PURPOSE: to grant discharge to the European Monitoring Centre for Drugs and Drug Addiction for the financial year 2007.

LEGISLATIVE ACT: Decision 2009/653/EC of the European Parliament on the discharge for the implementation of the budget of the European Monitoring Centre for Drugs and Drug Addiction for the financial year 2007.

CONTENT: with the present decision, the European Parliament grants discharge to the Director of the European Monitoring Centre for Drugs and Drug Addiction for the implementation of the Centre's budget for the financial year 2007.

This decision is in line with the European Parliament’s resolution adopted on 23 April 2009 and comprises a series of observations that form an integral part of the discharge decision (please refer to the summary of the opinion of 23/04/2009). The decision to grant discharge is also an approval of the closure of the accounts of this EU agency.

The European Parliament adopted by 581 votes to 12, with 39 abstentions, a decision concerning the discharge to be granted to the Director of the European Monitoring Centre for Drugs and Drug Addiction in respect of the implementation of its budget for the financial year 2007. The decision to grant discharge is also an approval of the closure of the accounts of this EU agency.

In parallel, the European Parliament adopted a resolution with observations which are an integral part of the decision to grant discharge.

Parliament highlights:

that the Centre’s IT needs increased dramatically due to the Centre’s move to new premises; the disagreement between the Centre and Norway about Norway's financial participation in the Centre's work; the compromise which has since been achieved, according to which Norway made a one-off payment of EUR 34 230 to the Community.

On the issue of follow-up to previous discharge exercises , Parliament welcomes the fact that the Centre closely cooperates with the European Maritime Safety Agency (EMSA), also based in Lisbon, in order to share buildings and jointly use infrastructures and services.

Lastly, noting that the Monitoring Centre’s annual accounts for the financial year 2007 are reliable, and the underlying transactions are legal and regular, the Parliament approves the closure of its accounts and refers, for other observations accompanying its decision on discharge, to its resolution on financial management and control of EU agencies - see 2008/2207(INI) - adopted in parallel.

The Committee on Budgetary Control adopted the report drawn up by Christofer FJELLNER (EPP-ED, SE) on discharge to be granted to the European Monitoring Centre for Drugs and Drug Addiction, calling on the European Parliament to grant the Executive Director of the Centre discharge in respect of the implementation of its budget for the financial year 2007.

Noting that the Centre’s annual accounts for the financial year 2007 are reliable, and the underlying transactions are legal and regular, MEPs approve the closure of the Centre’s accounts.

However, they make a number of recommendations as part of the decision on discharge. In addition to the general recommendations appearing in the draft resolution on financial management and control of EU agencies (see 2008/2207(INI) ), MEPs make the following observations:

the ECA's observation that the Centre’s IT needs increased dramatically, explained by the Centre’s move to new premises and, therefore, the need for new equipment; there is a disagreement between the Centre and Norway about Norway's financial participation in the Centre's work; a compromise has since been achieved, according to which Norway made a one-off payment of EUR 34 230 and accepted the waiving of an existing surplus of its contribution to the Centre; Norway also accepted a new calculation method for future contributions.

Lastly, on the issue of follow-up to previous discharge exercises , MEPs welcome the fact that the Centre closely cooperates with the European Maritime Safety Agency (EMSA), also based in Lisbon, in order to share buildings and jointly use infrastructures and services.

Based on the observations contained in the revenue and expenditure account and the balance sheet of the European Monitoring Centre for Drugs and Drug Addiction for the financial year 2007, as well as on the Court of Auditor’s report and the Centre’s replies to the Court’s observations, the Council recommends that the Parliament grant the Director of the Centre discharge in respect of the implementation of the budget for the financial year 2007.

In doing so, the Council confirms that EUR 0.8 million (64%) of the EUR 1.2 million in appropriations carried forward from the financial year 2006 to the financial year 2007 have been used and EUR 0.9 million have been carried forward from the financial year 2007 to the financial year 2008 and EUR 0.8 million have been cancelled.

Recalling that the Court of Auditors was able to obtain reasonable assurance that the Centre’s annual accounts were, in all material aspects, reliable, the Council believes that there is one observation which needs to be made:

Calculation of Norway’s financial contribution : the Council takes note of the Centre's disagreement with the Norwegian authorities concerning the calculation of Norway's financial contribution for its participation in the Centre's work from 2007 onwards, resulting from a difference between the signed original agreement and the version published in the Official Journal. It is confident that the Centre will resolve this disagreement without delay, in order to re-establish budgetary certainty.

PURPOSE: presentation of the report from the Court of Auditors on the 2007 annual accounts of the European Monitoring Centre for Drugs and Drug Addiction (EMCDDA).

