PURPOSE: to grant discharge to the European Environment Agency in respect of the implementation of the Agency's budget for the financial year 2009.

NON-LEGISLATIVE ACT: Decision 2011/578/EU of the European Parliament on discharge in respect of the implementation of the budget of the European Environment Agency for the financial year 2009.

CONTENT: with the present decision, the European Parliament grants discharge to the Executive Director of the European Environment Agency for the implementation of its budget for the financial year 2009.

This decision is in line with the European Parliament's resolution adopted on 10 May 2011 and comprises a series of observations that form an integral part of the discharge decision (please refer to the summary of the opinion of 10/05/2011).

A parallel decision, adopted on the same day, approves the closure of this Agency's accounts.

The European Parliament adopted by 514 votes to 79, with 36 abstentions a decision to grant discharge to the Executive Director of the European Environment Agency in respect of the implementation of its budget for the financial year 2009.

Noting that the Agency’s annual accounts for the financial year 2009 are reliable, and the underlying transactions are legal and regular, Parliament approves the closure of the Agency’s accounts. However, it makes a number of recommendations that need to be taken into account when the discharge is granted (in addition to the general recommendations that appear in the resolution on financial management and control of EU agencies - see DEC/2010/2271 ):

performance : Parliament encourages the Agency to continue its efforts to further develop its communication methods in order to attract more media coverage for its findings and thus feed public debate on important environmental issues, such as climate change, biodiversity and the management of natural resources. It also considers that such measures may lead to a more transparent working method and greater public interest in the Agency’s work; budgetary procedures: Parliament acknowledges that the Court of Auditors reported insufficiently rigorous procedures for drawing up the budget leading to a considerable number of budgetary transfers affecting most of the budget lines (equivalent to 8 % of the Agency's budget). It is concerned about the Agency's practice of making transfers to increase a budget line in order to pay the rent for the Agency’s premises for the first quarter of 2010 and charging it to the 2009 budget. This practice by the Agency is at odds with the principle of annuality. It therefore calls on the Agency to improve, by the end of the year, the accuracy of the information provided by the operational departments on the estimation of accrued operational expenditure; human resources: lastly, Parliament calls on the Agency to redress its deficiencies in the recruitment procedures. It notes, in particular, that vacancy notices did not specify a number of crucial aspects and calls on the Agency to enhance the transparency of its procedures in this regard.

The Committee on Budgetary Control adopted the report by Georgios STAVRAKAKIS (S&D, EL) calling on the European Parliament to grant the Executive Director of the European Environment Agency discharge in respect of the implementation of its budget for the financial year 2009.

Noting that the Agency’s annual accounts for the financial year 2009 are reliable, and the underlying transactions are legal and regular, MEPs approve the closure of the Agency’s accounts. However, they make a number of recommendations that need to be taken into account when the discharge is granted, in addition to the general recommendations that appear in the draft resolution on financial management and control of EU agencies (see DEC/2010/2271 ):

performance: Members call on the Agency to set out, in a table to be annexed to the Court of Auditors’ next report, a comparison of operations carried out during the year for which discharge is to be granted and in the previous financial year, so as to enable the discharge authority to assess the Agency's performance from one year to the next more effectively. Members encourage the Agency to continue its efforts to further develop its communication methods in order to attract more media coverage for its findings and thus feed public debate on important environmental issues, such as climate change, biodiversity and the management of natural resources. They also consider that such measures may lead to a more transparent working method and greater public interest in the Agency’s work; budgetary procedures : Members acknowledge that the Court of Auditors reported insufficiently rigorous procedures for drawing up the budget leading to a considerable number of budgetary transfers affecting most of the budget lines (equivalent to 8 % of the Agency's budget). They are concerned about the Agency's practice of making transfers to increase a budget line in order to pay the rent for the Agency’s premises for the first quarter of 2010 and charge it to the 2009 budget. They stress that this practice by the Agency is at odds with the principle of annuality. They call on the Agency to improve, by the end of the year, the accuracy of the information provided by the operational departments on the estimation of accrued operational expenditure;

human resources: Members call on the Agency to redress its deficiencies in the recruitment procedures. They note, in particular, that vacancy notices did not specify a number of crucial aspects and call on the Agency to enhance the transparency of its procedures in this regard; internal audit : Members note that the Agency has still not followed up on certain recommendations from the Internal Audit Service (IAS) in spite of the fact that they were considered “very important”.

Based on the observations contained in the expenditure account and balance sheet of the European Environment Agency for the financial year 2009, as well as on the Court of Auditor’s report and the Agency’s replies to the Court’s observations, the Council recommends that Parliament grant the Executive Director of the Agency discharge in respect of the implementation of the budget for the financial year 2009.

The Council welcomes the Court's opinion that, on the one hand, the Agency's annual accounts present fairly, in all material aspects, the financial position as at 31 December 2009 and the results of operations and cash-flows for the year then ended, in accordance with the provisions of the Agency's Financial Regulation, and that, on the other hand, the underlying transactions for the financial year ended on 31 December 2009 are, in all material respects, legal and regular.

However, the Council considers that observations made in the Court of Auditor’s report call for a certain number of observations to be taken into account when granting discharge, particularly on the following points:

budgetary implementation : the Council asks the Agency to review its procedures for budget planning, monitoring and implementation, to take operational needs resulting from its work programme better into account, to increase the accuracy of up-to-date financial information, and to strictly respect the budgetary principle of annuality; recruitment procedures : the Council encourages the Agency to remedy the weaknesses identified by the Court in its staff selection procedures and to increase their transparency.

