PURPOSE: to grant discharge to the European Fisheries Control Agency (EFCA) for the financial year 2013.

NON LEGISLATIVE ACT: Decision (EU) 2015/1655 of the European Parliament on discharge in respect of the implementation of the budget of the European Fisheries Control Agency for the financial year 2013.

CONTENT: with the present decision, the European Parliament grants discharge to the Executive Director of the European Fisheries Control Agency for the implementation of its budget for the financial year 2013.

This decision is in line with the European Parliament's resolution adopted on 29 April 2015 and comprises a series of observations that form an integral part of the discharge decision (please refer to the summary of the opinion of 29 April 2015).

Amongst Parliament’s main observations, it called on the EFCA to revise its policy on declarations of interests and publish the CVs of its personnel on a mandatory basis in order to contribute to more transparency.

The European Parliament adopted by 559 votes to 128, with 7 abstentions, a decision to grant discharge to the Executive Director of the European Fisheries Control Agency (EFCA) for the financial year 2013. 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 2013 are reliable, and that the underlying transactions are legal and regular, Parliament adopted by 581 votes to 107, with 6 abstentions, a resolution containing a number of recommendations that form an integral part of the discharge decision and as well as the general recommendations that appear in the resolution on performance, financial management and control of EU agencies :

Agency’s financial statements : Parliament noted that the final budget of the Agency for the financial year 2013 was EUR 9 216 900, deriving entirely from the Union budget. Commitments and carry-overs : Parliament noted that budget monitoring efforts during the financial year 2013 resulted in a budget implementation rate of 98.64% and that the payment appropriations execution rate was 83.85%. It observed, however, that for operational expenditure, the level of committed appropriations carried over was high, resulting mainly from the large number of IT projects that were either launched or ongoing during 2013.

Parliament also made a series of observations on procurement procedures, recruitment, the prevention and management of conflicts of interests and internal controls.

It n oted that the Agency’s obligation to publish declarations of interests did not apply to the members of its Advisory Board. It called on the Agency to publish the CVs of the Executive Director, Heads of Units and members of the Administrative Board and declarations of interests of members of the Advisory Board in order to contribute to transparency.

Lastly, Parliament emphasized the importance of the Agency's role in the implementation of the common fisheries policy and in achieving the objectives thereof, particularly in light of the landing obligation and demands in terms of the monitoring, control and surveillance of fisheries activities.

The Committee on Budgetary Control adopted the report by Ryszard CZARNECKI (ECR, PL) on discharge in respect of the implementation of the budget of the European Fisheries Control Agency (EFCA) for the financial year 2013.

It called on the European Parliament to grant the Executive Director of the Agency discharge in respect of the implementation of the Agency’s budget for the financial year 2013.

Noting that the Court of Auditors stated that it has obtained reasonable assurances that the annual accounts of the Agency for the financial year 2013 are reliable, and that the underlying transactions are legal and regular, Members called on the Parliament to approve the closure of the Agency’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.

Agency’s financial statements : Members noted that the final budget of the Agency for the financial year 2013 was EUR 9.216.900, deriving entirely from the Union budget. Commitments and carry-overs : Members noted that budget monitoring efforts during the financial year 2013 resulted in a budget implementation rate of 98.64 % and that the payment appropriations execution rate was 83.85%. They observed, however, that for operational expenditure, the level of committed appropriations carried over was high, resulting mainly from the large number of IT projects that were either launched or ongoing during 2013.

Members also made a series of observations on procurement procedures, recruitment, the prevention and management of conflicts of interests and internal controls.

They noted that the Agency’s obligation to publish declarations of interests did not apply to the members of its Advisory Board. They called on the Agency to publish the CVs of the Executive Director, Heads of Units and members of the Administrative Board and declarations of interests of members of the Advisory Board in order to contribute to transparency.

Having examined the revenue and expenditure accounts for the financial year 2013 and the balance sheet at 31 December 2013 of the European Fisheries Control Agency (EFCA), as well as the Court of Auditors' report on the annual accounts of the Agency for the financial year 2013, accompanied by the Agency's replies to the Court's observations, the Council recommends the European Parliament to give a discharge to the Executive Director of the Agency in respect of the implementation of the budget for the financial year 2013.

Overall, the Council welcomes the Court's opinion that, in all material respects, the Agency's annual accounts present fairly its financial position as at 31 December 2013 and the results of its operations and its cash flows for the year then ended, in accordance with the provisions of the Agency's Financial Regulation, and that the underlying transactions for that financial year are legal and regular.

