No 1605/2002 on the Financial Regulation applicable to the general budget of the European Communities (5),

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having regard to Commission Delegated Regulation (EU) No 1271/2013 of 30 September 2013 on the framework financial regulation for the bodies referred to in Article 208 of Regulation (EU, Euratom) No 966/2012 of the European Parliament and of the Council (6), and in particular Article 108 thereof,

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having regard to its previous discharge decisions and resolutions,

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

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having regard to the report of the Committee on Budgetary Control and the opinion of the Committee on Transport and Tourism (A7-0221/2014),

A.

whereas according to its financial statements, the final budget of the European Aviation Safety Agency (‘the Agency’) for the financial year 2012 was EUR 158 848 191, representing an increase of 7 % compared to 2011,

B.

whereas the overall contribution of the Union to the Agency’s budget for 2012 amounted to EUR 38 651 354,83, representing an increase of 6,95 % compared to 2011,

C.

whereas the Court of Auditors has stated that it has obtained reasonable assurances that the Agency’s annual accounts for the financial year 2012 are reliable and that the underlying transactions are legal and regular,

1.

Highlights the Agency’s vital role in ensuring the highest possible level of aviation safety throughout Europe; notes, furthermore, that the current review of the Single European Sky legislation could lead to greater powers being accorded to the Agency; stresses that, should this be the case, the Agency will need to be given the financial, material and human resources it needs to perform its tasks successfully;

2.

Notes from the Court of Auditors’ report on the annual accounts that regarding the five comments made in 2011, two corrective actions taken in response to the previous year’s comments are marked as ‘ongoing’ and three as ‘completed’;

3.

Acknowledges from the Agency that:

4.

Notes that the overall level of appropriations committed was 95 %, varying between 96 % for title I (staff expenditure), 95 % for title II (administrative expenditure) and 89 % for title III (operational expenditure);

5.

Notes with concern that carry-overs of committed appropriations were high for title III at 46 %; stresses that, although this is partly justified by the multiannual nature of the Agency’s operations and by the duly justified carry-overs included in the Court of Auditors’ sample, nevertheless such a high level is at odds with the budgetary principle of annuality;

6.

Notes with satisfaction that according to the annual activity report as well as the Court of Auditors’ audit findings, the level and nature of transfers in 2012 have remained within the limits of the financial rules; commends the Agency for its good budgetary planning;

7.

Notes with concern that in one of the audited recruitment procedures, the selected candidate did not meet the requirements of the Staff Regulations of Officials of the European Communities as regards university degrees or equivalent professional training; calls on the Agency to provide an explanation as to how it could have happened;

8.

Welcomes the Agency’s adoption of the ‘cooling off period’ of non-assignment for a year, so that anyone new to the organisation is not allocated work on files they had directly worked on in the previous five years;

9.

Notes that following the recommendation of the discharge authority, the Agency will include information and statistics on the management of conflicts of interests in its 2013 annual activity report;

10.

Notes that the Agency is currently assessing the declarations of interests of managers and of person holding sensitive functions; regrets, however, that the CVs and declarations of interests of Management Board members and observers, as well as the declarations of interests of the Executive Director, are still not publicly available on the Agency’s website; calls on the Agency to remedy the situation as a matter of urgency;

11.

Regrets the lack of information available on the Agency’s website regarding the members of the Board of Appeal; believes that the names, CVs and declarations of interests of those members should be made public; therefore, calls on the Agency to remedy the situation as a matter of urgency;

12.

Notes with concern that while the Agency established a standard procedure for ex ante verifications, the related checklists were not completed and documentation justifying the validation of expenditure was not always available; calls on the Agency to take steps to rectify this and to report on its actions within the framework of the 2012 discharge follow-up;

13.

Regrets the fact that although a methodology for ex post verifications was approved in 2009 and that the Agency made further developments in its implementation, room for improvement still exists in some areas, namely that there is still no annual planning of verifications, that the sample of transactions to be checked is not risk-based and that the methodology does not cover public procurement procedures; calls on the Agency to further improve its performance in this regard and to report on the progress made within the framework of the 2012 discharge follow-up;

14.

Acknowledges from the Agency that in 2012, the Commission’s Internal Audit Service (IAS) performed a limited review of IT projects management, which led to two very important recommendations; notes that the IAS also carried out an assessment of the progress made by the Agency in implementing its recommendations resulting from its earlier audits (2006-2011); observes that the IAS confirmed that the Agency has adequately implemented 22 out of 23 recommendations, while the remaining one was reported by the Agency as implemented and waiting for final assessment by IAS;

15.

Requests that the Agency communicate the results and impact its work has on European citizens in an accessible way, mainly through its website;

16.

Refers, in respect of the other observations accompanying its Decision on discharge, which are of a horizontal nature, to its resolution of 3 April 2014 (7) on the performance, financial management and control of the agencies.