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

LEGISLATIVE ACT: Decision 2009/649/EC of the European Parliament on the discharge for the implementation of the budget of European Agency for the Management of Operational Cooperation at the External Borders of the Member States of the European Union for the financial year 2007.

CONTENT: with the present decision, the European Parliament grants discharge to the Executive Director of the European Agency for the Management of Operational Cooperation at the External Borders of the Member States of the European Union 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 568 votes to 20, with 41 abstentions, a decision on discharge in respect of the implementation of the budget of the European Agency for the Management of Operational Cooperation at the External Borders of the Member States of the European Union (FRONTEX) for the financial year 2007. The decision to grant discharge is also an approval of the closure of the accounts of this EU agency.

Moreover, the Parliament adopted a resolution with observations which form an integral part of the decision to grant discharge.

The Parliament stresses that:

the Agency's 2007 budget (EUR 42.1 million) more than doubled compared with the 2006 budget (EUR 19.2 million; commitments carried over to 2008 pertaining to grant agreements linked to operational activities amounted to EUR 18.4 million, and a substantial part of these commitments were based on excessive cost estimates; the high amount of cash retained by the Agency stays unused on excessively low interest bearing bank accounts (the Agency held EUR 32.6 million in cash and cash equivalents at 31 December 2007). In this context, the Parliament calls on the Agency to adopt a treasury policy and to report on the action taken and the results achieved in its general report 2008.

In terms of follow up to the 2006 discharge exercise , the Parliament regrets that the ECA, in its 2007 annual report, found several weaknesses which it had already highlighted in its 2006 annual report, in particular: (i) high level of carry-overs and cancellations; (ii) legal commitments made before budgetary commitments; (iii) recruitment procedures which, were not in line with the rules.

Noting the Agency’s replies on these points, the Parliament calls on the Agency to seriously address the problem of carry-overs as well as the recurrent problems in its commitment system and to report on the results achieved in its general report 2008. It also calls on the Agency to improve its financial management by strengthening cooperation between the Agency and Member States whereby the Agency relies on equipment provided by Member States for its operations, as this has a serious impact on the management of its budget. Moreover, it is determined to closely monitor the impact of the Agency's cooperation with Member States on its financial management in the future.

On the issue of recruitment , the Parliament regrets that the Agency had to implement recruitment procedures which were not fully in line with the general provisions for implementing the Staff Regulations in order to attract highly qualified specialists. Noting that the Agency does not accept the ECA's criticism that it did not respect the principle of equal treatment, the Parliament notes that the Commission has drafted model decisions for this type of provision. The Parliament also calls on the Agency, in agreement with the Council recommendation, to strictly respect the recruitment criteria.

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 the Agency’s 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 Agency for the Management of Operational Cooperation at the External Borders (FRONTEX 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:

that the Agency's 2007 budget (EUR 42.1 million) more than doubled compared with the 2006 budget (EUR 19.2 million); commitments carried over to 2008 pertaining to grant agreements linked to operational activities amounted to EUR 18.4 million, and a substantial part of these commitments were based on excessive cost estimates; the high amount of cash retained by the Agency stays unused on excessively low interest bearing bank accounts (the Agency held EUR 32.6 million in cash and cash equivalents at 31 December 2007). In this context, MEPs call on the Agency to adopt a treasury policy and to report on the action taken and the results achieved in its general report 2008.

In terms of follow up to the 2006 discharge exercise, MEPs regret that the ECA, in its 2007 annual report, found several weaknesses which it had already highlighted in its 2006 annual report, in particular: (i) high level of carry-overs and cancellations; (ii) legal commitments made before budgetary commitments; (iii) recruitment procedures which, were not in line with the rules.

Noting the Agency’s replies on these points, MEPs call on the Agency to seriously address the problem of carry-overs as well as the recurrent problems in its commitment system and to report on the results achieved in its general report 2008.

MEPs also call on the Agency to improve its financial management by strengthening cooperation between the Agency and Member States whereby the Agency relies on equipment provided by Member States for its operations, as this has a serious impact on the management of its budget. Moreover, they are determined to closely monitor the impact of the Agency's cooperation with Member States on its financial management in the future.

On the issue of recruitment , MEPs regret that the Agency had to implement recruitment procedures which were not fully in line with the general provisions for implementing the Staff Regulations in order to attract highly qualified specialists. Noting that the Agency does not accept the ECA's criticism that it did not respect the principle of equal treatment, MEPs note that the Commission has drafted model decisions for this type of provision. MEPs also call on the Agency, in agreement with the Council recommendation, to strictly respect the recruitment criteria.

