PURPOSE: to grant discharge to the European Environment Agency for the financial year 2007.

LEGISLATIVE ACT: Decision 2009/673/EC of the European Parliament on the discharge for the implementation of the budget of the European Environment Agency for the financial year 2007.

CONTENT: with the present decision, the European Parliament grants discharge to the Executive Director of the European Environment Agency for the implementation of the Agency’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 a decision concerning the discharge to be granted to the Director of the European Environment Agency in respect of the implementation of the Agency’s 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 by 407 votes to 7, with 17 abstentions, a resolution with observations which are an integral part of the decision to grant discharge.

Parliament considers that the Agency should:

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; provide support for policy-making by further developing its work in the field of environmental impact assessment.

As regards recruitment procedures , Parliament regrets the fact that the European Court of Auditors (ECA) identified problems of transparency and discrimination. Noting the Agency’s responses on this issue, Parliament welcomes the Agency's promise to modify its approach to recruitment.

On the issue of procurement procedures , Parliament regrets the direct award of certain services. MEPs consider the Agency's reply to be unsatisfactory and call on it to ensure full compliance with procurement rules.

In relation to the management of grant agreements with European Topic Centres (which, according to the ECA, were not sufficiently monitored), Parliament is satisfied with the Agency's reply but notes that the grant agreements between the Agency and the European Topic Centres provide for a flat rate of 20% of direct expenditure for their indirect expenditure (overheads), whereas the implementing rules of the Financial Regulation limit this rate to 7%. Parliament therefore welcomes the Agency's commitment to sort out this situation in 2009/2010.

In relation to follow-up to previous discharge exercises , Parliament recalls its request that the Agency, before 1 January 2010 and every five years thereafter, commission an independent external evaluation of its achievements on the basis of its founding regulation and the work programme decided upon by the Management Board. Moreover, it calls on the Agency to inform the discharge authority of the results of the external evaluation. At the same time, Parliament regrets that, according to the data provided in the Agency's annual report, the situation with regard to balance in, and diversity of, staff did not improve significantly in 2007, as one third of staff are still of a single nationality. It therefore calls on the Agency to step up its efforts to improve the balance in, and diversity of, staff.

Lastly, noting that the Agency’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 Community European Environment Agency, calling on the European Parliament to grant the Executive Director of the Agency discharge in respect of the implementation of its budget for the financial year 2007.

Noting that the Agency’s annual accounts for the financial year 2007 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 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 Agency should 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; the Agency should provide support for policy-making by further developing its work in the field of environmental impact assessment.

In relation to recruitment procedures , MEPs regret the fact that the European Court of Auditors (ECA) identified problems of transparency and discrimination. Noting the Agency’s responses on this issue, MEPs the Agency's promise to modify its approach to recruitment.

On the issue of procurement procedures , MEPs regret the direct award of certain services. MEPs consider the Agency's reply to be unsatisfactory and call on it to ensure full compliance with procurement rules.

In relation to the management of grant agreements with European Topic Centres (which, according to the ECA, were not sufficiently monitored), MEPs are satisfied with the Agency's reply but note that the grant agreements between the Agency and the European Topic Centres provide for a flat rate of 20% of direct expenditure for their indirect expenditure (overheads), whereas the implementing rules of the Financial Regulation limit this rate to 7%. MEPs therefore welcome the Agency's commitment to sort out this situation in 2009/2010.

Lastly, in relation to follow-up to previous discharge exercises , MEPs recall their request that the Agency, before 1 January 2010 and every five years thereafter, commission an independent external evaluation of its achievements on the basis of its founding regulation and the work programme decided upon by the Management Board. Moreover, they call on the Agency to inform the discharge authority of the results of the external evaluation. At the same time, MEPs regret that, according to the data provided in the Agency's annual report, the situation with regard to balance in, and diversity of, staff did not improve significantly in 2007, as one third of staff are still of a single nationality. They therefore call on the Agency to step up its efforts to improve the balance in, and diversity of, staff.

Based on the observations contained in the expenditure account and balance sheet of the European Environment Agency for the financial year 2007, 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 2007.

In doing so, the Council confirms that EUR 7.2 million (66%) of the appropriations carried over from 2006 to 2007 (EUR 10.8 million) were used, that the appropriations carried over from 2007 to 2008 amount to EUR 5.9 million and that EUR 100 000 was cancelled.

