Activites

• 2014/09/05 Final act published in Official Journal
• 2014/04/03 Decision by Parliament, 1st reading/single reading
  • T7-0306/2014 summary

    The European Parliament adopted a decision concerning the discharge to be granted to the Executive Director of the European Asylum Support Office discharge in respect of the implementation of the Office'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 Agency for the financial year 2012 are reliable, and that the underlying transactions are legal and regular, Parliament adopted by 509 votes to 72, with 16 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: Financing, budget and financial management: Parliament noted that the Office was granted financial autonomy on 20 September 2012, its budget having been implemented by the Commission until that date. Furthermore, the Office's budget for the financial year 2012 was EUR 10 million, and budget monitoring efforts during the financial year 2012 resulted in a budget implementation rate of 69%. Carryovers: Parliament noted that the budgetary needs for 2012 were considerably overestimated as only EUR 4.8 million out of EUR 7 million transferred upon receiving financial autonomy were committed. It expressed concern that the committed appropriations of EUR 3.2 had been carried over, representing 65.13 % of the total committed appropriations for the period of financial autonomy. Parliament reminded the Office that a high level of carry-overs was at odds with the budgetary principle of annuality and invited the Office to improve its performance in this regard. It acknowledged, however, that the carry-overs were mostly related to invoices not yet received or paid at the end of the year and to pending reimbursements for costs relating to experts. It also acknowledged that approximately EUR 800 000 concerned refurbishment work carried out at the Office’s premises in 2012. Parliament went onto note with concern that a carry-over of EUR 2 000 00 was not covered by a legal commitment (contract) and was therefore irregular. It called on the Office to inform the discharge authority on the steps taken to prevent similar situations in the future. Performance: Parliament requested that the Office communicate the results and impact its work has on European citizens in an accessible way, mainly through its website. It took the view that at the very minimum, the Office’s annual activity report should be published in all official languages of the Union, and not only in English as it is at present. Parliament also made a series of observations on transfers, procurement and recruitment procedures as well as comments on internal controls. Lastly, it acknowledged from the Office that it had adopted a policy on the prevention and management of conflicts of interest, which aimed at setting out a number of principles, procedures and tools intended to prevent, identify and manage situations of conflicts of interest. However, they called on the Office to make publicly available the Declarations of Interests of certain members.

• 2014/04/02 Debate in Parliament
  • Debate in Parliament
• 2014/03/20 Committee report tabled for plenary, single reading
  • A7-0187/2014 summary

    The Committee on Budgetary Control adopted the report by Petri SARVAMAA (EPP, FI) on discharge in respect of the implementation of the budget of the European Asylum Support Office for the financial year 2012 and called on the European Parliament to grant the Executive Director of the European Asylum Support Office discharge in respect of the implementation of the Office'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 Authority for the financial year 2012 are reliable and that the underlying transactions are legal and regular, Members approve the closure of the Office’s accounts. However, they made 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 performance, financial management and control of EU agencies: Financing, budget and financial management: Members noted that the Office was granted financial autonomy on 20 September 2012, its budget having been implemented by the Commission until that date. Furthermore, the Office's budget for the financial year 2012 was EUR 10million, and budget monitoring efforts during the financial year 2012 resulted in a budget implementation rate of 69%. Carryovers: the committee noted that the budgetary needs for 2012 were considerably overestimated as only EUR 4.8 million out of EUR 7 million transferred upon receiving financial autonomy were committed. It expressed concern that the committed appropriations of EUR 3.2 had been carried over, representing 65.13 % of the total committed appropriations for the period of financial autonomy. Members reminded the Office that a high level of carry-overs was at odds with the budgetary principle of annuality and invited the Office to improve its performance in this regard. They acknowledged, however, that the carry-overs were mostly related to invoices not yet received or paid at the end of the year and to pending reimbursements for costs relating to experts. They also acknowledged that approximately EUR 800 000 concerned refurbishment work carried out at the Office’s premises in 2012. Members went onto note with concern that a carry-over of EUR 2 000 00 was not covered by a legal commitment (contract) and was therefore irregular. They called on the Office to inform the discharge authority on the steps taken to prevent similar situations in the future. Members also made a series of observations on transfers, procurement and recruitment procedures as well as comments on internal controls. Lastly, they acknowledged from the Office that it had adopted a policy on the prevention and management of conflicts of interest, which aimed at setting out a number of principles, procedures and tools intended to prevent, identify and manage situations of conflicts of interest. However, they called on the Office to make publicly available the Declarations of Interests of certain members.

