PURPOSE: to grant discharge to the European Institute for Gender Equality (EIGE) for the financial year 2012.

NON-LEGISLATIVE ACT: Decision 2014/585/EU of the European Parliament on discharge in respect of the implementation of the budget of the European Institute for Gender Equality for the financial year 2012.

CONTENT: with the present decision, the European Parliament grants discharge to the Director of the EIGE for the implementation of its budget for the financial year 2012.

This decision is in line with the European Parliament's resolution adopted on 3 April 2014 and comprises a series of observations that form an integral part of the discharge decision (please refer to the summary of the opinion of 3 April 2014).

Amongst the main observations made, Parliament called on the Institute to address the shortcomings identified by the Court of Auditors in the Institutes documentation of recruitment procedures .

The European Parliament adopted a decision concerning the discharge to be granted to the Director of the European Institute for Gender Equality in respect of the implementation of the Institute's budget for the financial year 2012. The vote on the discharge decision approved the closure of the accounts (in accordance with Annex VI, Article 5(1) of the Rules of Procedure of the European Parliament.

Noting that the Court of Auditors stated that it has obtained reasonable assurances that the annual accounts of the Institute for the financial year 2012 are reliable, and that the underlying transactions are legal and regular, Parliament adopted by 496 votes to 80, with 14 abstentions, a resolution containing a series of recommendations that form an integral part of the discharge decision and as well as the general recommendations that appear in the draft resolution on performance, financial management and control of EU agencies.

These recommendations are summarised as follows:

Budget and financial management : Parliament noted that budget monitoring efforts during the financial year 2012 resulted in a budget implementation rate of 95.56% and that the payment appropriations execution rate was 63.95%. It acknowledged from the Institute that in the third quarter of 2014, it plans to create budget monitoring guidelines, including control functions and deviations, in order to ensure adequate monitoring and reporting of the budget implementation. Commitments and carryovers : Parliament noted that the Institute has reduced the overall level of carry-overs of committed appropriations from 50% in 2011. It pointed out that the carry-overs to 2013 amount to EUR 2.5 million and mainly concern administrative expenditure. It also noted that 7% of committed appropriations carried over from 2011 to 2012 had not been used and had to be cancelled. Performance : Parliament requested that the Institute communicate the results and impact its work has on European citizens in an accessible way, mainly through its website. It took note of the main findings of the Institute's activity report and points out that in 2012, inter alia, the Institute produced two reports for the Presidencies, focusing on ‘gender equality - climate change’ and ‘violence against women - victims support’, finalised the construction of the Gender Equality Index, launched seven studies and developed an online database of gender training resources.

Parliament made a series of observations on transfers, procurement and recruitment procedures as well as comments on internal controls.

Lastly, it acknowledged that the Institute's conflict of interests policy was presented to the Commission for consultation on 12 November 2013. It called on the Institute to inform the discharge authority of the results of that consultation and of the final adoption of its conflict of interests policy.

The Committee on Budgetary Control adopted the report by Petri SARVAMAA (EPP, FI) in which it recommended the European Parliament to grant discharge to the Director of the European Institute for Gender Equality in respect of the implementation of the Institute's budget for the financial year 2012.

Noting that the Court of Auditors stated that it has obtained reasonable assurances that the annual accounts of the Institute for the financial year 2012 are reliable, and that the underlying transactions are legal and regular, Members approved the closure of the Institute’s accounts. They made, however, a number of recommendations that needed to be taken into account when the discharge is granted, in addition to the general recommendations that appear in the draft resolution on performance, financial management and control of EU agencies.

Budget and financial management : Members noted that budget monitoring efforts during the financial year 2012 resulted in a budget implementation rate of 95.56% and that the payment appropriations execution rate was 63.95%. They acknowledged from the Institute that in the third quarter of 2014, it plans to create budget monitoring guidelines, including control functions and deviations, in order to ensure adequate monitoring and reporting of the budget implementation. Commitments and carryovers : Members noted that the Institute has reduced the overall level of carry-overs of committed appropriations from 50% in 2011. They pointed out that the carry-overs to 2013 amount to EUR 2.5 million and mainly concern administrative expenditure. They noted that 7% of committed appropriations carried over from 2011 to 2012 had not been used and had to be cancelled.

