Activites

• 2018/04/18 Debate in plenary scheduled
• 2018/03/23 Committee report tabled for plenary, single reading
  • A8-0093/2018 summary

    The Committee on Budgetary Control adopted the report by Bart STAES (Greens/EFA, BE) on discharge in respect of the implementation of the budget of the European Union Agency for Fundamental Rights (FRA) for the financial year 2016. 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 2016. Noting that the Court of Auditors stated that it had obtained reasonable assurance that the annual accounts of the Agency for the financial year 2016 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 of the European Union Agency for Fundamental Rights for the financial year 2016 was EUR 21 603 000, approximately the same amount as in 2015. Budget and financial management: Members noted with satisfaction that budget monitoring efforts in the financial year 2016 resulted in a budget implementation rate of 100 %, which is the same rate as the previous year, and that the payment appropriations execution rate was 73.21 %, representing an increase of 1.59 % compared to the previous year. Commitments and carry-overs: the level of committed appropriations carried over to 2017 for operating expenditure was again very high at EUR 5.2 million (68 %), compared to EUR 5.7 million (70 %) for the previous year. These carry-overs mainly reflect the nature of activities of the Agency which involve financing studies that span over many months, often beyond year-end. Carry-overs are often justified and do not necessarily indicate weaknesses in budget planning and implementation. Members also made a series of observations regarding, transfers, procurement and staff policy and internal audits and controls. The report noted that 49.3 % of the Agency’s temporary agents are female and 50.7 % are male. Members regretted, however, the significant imbalance in the Agency’s six senior management positions, with a ratio of one woman to five men. The Agency is called on to aim for a more gender-balanced staff composition at the level of senior posts. In addition, Members noted that the Agency recognises the financial risks due to Brexit as the potential loss of financial resources could impact the Agency's operational activities. The Agency also noted the operational risks due to Brexit and the resulting potential loss of competition as a number of operational related contractors are based in the United Kingdom and loss of skilful British national staff members. The Agency is called to work in close cooperation with the Commission regarding Brexit negotiations in order to be sufficiently prepared to minimise any negative operational or financial impact that may occur. Lastly, Members welcomed the fact that the Agency continued its research on the situation of Roma in the Union.

• 2018/03/20 Vote in committee, 1st reading/single reading
• 2017/09/13 Committee referral announced in Parliament, 1st reading/single reading
• 2017/06/26 Non-legislative basic document published
  • COM(2017)0365 summary

    PURPOSE: presentation by the Commission of the consolidated annual accounts of the European Union for the financial year 2016, as part of the 2016 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. This Commission document concerns the EU's consolidated accounts for the year 2016 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 2016: Commitment appropriations: available: EUR 22 million; made: EUR 22 million. Payment appropriations: available: EUR 28 million; made: EUR 22 million. For further details on expenditure, please refer to the FRA’s 2016 annual report.

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

Documents

• Non-legislative basic document published: COM(2017)0365
• Committee report tabled for plenary, single reading: A8-0093/2018

History

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