Lastly, MEPs call on the Agency to improve its financial management, especially as regards the increase in its 2008 and 2009 budgets.

The Council notes with satisfaction the Court's assessment that the Agency's accounts for the financial year ended 31 December 2007 were, in all material respects, reliable and that the underlying transactions, taken as a whole, were legal and regular. However, some observations need to be made.

Based on the observations contained in the revenue and expenditure account and the balance sheet of the European Agency for the Management of Operational Coordination at the External Borders of the Member States of the European Union (FRONTEX) 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 the Parliament grant the 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 7.1 million (60%) of the EUR 11.8 million in appropriations carried forward from the financial year 2006 to the financial year 2007 have were used. EUR 22.4 million in appropriations were carried forward from the financial year 2007 to the financial year 2008 and EUR 6.4 million were cancelled.

Recalling that the Court of Auditors was able to obtain reasonable assurance that the Agency's annual accounts were, in all material aspects, reliable, the Council believes that there is a certain number of observations that must be taken into consideration when providing the discharge on the implementation of the 2007 budget, particularly regarding the following points:

Carry-overs : while taking note of the difficulties resulting from the fact that a large share of the Agency's 2007 budget was made available very late only, the Council notes with concern the persisting high carry-over rate which results to a major extent from excessive cost estimates. It calls on the Agency to improve the programming and monitoring of its activities and to apply more realistic cost calculation methods in order to avoid an overestimation of the costs of its operations. The Council also encourages the Agency to take appropriate measures to ensure timely reimbursements to the partner countries and to improve its management of temporarily unused appropriations. Budgetary commitments : as in the previous year, the Council asks the Agency to respect strictly the provisions of the Financial Regulation, by establishing budgetary commitments prior to entering into legal commitments.

Recruitment : the Council calls once more on the Agency to strictly respect the recruitment criteria and procedures foreseen in the Staff Regulations, in particular regarding the minimum experience required for a given grade.

PURPOSE: presentation of the report by the Court of Auditors on the 2007 annual accounts of the European Agency for the Management of Operational Coordination at the External Borders of the Member States (FRONTEX).

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 makes a number of observations in particular as regards the carry-over of appropriations. The Agency’s budget is mainly financed by subsidies from the Commission. EUR 38.4 million of the 2007 commitment appropriations were consumed, including EUR 13.3 million that were paid out and EUR 22.4 million that were carried over. Non-automatic carry-overs amounted to 300 000. Unused appropriations of EUR 6.4 million were cancelled. Overall, nearly 70% of the appropriations available for 2007 were not spent. This high level of carry-overs and cancellations indicates significant weaknesses in the programming and monitoring of the Agency’s activities. A substantial part of these commitments were made on the basis of excessive costs estimations. As a consequence, it is likely that the budgetary surplus to be reimbursed to the Commission disclosed in the balance-sheet at the end of the year is understated. Other reasons for the increase in carry-overs were that the partner countries were often very late in sending their final requests for reimbursement and that the Agency encountered difficulties in meeting payment deadlines. The high amount of cash detained by the Agency stays unused on excessively low interest bearing bank accounts as no treasury management policy exists. An analysis of the Register of exceptions clearly shows recurrent problems in the Agency’s commitment system. The rules applied for the implementing measures to the Staff Regulations concerning the minimum number of years of experience required for a given position differ from those agreed between the Agencies and the European Commission. This was at odds with the principle of equal treatment. Agency’s replies : the Agency’s states that due to the complexity of cooperation operations between Member States, commitments were made late in 2007. This situation affected the volume of payments in 2007 and led to significant carry-overs. However, the Agency underlines that the monitoring of the expenditure has improved significantly in 2007. Monthly budget implementation reports have been prepared and are distributed to the management. There has been a problem with claims for reimbursement given the difficulties of Member States to collect all invoices in due time. The Agency applied the principles of the Staff Regulations which stipulates that in order to address specific needs of the Institutions, labour market conditions prevailing in the Community may also be taken into account when recruiting.

PURPOSE: presentation of the final accounts of the European Agency for the Management of Operational Cooperation at the External Borders — Frontex for the 2007 financial year.

CONTENT: this document sets out a detailed account of the implementation of Frontex’s budget for 2007. It indicates that the Agency’s final budget amounted to Frontex’s 2007 budget amounted to EUR 42.2 million, compared to EUR 19.2 million for the previous year. This represents a Community contribution of 97.2 %, a 1.9% contribution from the United Kingdom and Ireland and 2.1% contribution from the Schengen Area.

In terms of personnel, the Agency, whose headquarters are in Warsaw (Poland) officially had 49 posts provided for in the establishment plan, of which there are 48 temporary agents and 84 further posts (seconded national experts, contract agents and auxiliaries) amounting to 132 effective posts assigned to operational, administrative and mixed tasks.

