BETA

Procedure completed, awaiting publication in Official Journal



2016/2163(DEC) 2015 discharge: European Union Agency for Fundamental Rights (FRA)
RoleCommitteeRapporteurShadows
Lead CONT AYALA SENDER Inés (S&D) ZDECHOVSKÝ Tomáš (EPP), FITTO Raffaele (ECR), ALI Nedzhmi (ALDE), DE JONG Dennis (GUE/NGL), JÁVOR Benedek (Verts/ALE), VALLI Marco (EFD), KAPPEL Barbara (ENF)
Opinion LIBE JEŽEK Petr (ALDE)
Lead committee dossier: CONT/8/07437

Activites

  • 2017/04/27 Results of vote in Parliament
    • Results of vote in Parliament
    • T8-0185/2017 summary
  • 2017/04/26 Debate in Parliament
  • 2017/03/31 Committee report tabled for plenary, single reading
    • A8-0146/2017 summary
  • 2017/03/22 Vote in committee, 1st reading/single reading
  • 2016/10/04 Committee referral announced in Parliament, 1st reading/single reading
  • 2016/07/11 Non-legislative basic document published
    • COM(2016)0475 summary
    • DG {'url': 'http://ec.europa.eu/info/departments/budget_en', 'title': 'Budget'}, GEORGIEVA Kristalina

Documents

AmendmentsDossier
28 2016/2163(DEC)
2017/01/23 LIBE 18 amendments...
source: 597.595
2017/03/07 CONT 10 amendments...
source: 600.898

History

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

activities/6
date
2017-09-29T00:00:00
type
Final act published in Official Journal
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url
http://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/TXT/?uri=OJ:L:2017:252:TOC
title
OJ L 252 29.09.2017, p. 0319
procedure/stage_reached
Old
Procedure completed, awaiting publication in Official Journal
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Procedure completed
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Results of vote in Parliament
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Results of vote in Parliament
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CELEX:52016PC0475(01):EN
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CELEX:52016DC0475:EN
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activities/5/docs/0/text
  • The European Parliament decided to grant discharge to the Director of the European Union Agency for Fundamental Rights (FRA) in respect of the implementation of the Agency’ budget for the financial year 2015.

    The vote on the decision on discharge covers the closure of the accounts (in accordance with Annex IV, Article 5 (1) (a) to Parliament’s Rules of Procedure).

    Noting that the Court of Auditors has stated that it has obtained reasonable assurances that the Agency’s annual accounts for the financial year 2015 are reliable and that the underlying transactions are legal and regular, Parliament adopted by 501 votes to 114 with 6 abstentions, a resolution containing a series of recommendations, which form an integral part of the decision on discharge and which add to the general recommendations set out in the resolution on performance, financial management and control of EU agencies.

    These recommendations may be summarised as follows:

    • Agency’s financial statements: Parliament noted that the final budget for the financial year 2015 was EUR 21 229 000 representing no change compared to 2014.
    • Budget and financial management: Parliament noted with satisfaction that budget monitoring efforts during the financial year 2015 resulted in a budget implementation rate of 100 %, the same as the previous year, and that the payment appropriations execution rate was 71.62 %, representing an increase of 2.17 % compared to the previous year.

    Parliament also made a series of observations regarding commitments and carry-overs, transfers, procurement and recruitment procedures and internal audits and controls.

    On the prevention and management of conflicts of interests: Parliament noted that with regard to the legal proceedings brought against the Agency before the Civil Service Tribunal in 2015, the judgement was in favour of the Agency in Case T-107/13 P and that it is in the process of recovering the legal costs from the appellant, while in Case T-658/13 P.

    It acknowledged that, in addition to the Staff Regulations, the Agency has introduced for its staff a practical guide on the management and prevention of conflicts of interest, which offers wide-ranging information and advice on a variety of issues. It noted moreover that the Agency regularly provides compulsory training for staff on ethics and integrity, as well as publishes the curricula vitae and declarations of interests of all active members of its management board, scientific committee and its management team.

    Members noted that the Agency developed an anti-fraud strategy, evaluating the introduction of new controls, where necessary, after a dedicated risk assessment and took note of the fact that the Agency is planning to include a standard chapter on transparency, accountability and integrity in its annual report.