CONTENT: the Court of Auditors report includes a detailed section on the expenditure of the European Monitoring Centre as well as an analysis of the expenditure in the accounts and the Agency’s replies.

The Court’s analysis of the accounts : the Court of Auditors recalls that the Centre is in disagreement with Norway concerning the calculation of Norway’s financial contribution for its participation in the Centre’s work (applicable from 2007 onwards). The disagreement is due to the fact that the formula in the signed original agreement (applied by the Centre) differs from the formula in the agreement as published in the Official Journal (applied by Norway). The Centre has accounted for this contribution using its interpretation of the formula. The Centre should seek to resolve this disagreement as soon as possible as it has an impact on the budget and on the Centre’s financial statements The Centre’s replies : the EMCDDA is actively trying to reach a compromise with the Norwegian authorities in order to overcome the current impasse, whilst avoiding jeopardising the EMCDDA’s activities/operations and its good relations with Norway.

PURPOSE: presentation of the final accounts of the European Monitoring Centre for Drugs and Drug Addiction (EMCDDA) for the 2007 financial year.

CONTENT: this document sets out a detailed account of the implementation of the EMCDDA’s 2007 budget. It indicates that EMCDDA’s final budget amounted to 14.4 million EUR in 2007 (compared with 13.1 million EUR in 2006) 93% of which is derived from a Community subsidy.

In terms of personnel, the EMCDDA, whose headquarters are in Lisbon (Portugal) had 82 posts in its establishment plan, 73 of which are occupied and 25 others (auxiliary contracts, contract staff and temporary replacements) amounting to 98 posts undertaking operational, administrative or mixed tasks.

In 2007, the EMCDDA’s activities mainly focused on:

Publications

Annual report on the state of the drug problem in Europe; 23 language versions, publication and interactive website); Selected issues published alongside the Annual report (3 issues, publication, summaries and interactive website, EN); Statistical bulletin and interactive website containing over 350 tables, 100 graphs and PDF files; General activities report — annual, EN; Drugnet Europe newsletter — 4 issues, EN; Drugs in Focus (policy briefings) — 3 issues, 25 language versions; Technical and scientific studies, including Articles and scientific summaries 57.

Set-up/updating/content development of public EMCDDA website

Drug profiles, Country situation summaries, Country data profiles, Drug treatment overviews, European legal database on drugs, Evaluation instruments bank, Exchange on drug demand reduction action, FONTE: a data collection, validation, storage and retrieval system.

Promotional brochures : 3 products.

Media products : 174 miscellaneous products.

Participation in international conferences/meetings : 230.

Organisation of technical and scientific meetings : 41.

The Observatory’s full accounts are available from the following address:

http://www.emcdda.europa.eu/index.cfm?fuseaction=public.Content&nnodeid=6465&sLanguageiso=EN

PURPOSE: presentation of the final accounts of the European Monitoring Centre for Drugs and Drug Addiction (EMCDDA) for the 2007 financial year.

CONTENT: this document sets out a detailed account of the implementation of the EMCDDA’s 2007 budget. It indicates that EMCDDA’s final budget amounted to 14.4 million EUR in 2007 (compared with 13.1 million EUR in 2006) 93% of which is derived from a Community subsidy.

In terms of personnel, the EMCDDA, whose headquarters are in Lisbon (Portugal) had 82 posts in its establishment plan, 73 of which are occupied and 25 others (auxiliary contracts, contract staff and temporary replacements) amounting to 98 posts undertaking operational, administrative or mixed tasks.

In 2007, the EMCDDA’s activities mainly focused on:

Publications

Annual report on the state of the drug problem in Europe; 23 language versions, publication and interactive website); Selected issues published alongside the Annual report (3 issues, publication, summaries and interactive website, EN); Statistical bulletin and interactive website containing over 350 tables, 100 graphs and PDF files; General activities report — annual, EN; Drugnet Europe newsletter — 4 issues, EN; Drugs in Focus (policy briefings) — 3 issues, 25 language versions; Technical and scientific studies, including Articles and scientific summaries 57.

Set-up/updating/content development of public EMCDDA website

Drug profiles, Country situation summaries, Country data profiles, Drug treatment overviews, European legal database on drugs, Evaluation instruments bank, Exchange on drug demand reduction action, FONTE: a data collection, validation, storage and retrieval system.

Promotional brochures : 3 products.

Media products : 174 miscellaneous products.

Participation in international conferences/meetings : 230.

Organisation of technical and scientific meetings : 41.

The Observatory’s full accounts are available from the following address:

http://www.emcdda.europa.eu/index.cfm?fuseaction=public.Content&nnodeid=6465&sLanguageiso=EN