Activites

• 2017/09/29 Final act published in Official Journal
• 2017/04/27 Results of vote in Parliament
  • Results of vote in Parliament
  • T8-0161/2017 summary

    The European Parliament decided to grant discharge to the Executive Director of the European Aviation Safety Agency (EASA) in respect of the implementation of the agency’s 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 505 votes to 103 with 11 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 of the European Aviation Safety Agency for the financial year 2015 was EUR 204 907 790, representing an increase of 11.58 % compared with 2015. Commitments and carry-overs: Parliament noted that the carry-overs of committed appropriations for operational expenditure were EUR 2 million (32 %) compared to EUR 2 million (38.1 %) in 2014. It acknowledged that these carry-overs mainly related to IT developments ordered near the year-end, as well as to rule making activities and research projects of a multiannual nature which therefore go beyond 2015. Parliament also made a series of observations regarding procurement, recruitment procedures, internal audits and controls and the prevention and management of conflicts of interests. It highlighted the Agency's vital role in ensuring the highest possible level of aviation safety throughout Europe. It stressed that a common European assessment and alerting system is needed in Europe, in particular in the context of flights over conflict zones. It also stressed that, in the context of a fast-developing civil aviation sector, exemplified by the ever more widespread use of pilotless aircraft ('drones'), the Agency should be given the necessary financial, material and human resources to successfully perform its regulatory and executive tasks in the fields of safety and environmental protection. Headquarters agreement: Parliament noted that the Agency and the German Transport Ministry recently agreed on a text for the Agency’s headquarters agreement, which was subsequently signed in December 2016. The annual costs per square metre after relocation is expected to be 20 % less than in the previous building.

• 2017/04/26 Debate in Parliament
  • Debate in Parliament
• 2017/03/28 Committee report tabled for plenary, single reading
  • A8-0087/2017 summary

    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 Aviation Safety Agency (EASA) for the financial year 2015. The committee 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 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: Members noted that the final budget of the European Aviation Safety Agency for the financial year 2015 was EUR 204 907 790, representing an increase of 11.58 % compared with 2015. Commitments and carry-overs: Members noted that the carry-overs of committed appropriations for operational expenditure were EUR 2 million (32 %) compared to EUR 2 million (38.1 %) in 2014. They acknowledged that these carry-overs mainly related to IT developments ordered near the year-end, as well as to rule making activities and research projects of a multiannual nature which therefore go beyond 2015. Members also made a series of observations regarding procurement, recruitment procedures, internal audits and controls and the prevention and management of conflicts of interests. The report highlighted the Agency's vital role in ensuring the highest possible level of aviation safety throughout Europe. It stressed that a common European assessment and alerting system is needed in Europe, in particular in the context of flights over conflict zones. Members also stressed that, in the context of a fast-developing civil aviation sector, exemplified by the ever more widespread use of pilotless aircraft ('drones'), the Agency should be given the necessary financial, material and human resources to successfully perform its regulatory and executive tasks in the fields of safety and environmental protection. Lastly, they noted with concern a gender imbalance of 23% female and 77% male within its Management Board members and alternate members and urged the Agency for this imbalance to be corrected and the results communicated to the Parliament as quickly as possible.

• 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

    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 Aviation Safety Agency (EASA). 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 cash flows of the EU institutions and bodies, including the European Aviation Safety Agency (EASA), 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 Aviation Safety Agency (EASA). The European Aviation Safety Agency: the EASA, which is located in Cologne (DE), was established by Regulation (EC) No 1592/2002 of the European Parliament and of the Council and its role is to maintain a high uniform level of civil aviation safety in Europe and to ensure the proper development of civil aviation safety. 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 208 million; -          paid: EUR 140 million; -          carried-over: EUR 65 million. Payment appropriations: -          committed: EUR 213 million; -          paid: EUR 127 million; -          carried-over: EUR 84 million. For further details on expenditure, please refer to the final accounts of the EASA.

  • DG {'url': 'http://ec.europa.eu/info/departments/budget_en', 'title': 'Budget'}, GEORGIEVA Kristalina

Documents

• Non-legislative basic document published: COM(2016)0475
• Committee report tabled for plenary, single reading: A8-0087/2017
• Debate in Parliament: Debate in Parliament
• Results of vote in Parliament: Results of vote in Parliament
• Decision by Parliament, 1st reading/single reading: T8-0161/2017

History

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