Recalling that the Court of Auditors was able to obtain reasonable assurance that the Agency's annual accounts were reliable in all material respects, the Council considers that the implementation of the 2007 budget calls for a certain number of observations to be taken into account when granting discharge, particularly on the following points:

implementation of the Financial Regulation : the Council stresses the importance of fully taking into account the implementing rules of the Financial Regulation when establishing grant agreements with third parties. It also urges the Agency to respect strictly the requirements of the Financial Regulation in its procurement activities; recruitment : the Council notes the weaknesses in the recruitment procedures and asks the Agency to ensure transparency and equal treatment of candidates.

PURPOSE: to present the report of the Court of Auditors on the 2007 accounts of the European Environment Agency (EEA).

CONTENT: the Court of Auditor’s report includes a detailed section on the Agency’s expenditure and an analysis of the expenditure, as well as the Agency’s replies.

Analysis of the accounts by the Court : in its report, the Court of Auditors makes a series of observations, particularly with regard to weaknesses in the Agency’s recruitment procedures and the choice of candidates considered for further evaluation. The Court also highlights irregularites in certain tendering procedures (including when awarding certain contracts, calling into question the transparency of the procedures). Lastly, the Court highlights weaknesses in certain grant agreements with consortia of institutions (called European Topic Centres (ETC)) as well as in terms of checking the documentation provided by the Centres to the Agency; The Agency’s replies : the Agency notes that, in future recruitments, it will better document the selection of the short-listed candidates. In relation to the direct awards of services, the Agency notes that the Authorising Officer approved them due to the significant benefits to be accrued to the Agency. However, the Agency notes that it will manage future similar cases fully in line with the Financial Regulation. Moreover, the Agency states that it has already introduced new procedures for new topic centres in line with the Financial Regulation, including verification visits to ETC lead organisations and selected partners as well as other detailed checks prior to final payments.

PURPOSE: to present the final accounts of the European Environment Agency (EEA) for the financial year 2007.

CONTENT: this document sets out a detailed account of the implementation of the European Environment Agency’s budget for the financial year 2007. It notes that the final budget amounts to EUR 35.1 million in 2007 (compared to EUR 37.1 million in 2006), representing a 82% Community subsidy.

As regards the staffing policy, the Agency, whose head office is in Copenhagen (Denmark), officially set out 116 posts in its establishment plan. 111 of these posts are currently occupied with 55 other posts (contract agents and seconded national experts) assigned to operational, administrative and mixed tasks.

In 2007, the Agency’s main activities concentrated on the following:

launch of the report on ‘Europe’s environment: the fourth assessment’ at Pan-European Environment Ministers Conference; launch of Environmental Technology Atlas; launch of Water Information System for Europe (WISE); launch of ‘Our Arctic Challenge’ film; publication of reports on, inter alia, climate change costs, greenhouse gas emission trends and projections, air quality, air emissions, sustainable consumption and production, biodiversity indicators and waste management; launch of new Topic Centres on Water, Land use and spatial information, and air and climate change; participation in conferences on ‘Beyond GDP’ and Tax reform.

The complete version of the final accounts may be found at the following address: http://www.eea.europa.eu/about-us/documents/

PURPOSE: to present the final accounts of the European Environment Agency (EEA) for the financial year 2007.

CONTENT: this document sets out a detailed account of the implementation of the European Environment Agency’s budget for the financial year 2007. It notes that the final budget amounts to EUR 35.1 million in 2007 (compared to EUR 37.1 million in 2006), representing a 82% Community subsidy.

As regards the staffing policy, the Agency, whose head office is in Copenhagen (Denmark), officially set out 116 posts in its establishment plan. 111 of these posts are currently occupied with 55 other posts (contract agents and seconded national experts) assigned to operational, administrative and mixed tasks.

In 2007, the Agency’s main activities concentrated on the following:

launch of the report on ‘Europe’s environment: the fourth assessment’ at Pan-European Environment Ministers Conference; launch of Environmental Technology Atlas; launch of Water Information System for Europe (WISE); launch of ‘Our Arctic Challenge’ film; publication of reports on, inter alia, climate change costs, greenhouse gas emission trends and projections, air quality, air emissions, sustainable consumption and production, biodiversity indicators and waste management; launch of new Topic Centres on Water, Land use and spatial information, and air and climate change; participation in conferences on ‘Beyond GDP’ and Tax reform.

The complete version of the final accounts may be found at the following address: http://www.eea.europa.eu/about-us/documents/