PURPOSE: presentation by the Court of Auditors of its report on the annual accounts of the European Environment Agency, together with the Agency’s replies.

CONTENT: in accordance with the tasks and objectives conferred on it by the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union (TFEU), the Court of Auditors, in the context of the discharge procedure, addresses to the European Parliament and the Council a Statement of Assurance on the reliability of the annual accounts, as well as of the legality and regularity of the transactions underlying them of each EU institution, body or agency, on the basis of an external, independent audit.

This audit also covered the annual accounts of the European Environment Agency (EEA).

In the Court’s opinion, the Agency’s annual accounts presented “fairly, in all material respects”, its financial position as of 31 December 2009 and the results of its operations and its cash flows for the year then ended, in accordance with the provisions of its Financial Regulation.

The Court also stated that the transactions underlying the annual accounts of the Agency for the financial year ended 31 December 2009 were, “in all material respects, legal and regular ”.

The report again confirmed that the Agency’s 2009 final budget amounted to EUR 39.9 million, of which 87% stems from a Union subsidy. The number of staff employed by the Agency at the end of the year was 133.

The report also included comments on the Agency’s budgetary and financial management, together with the Agency’s replies. The main comments are as follows:

The Court’s comments :

· procedures for drawing up the budget were not sufficiently rigorous and led to a considerable number of budgetary transfers affecting most of the budget lines. This situation shows that the link between the budget and the work programme needs to be improved;

· weaknesses in the estimation of accrued operational expenditure (over-estimation of certain amounts);

· weaknesses in the recruitment procedures.

The Agency’s replies :

· 2009 was the first year in a new five-year strategic plan with a new nomenclature for the operational budget to better mirror the EEA work programme;

· measures will be taken to improve the internal control with a view to improving the accuracy of the accrued expenses evaluation;

· the methodology followed by the Selections Boards is being revised in order to ensure more transparency in the selection procedures.

Lastly, the Court of Auditor’s report contained a summary of the Agency’s activities in 2009 in the following areas:

· participation and organisation of conferences on key environmental themes for Europe;

· launch of Eye-on Earth portal;

· various research work (e.g. Annual European Union greenhouse gas inventory 1990-2007 and inventory report 2009, report on air pollution by ozone across Europe during summer 2008);

· launch of Noise Observation and Information System for Europe (NOISE).

· various studies (quality of bathing water, quality of life in Europe’s cities and towns, biodiversity in Europe, waste management, etc);

· collaboration with DG Environment, ESTAT and the JRC.

PURPOSE: presentation by the Commission of the consolidated annual accounts of the European Union for the financial year 2009, as part of the 2009 discharge procedure.

Analysis of the accounts of the European Environment Agency (EEA) .

CONTENT: this Commission document sets out the consolidated annual accounts of the European Union for the financial year 2009 as prepared on the basis of the information presented by the institutions, organisations and bodies of the EU, in accordance with Article 129 (2) of the Financial Regulation applicable to the EU’s General Budget, including the European Environment Agency (EEA).

In 2009, the tasks and budget of this agency were as follows:

· description of the Agency’s tasks : the European Environment Agency, which is located in Copenhagen, was established by Council Regulation (EEC) No 1210/90 . It is responsible for setting up an observation network to provide the Commission, the Parliament, the Member States and, more generally, the public with reliable information on the state of the environment. This information should, in particular, enable the European Union and the Member States to take action to safeguard the environment and assess the effectiveness of such action;

· the Agency’s budget for the financial year 2009 : the Agency’s 2009 budget amounted to EUR 39.9 million, compared with EUR 37.1 million the previous year. The number of staff employed by the Agency at the end of the year was 133, compared with 123 the previous year.

The complete version of EEA’s final accounts may be found at the following address: www.eea.europa.eu/about-us/documents/administrativedocuments/eea-accounts-for-the-year-2009

PURPOSE: presentation by the Commission of the consolidated annual accounts of the European Union for the financial year 2009, as part of the 2009 discharge procedure.

Analysis of the accounts of the European Environment Agency (EEA) .

CONTENT: this Commission document sets out the consolidated annual accounts of the European Union for the financial year 2009 as prepared on the basis of the information presented by the institutions, organisations and bodies of the EU, in accordance with Article 129 (2) of the Financial Regulation applicable to the EU’s General Budget, including the European Environment Agency (EEA).

In 2009, the tasks and budget of this agency were as follows:

· description of the Agency’s tasks : the European Environment Agency, which is located in Copenhagen, was established by Council Regulation (EEC) No 1210/90 . It is responsible for setting up an observation network to provide the Commission, the Parliament, the Member States and, more generally, the public with reliable information on the state of the environment. This information should, in particular, enable the European Union and the Member States to take action to safeguard the environment and assess the effectiveness of such action;

· the Agency’s budget for the financial year 2009 : the Agency’s 2009 budget amounted to EUR 39.9 million, compared with EUR 37.1 million the previous year. The number of staff employed by the Agency at the end of the year was 133, compared with 123 the previous year.

The complete version of EEA’s final accounts may be found at the following address: www.eea.europa.eu/about-us/documents/administrativedocuments/eea-accounts-for-the-year-2009