• 2014/03/17 Vote in committee, 1st reading/single reading
• 2013/10/22 Committee referral announced in Parliament, 1st reading/single reading
• 2013/07/26 Non-legislative basic document published
  • COM(2013)0570 summary

    PURPOSE: presentation by the Commission of the consolidated annual accounts of the European Union for the financial year 2012, as part of the 2012 discharge procedure. Analysis of the accounts of the European Asylum Support Office (EASO) – new Agency. CONTENT: this Commission document sets out the consolidated annual accounts of the European Union for the financial year 2012 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 Asylum Support Office (EASO). In 2012, the tasks and budget of the Office were as follows: ·        description of the tasks of the Office: the Office was set up under Regulation 439/2010 of the European Parliament and of the Council. Its main aim is to help to improve the implementation of the Common European Asylum System (the CEAS), to strengthen practical cooperation among Member States and to provide and/or coordinate the provision of operational support to Member States subject to particular pressure on their asylum and reception systems; ·        commitment and payment appropriations for the year 2012 : the accounts of the Office for the year 2012 as presented by the Commission in its document on the consolidated annual accounts of the European Union are as follows: §         Commitment appropriations : - committed : EUR 7 million; - paid : EUR 5 million; - carried-over : 0. §         Payment appropriations : - committed : EUR 6 million; - paid : EUR 2 million; - carried-over : EUR 2 million. Please refer also to the Final Accounts of the European Asylum Support Office.

  • DG {'url': 'http://ec.europa.eu/dgs/budget/', 'title': 'Budget'}, ŠEMETA Algirdas

Documents

• Non-legislative basic document published: COM(2013)0570
• Committee report tabled for plenary, single reading: A7-0187/2014
• Debate in Parliament: Debate in Parliament
• Decision by Parliament, 1st reading/single reading: T7-0306/2014

Amendments

Dossier

12

2013/2245(DEC) 2014/02/25 CONT 12 amendments... Amendment 1 # Petri SARVAMAA Proposal for a decision 1 Paragraph 1 1. Grants the Executive Director of the European Asylum Support Office discharge in respect of the implementation of the Office's budget for the financial year 2012 / Postpones its decision on granting the Executive Director of the European Asylum Support Office discharge in respect of the implementation of the Office's budget for the financial year 2012; Amendment 10 # Monica MACOVEI Motion for a resolution Paragraph 9 a (new) 9a. Observes that the CVs and Declarations of Interests of the members of the Management Board and senior management as well as the Declaration of Interests of the Executive Director are not publicly available; calls on the Office to remedy the situation as a matter of urgency; Amendment 11 # Gerben-Jan GERBRANDY, Jan MULDER, Chris DAVIES Performance Amendment 12 # Gerben-Jan GERBRANDY, Jan MULDER, Chris DAVIES Motion for a resolution Paragraph 9 a (new) 9a. Requests that the Office communicate the results and impact its work has on European citizens in an accessible way, mainly through its website; Amendment 2 # Karin KADENBACH Proposal for a decision 1 Paragraph 1 1. Grants the Executive Director of the European Asylum Support Office discharge in respect of the implementation of the Office's budget for the financial year 2012 / Postpones its decision on granting the Executive Director of the European Asylum Support Office discharge in respect of the implementation of the Office's budget for the financial year 2012; Amendment 3 # Ryszard CZARNECKI, Philip BRADBOURN, Andrea ČEŠKOVÁ, Marta ANDREASEN, Derk Jan EPPINK Proposal for a decision 1 Paragraph 1 1. Grants the Executive Director of the European Asylum Support Office discharge in respect of the implementation of the Office's budget for the financial year 2012 / Postpones its decision on granting the Executive Director of the European Asylum Support Office discharge in respect of the implementation of the Office's budget for the financial year 2012; Amendment 4 # Ryszard CZARNECKI, Philip BRADBOURN, Andrea ČEŠKOVÁ, Marta ANDREASEN, Derk Jan EPPINK Proposal for a decision 2 Paragraph 1 1. Approves the closure of the accounts of the European Asylum Support Office for the financial year 2012 / Postpones its decision on the closure of the accounts of the European Asylum Support Office for the financial year 2012; Amendment 5 # Petri SARVAMAA Proposal for a decision 2 Paragraph 1 1. Approves the closure of the accounts of the European Asylum Support Office for the financial year 2012 / Postpones its decision on the closure of the accounts of the European Asylum Support Office for the financial year 2012; Amendment 6 # Karin KADENBACH Proposal for a decision 2 Paragraph 1 1. Approves the closure of the accounts of the European Asylum Support Office for the financial year 2012 / Postpones its decision on the closure of the accounts of the European Asylum Support Office for the financial year 2012; Amendment 7 # Elena BĂSESCU Motion for a resolution Citation 10 a (new) – having regard to the previous discharge reports of the Parliament; Amendment 8 # Ryszard CZARNECKI, Andrea ČEŠKOVÁ, Marta ANDREASEN, Philip BRADBOURN, Derk Jan EPPINK Motion for a resolution Paragraph 5 5. Notes withExpresses serious concern that a carry- over of EUR 2 000 00 was not covered by a legal commitment (contract) and was therefore irregular; calls on the Office to inform the discharge authority on the steps taken to prevent similar situations in the future; Amendment 9 # Monica MACOVEI Motion for a resolution Subheading 6 Prevention and management of conflicts of interests and transparency source: PE-521.819

History

(these mark the time of scraping, not the official date of the change)