    Performances: Parliament regretted that the Agency's mandate still limits its role as regards the support for fundamental rights. It stressed that the Agency should be able to offer opinions on legislative proposals on its own initiative and that its remit should extend to all areas of rights protected under the Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union, including, for example, issues of police and judicial cooperation.

    Lastly, it noted that the Agency organised 60 events bringing together its key partners and stakeholders to discuss fundamental rights issues in various thematic areas and that it published its research in 32 reports and papers.

    In general, Members welcomed the pro-active approach towards Parliament.

activities/5
date
2017-04-27T00:00:00
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url: http://www.europarl.europa.eu/sides/getDoc.do?type=TA&language=EN&reference=P8-TA-2017-0185 type: Decision by Parliament, 1st reading/single reading title: T8-0185/2017
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2017-04-27T00:00:00
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Debate in plenary scheduled
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  • The Committee on Budgetary Control adopted the report by Inés AYALA SENDER (S&D, ES) on discharge in respect of the implementation of the budget of the European Union Agency for Fundamental Rights (FRA) for the financial year 2015.

    The committee called on the European Parliament to grant the Director of the Agency discharge in respect of the implementation of the Agency’s budget for the financial year 2015.

    Noting that the Court of Auditors stated that it had obtained reasonable assurance that the annual accounts of the Agency for the financial year 2015 were reliable and that the underlying transactions were legal and regular, Members called on 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: the final budget for the financial year 2015 was EUR 21 229 000 representing no change compared to 2014.
    • Budget and financial management: Members noted with satisfaction that budget monitoring efforts during the financial year 2015 resulted in a budget implementation rate of 100 %, the same as the previous year, and that the payment appropriations execution rate was 71.62 %, representing an increase of 2.17 % compared to the previous year.

    Members also made a series of observations regarding commitments and carry-overs, transfers, procurement and recruitment procedures and internal audits and controls.

    On the prevention and management of conflicts of interests: Members noted that with regard to the legal proceedings brought against the Agency before the Civil Service Tribunal in 2015, the judgement was in favour of the Agency in Case T-107/13 P and that it is in the process of recovering the legal costs from the appellant, while in Case T-658/13 P.

    They acknowledged that, in addition to the Staff Regulations, the Agency has introduced for its staff a practical guide on the management and prevention of conflicts of interest, which offers wide-ranging information and advice on a variety of issues. They noted moreover that the Agency regularly provides compulsory training for staff on ethics and integrity, as well as publishes the curricula vitae and declarations of interests of all active members of its management board, scientific committee and its management team.

    Lastly, they noted that the Agency developed an anti-fraud strategy, evaluating the introduction of new controls, where necessary, after a dedicated risk assessment and took note of the fact that the Agency is planning to include a standard chapter on transparency, accountability and integrity in its annual report.

activities/3/docs
  • url: http://www.europarl.europa.eu/sides/getDoc.do?type=REPORT&mode=XML&reference=A8-2017-0146&language=EN type: Committee report tabled for plenary, single reading title: A8-0146/2017
activities/3
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2017-03-31T00:00:00
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Committee report tabled for plenary, single reading
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2017-03-22T00:00:00
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2017-04-26T00:00:00
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  • PURPOSE: presentation by the Commission of the consolidated annual accounts of the European Union for the financial year 2015, as part of the 2015 discharge procedure.

    Analysis of the accounts of the European Fundamental Rights Agency (FRA).

    CONTENT: the organisational governance of the EU consists of institutions, agencies and other EU bodies whose expenditure is included in the general budget of the Union.

    The EU's operational expenditure of these institutions takes different forms, depending on how the money is paid out and managed.

    From 2014 onwards, the Commission classifies its expenditure as follows:

    • Direct management: the budget is implemented directly by the Commission services.
    • Indirect management: the Commission confers tasks of implementation of the budget to bodies of EU law or national law, such as the EU agencies.
    • Shared management: under this method of budget implementation tasks are delegated to Member States. About 80 % of the expenditure falls under this management mode covering such areas as agricultural spending and structural actions.

    This Commission document concerns the EU's consolidated accounts for the year 2015 and details how spending by the EU institutions and bodies was carried out. The consolidated annual accounts of the EU provide financial information on the activities of the institutions, agencies and other bodies of the EU from an accrual accounting and budgetary perspective.