Nevertheless, one observation has been made by the Court concerning:

carry-overs : the Council calls on the Agency to continue to improve its financial programming and monitoring of the budget implementation in order to reduce the level of commitments carried over to the next financial year to the strict minimum, in line with the budgetary principle of annuality.

PURPOSE: presentation by the Commission of the consolidated annual accounts of the European Union for the financial year 2013, as part of the 2013 discharge procedure.

Analysis of the accounts of the European Fisheries Control Agency (EFCA) – formerly known as the CFCA.

CONTENT: this Commission document sets out the consolidated annual accounts of the European Union for the financial year 2013 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 Fisheries Control Agency (EFCA).

The document contains the figures on which the discharge procedure is based.

Discharge procedure of the EU agencies : the EU Budget finances a wide range of policies and programmes throughout the EU. In accordance with the priorities set by the European Parliament and the Council in the multi-annual financial framework (MFF), the European Commission carries out specific programmes, activities and projects in the field with the technical support of some specialised agencies.

The consolidated annual accounts of the EU provide information on the activities of the institutions, agencies and other bodies of the EU from a budgetary and accrual accounting perspective.

The consolidated reports on the implementation of the general budget of the EU include the budget implementation of all Institutions. Agencies do not have a separate budget inside the EU budget ; and they are partially financed by a Commission budget subsidy.

Each agency is subject to its own discharge procedure.

EFCA : in 2013, the tasks and budget of this agency were as follows:

description of EFCA's tasks : the agency, which is located in Vigo, was created by Council Regulation (EC) No 768/2005 and its main task is to organise the operational coordination of fisheries control and inspection activities by the Member States in order to ensure effective and uniform application of the rules of the common fisheries policy; EFCA's's budget for the 2013 financial year : the Agency’s budget for 2013, as presented in the Commission document on the consolidated annual accounts of the European Union, gives the following figures:

§ Commitment appropriations :

- committed : EUR 9 million;

- paid : EUR 9 million;

- carried-over : 0.

§ Payment appropriations :

- committed : EUR 11 million;

- paid : EUR 9 million;

- carried-over : EUR 1 million.

Please refer also to the final accounts of the EFCA .

PURPOSE: presentation of the EU Court of Auditors’ report on the annual accounts of the European Fisheries Control Agency (EFCA) for the year 2013, together with the Agency’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 Fisheries Control Agency (EFCA).

Statement of assurance : pursuant to the provisions of Article 287 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union (TFEU), the Court has audited:

the annual accounts of the Agency, which comprise the financial statements (3) and the reports on the implementation of the budget (4) for the financial year ended 31 December 2013; the legality and regularity of the transactions underlying those accounts.

Opinion on the reliability of the accounts : in the Court’s opinion, the Agency’s annual accounts present fairly, in all material respects, its financial position as at 31 December 2013 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.

Opinion on the legality and regularity of the transactions underlying the accounts : in the Court’s opinion, the transactions underlying the annual accounts for the year ended 31 December 2013 are legal and regular in all material respects.

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

The Court’s observations :

budgetary management : in 2013, the level of committed appropriations carried over to 2014 however was high at 38% for administrative expenditure and 43% for operating expenditure. An important reason for the high level of planned carry-overs was the considerable workload faced by the agency as a result of the large number of IT projects that were either launched or ongoing during 2013.

The Agency’s reply :

budgetary management : the Agency agrees with the facts presented by the Court.

Lastly, the Court of Auditors’ report contains a summary of the Agency’s activities in 2013 . This is focused on the following:

Budget : EUR 9.22 million.

Activities :

implementation of JDP (Joint Deployment Plan) cod fishery in the North Sea, Skagerrak, Kattegat and the Eastern Channel and Western Waters (West of Scotland and the Irish Sea) and other fishery programmes (cod and salmon fisheries in the Baltic Sea, bluefin tuna fishery in the Mediterranean Sea and Eastern Atlantic, support to national control programmes in the Black Sea); capacity building as regards training; operation, maintenance, enhancement and development of ICT monitoring capabilities: Vessel Monitoring System (VMS), Electronic Reporting System (ERS), Electronic Inspection Report (EIR), Coordination of inspections (JADE), portal and operational conferencing (Fishnet); support activities to fight Illegal unreported and unregulated fisheries; provision of contractual services to charter an EFCA Fisheries Patrol Vessel; advanced training for Union inspectors.