In 2007, the Agency focused on the following activities:

Risk analysis

2 General/Annual Assessments were produced; 21 Tailored Assessments were finalised or are due to be finalised by end Q1 2008; 40 Analytical ex-ante assessments of Frontex Joint Operations were issued; 2 Law Enforcement and 3 public bulletins were produced.

The system for regular exchange of information (Incident Reporting System-IRS, Monthly Analytical Reports and Monthly Statistical reports) within Frontex Risk Analysis Network was launched.

Operational cooperation : 25 Frontex coordinated joint operations were held and 7 pilot projects were launched.

Assistance to the Member States : Frontex assisted Member States in 10 of their return operations on their request and coordinated and co-financed 9 return operations of Member States.

Assistance return operations : Frontex coordinated and co-financed 9 return operations of Member States.

Training : within the framework of 13 projects 39 meetings were held or co-financed. During 38 training sessions of different durations, 600 border guards of different level were trained.

Research and development

8 reports and bulletins were published; 5 workshops on R&D issues were held; 9 projects were initiated; some of them are still ongoing; 18 meeting, conferences, or seminars were attended.

Cooperation with non-EU partner countries : the Management Board mandated Frontex to negotiate working arrangements with 5 countries (the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia, Cape Verde, Egypt, Moldavia, Georgia); working arrangement with Ukraine was signed; involvement of Russia and Ukraine in 2 IBM seminars; Ukraine was involved in 5 Frontex pilot projects.

Cooperation with Europol’s and other relevant organisations : Frontex contributed to Europol’s ‘Organised Crime Threat Assessment’ (‘OCTA’). The established working level cooperation with numerous organisations (e.g. IOM, UNHCR, OLAF, Eurojust) was further maintained and utilized.

The Agency’s full accounts are available at the following address : http://www.frontex.europa.eu/finance/

PURPOSE: presentation of the final accounts of the European Agency for the Management of Operational Cooperation at the External Borders — Frontex for the 2007 financial year.

CONTENT: this document sets out a detailed account of the implementation of Frontex’s budget for 2007. It indicates that the Agency’s final budget amounted to Frontex’s 2007 budget amounted to EUR 42.2 million, compared to EUR 19.2 million for the previous year. This represents a Community contribution of 97.2 %, a 1.9% contribution from the United Kingdom and Ireland and 2.1% contribution from the Schengen Area.

In terms of personnel, the Agency, whose headquarters are in Warsaw (Poland) officially had 49 posts provided for in the establishment plan, of which there are 48 temporary agents and 84 further posts (seconded national experts, contract agents and auxiliaries) amounting to 132 effective posts assigned to operational, administrative and mixed tasks.

In 2007, the Agency focused on the following activities:

Risk analysis

2 General/Annual Assessments were produced; 21 Tailored Assessments were finalised or are due to be finalised by end Q1 2008; 40 Analytical ex-ante assessments of Frontex Joint Operations were issued; 2 Law Enforcement and 3 public bulletins were produced.

The system for regular exchange of information (Incident Reporting System-IRS, Monthly Analytical Reports and Monthly Statistical reports) within Frontex Risk Analysis Network was launched.

Operational cooperation : 25 Frontex coordinated joint operations were held and 7 pilot projects were launched.

Assistance to the Member States : Frontex assisted Member States in 10 of their return operations on their request and coordinated and co-financed 9 return operations of Member States.

Assistance return operations : Frontex coordinated and co-financed 9 return operations of Member States.

Training : within the framework of 13 projects 39 meetings were held or co-financed. During 38 training sessions of different durations, 600 border guards of different level were trained.

Research and development

8 reports and bulletins were published; 5 workshops on R&D issues were held; 9 projects were initiated; some of them are still ongoing; 18 meeting, conferences, or seminars were attended.

Cooperation with non-EU partner countries : the Management Board mandated Frontex to negotiate working arrangements with 5 countries (the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia, Cape Verde, Egypt, Moldavia, Georgia); working arrangement with Ukraine was signed; involvement of Russia and Ukraine in 2 IBM seminars; Ukraine was involved in 5 Frontex pilot projects.

Cooperation with Europol’s and other relevant organisations : Frontex contributed to Europol’s ‘Organised Crime Threat Assessment’ (‘OCTA’). The established working level cooperation with numerous organisations (e.g. IOM, UNHCR, OLAF, Eurojust) was further maintained and utilized.

The Agency’s full accounts are available at the following address : http://www.frontex.europa.eu/finance/