    It is the responsibility of the Commission's Accounting Officer to prepare the EU's consolidated annual accounts and ensure that they present fairly, in all material aspects, the financial position, the result of the operations and the cashflows of the EU institutions and bodies, including the European Fundamental Rights Agency (FRA), with a view to granting discharge.

    Discharge procedure: the final step of a budget lifecycle is the discharge of the budget for a given financial year. It represents the political aspect of the external control of budget implementation and is the decision by which the European Parliament, acting on a Council recommendation, "releases" the Commission (and other EU bodies) from its responsibility for management of a given budget by marking the end of that budget's existence. The European Parliament is the discharge authority within the EU.

    The discharge procedure may produce three outcomes: (i) the granting; (ii) postponement or; (iii) the refusal of the discharge.

    The final discharge report including specific recommendations to the Commission for action is adopted in plenary by the European Parliament and are subject to an annual follow up report in which the Commission outlines the concrete actions it has taken to implement the recommendations made.

    Each agency is subject to its own discharge procedure, including the European Fundamental Rights Agency (FRA).

    Fundamental Rights Agency: the Agency, which is located in Vienna (AT), was established by Council Regulation (EC) No 168/2007 and aims to provide the relevant authorities of the Union and its Member States with assistance and expertise when implementing Union law relating to fundamental rights. Its task is to collect information as well as providing expert advice to the institutions on a range of issues.

    As regards the Agency’s accounts, these are presented in detail in the document on the consolidated annual accounts of the European Union for 2015:

    Commitment appropriations:

    -          committed: EUR 22 million;

    -          paid: EUR 22 million;

    -          carried-over: 0.

    Payment appropriations:

    -          committed: EUR 28 million;

    -          paid: EUR 22 million;

    -          carried-over: EUR 6 million.

    For further details on expenditure, please refer to the FRA’s final accounts.

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2016-10-04T00:00:00
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EP
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  • body: EP shadows: group: GUE/NGL name: DE JONG Dennis responsible: True committee: CONT date: 2016-08-05T00:00:00 committee_full: Budgetary Control rapporteur: group: S&D name: AYALA SENDER Inés
  • body: EP responsible: False committee_full: Civil Liberties, Justice and Home Affairs committee: LIBE
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Old
2016-10-04T00:00:00
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2017-03-23T00:00:00
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group
EPP
name
ZDECHOVSKÝ Tomáš
committees/0/shadows/1
group
ECR
name
FITTO Raffaele
committees/0/shadows/2
group
ALDE
name
ALI Nedzhmi
committees/0/shadows/4
group
Verts/ALE
name
JÁVOR Benedek
committees/0/shadows/5
group
EFD
name
VALLI Marco
committees/0/shadows/6
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ENF
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ALIOT Louis
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  • group: ALDE name: JEŽEK Petr
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CONT/8/07437
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  • date: 2016-07-11T00:00:00 docs: url: http://eur-lex.europa.eu/smartapi/cgi/sga_doc?smartapi!celexplus!prod!DocNumber&lg=EN&type_doc=COMfinal&an_doc=2016&nu_doc=0475 celexid: CELEX:52016DC0475:EN type: Non-legislative basic document published title: COM(2016)0475 body: EC commission: DG: url: http://ec.europa.eu/dgs/budget/ title: Budget Commissioner: GEORGIEVA Kristalina type: Non-legislative basic document published
committees
  • body: EP shadows: group: GUE/NGL name: DE JONG Dennis responsible: True committee: CONT date: 2016-08-05T00:00:00 committee_full: Budgetary Control rapporteur: group: S&D name: AYALA SENDER Inés
  • body: EP responsible: False committee_full: Civil Liberties, Justice and Home Affairs committee: LIBE
links
other
  • body: EC dg: url: http://ec.europa.eu/dgs/budget/ title: Budget commissioner: GEORGIEVA Kristalina
procedure
type
DEC - Discharge procedure
title
2015 discharge: European Union Agency for Fundamental Rights (FRA)
stage_reached
Preparatory phase in Parliament
reference
2016/2163(DEC)
subject
8.70.03.05 2015 discharge