Activites

• 2017/04/27 Vote in plenary scheduled
• 2017/04/26 Debate in plenary scheduled
• 2017/03/31 Committee report tabled for plenary, single reading
  • A8-0137/2017 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 Agency for the Management of Operational Cooperation at the External Borders of the Member States of the European Union (Frontex) 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 Agency for the Management of Operational Cooperation at the External Borders of the Member States of the European Union (now European Border and Coast Guard Agency) for the financial year 2015 was EUR 143.3 million, representing an increase of 46.31 % compared to 2014. The increase was mainly due to two amendments for the relevant operations in the Mediterranean amounting to EUR 28 million. Reliability of the accounts: Members noted that the Court issued a qualified opinion on the reliability of the Agency’s accounts. The basis being the underestimation of the cost incurred in 2015 but not yet invoiced for pre-financed services related to maritime surveillance by EUR 1 723 336. They acknowledged that the Agency has already taken corrective measures to prevent such issues from taking place in the future. They noted, in the Court’s opinion, except for the effects of the matter regarding the underestimation of the incurred but not yet invoiced costs, the Agency’s annual accounts present fairly, in all material respects, its financial position as at 31 December 2015 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. Members detected however irregular payments in Iceland as well as double funding relating to the Internal Security Fund (ISF). Members also made a series of observations regarding the budget and financial management, commitments and carry-overs, the prevention and management of conflicts of interests, transfers and internal audits. The report recalled that in previous years the high and constantly increasing number of grant agreements, as well as the magnitude of related expenditure to be verified by the Agency, indicated that a more efficient and cost-effective alternative funding mechanism could be used to finance the Agency’s operational activities. Members acknowledged that the Agency’s new founding regulation has removed the term “grants” as the contractual instrument for the operational activities between the Agency and the institutions of the Members States. They hoped that this modification will allow the Agency to streamline the financial management of its operational activities. Lastly, they welcomed both the contribution of the Agency to saving more than 250 000 people at sea in 2015 and the support provided to national authorities in hotspot areas in relation to the identification and registration of migrants, return-related activities and Union internal security.

• 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 Agency for the Management of Operational Cooperation at the External Borders (Frontex). 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 Agency for the Management of Operational Cooperation at the External Borders (Frontex), 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 Frontex. FRONTEX: the Agency, which is located in Warsaw (PL), was established by Council Regulation (EC) No 2007/2004, amended by Regulation (EC) No 863/2007 of the European Parliament and of the Council. Its main task is to coordinate Member States' activities in the field of the management of external borders and to set up European Border Guard Teams (EBGT) to be deployed during joint operations. As regards Frontex’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 152 million; -          paid: EUR 151 million; -          carried-over: EUR 1 million. Payment appropriations: -          committed: EUR 180 million; -          paid: EUR 125 million; -          carried-over: EUR 50 million. For further details on expenditure, please refer to final accounts of Frontex.

  • 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: A8-0137/2017

History

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