Members also made a series of observations on transfers, procurement and recruitment procedures as well as comments on internal controls.

Lastly, they acknowledged that the Institute's conflict of interests policy was presented to the Commission for consultation on 12 November 2013. They called on the Institute to inform the discharge authority of the results of that consultation and of the final adoption of its conflict of interests policy.

Having examined the revenue and expenditure accounts for the financial year 2012 and the balance sheet at 31 December 2012 of the European Institute for Gender Equality (EIGE), and the report by the Court of Auditors on the annual accounts of the Institute for the financial year 2012, accompanied by the Institute's replies to the Court's observations, the Council recommends the European Parliament to give a discharge to the Director of the Institute in respect of the implementation of the budget for the financial year 2012.

The observations in the Court of Auditors' report in relation to the financial year 2012 call for some comments by the Council, which may be summarised as follows:

in general, the Council welcomes the Court's opinion that, in all material respects, the Institute's annual accounts present fairly its financial position as at 31 December 2012 and the results of its operations and its cash flows for the year then ended, in accordance with the provisions of the Institute's Financial Regulation and the accounting rules adopted by the Commission's accounting officer, and that the underlying transactions for that financial year are legal and regular. Procurement : the Council urges the Institute to continue improving its financial management, notably by setting up a system for procurement scheduling and monitoring linked to the Institute's planned activities, and by launching procurement procedures in good time before the end of the budgetary year, in order to limit carry-overs of appropriations to the following year to the minimum necessary, in line with the budgetary principle of annuality. Recruitment : moreover, the Council invites the Institute to enhance the transparency of its recruitment procedures by ensuring full respect of staff selection criteria.

PURPOSE: presentation of the EU Court of Auditors’ report on the annual accounts of the European Institute for Gender Equality for the year 2012, together with the Institute’s reply.

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

This audit concerned, amongst others, the annual accounts of the European Institute for Gender Equality (EIGE).

In the Court’s opinion, the European Institute for Gender Equality’s Annual Accounts fairly present, in all material respects, its financial position as of 31 December 2012 and the results of its operations and its cash flows for the year then ended, in accordance with the provisions of its Financial Regulation and the accounting rules adopted by the Commission’s accounting officer.

The Court also considers that the transactions underlying the annual accounts of the Institute for the financial year ended 31 December 2012 are, in all material respects, legal and regular.

The report confirms that EIGE’s 2012 budget amounted to EUR 7.7 million.

The report also makes a series of observations on the budgetary and financial management of EIGE, accompanied by the latter’s response. The main observations may be summarised as follows:

The Court’s observations :

· carryovers: the Institute has reduced the overall level of carry-overs of committed appropriations from 50 % in 2011 to 32 % in 2012. The Institute does not have a formalised procurement planning and monitoring procedure. In particular, its Annual Work Programme does not include a procurement schedule linked to the planned activities that would define the optimal scope and timing of procurements;

· recruitment: the Court identified shortcomings in the documentation of recruitment procedures. There is no evidence that questions for written tests and interviews, as well as their respective weightings were prepared before the examination of the applications.

EIGE’s reply:

· carry-overs: the majority of the operational projects were finalised by the end of 2012. This led to carry-forward of appropriations up to 60 % under the procurement of Title III (around EUR 2.1 million). In order to improve the procurement planning and monitoring EIGE is creating a monitoring tool which follows the expected dates of each step of the annual procurement proceedings;

· recruitment : EIGE’s recruitment guidelines have been updated so that (i) an indicative maximum number of candidates to be placed on the reserve list appears in the vacancy announcement of posts for temporary and contract staff and (ii) both the interview and test questions are to be completed by the appointed selection committee before the review of any candidates takes place.

Lastly, the Court of Auditors’ report contains a summary of the Institute’s activities in 2012 . This is focused on the following:

· comparable and reliable data and indicators on gender equality;

· collecting and processing methods and good practices for gender equality work;

resource and documentation centre;

awareness-raising, networking and communication ; studies, experts’ and working group meetings, organisation of international conference, and research reports.