The European Parliament decided to grant discharge to the Executive Director of the European Union Agency for Network and Information Security (ENISA) (now the European Union Agency for Cybersecurity) for the financial year 2018 and to approve the closure of the accounts for the financial year in question.

Noting that the Court of Auditors has stated that it has obtained reasonable assurances that the Agency’s annual accounts for the financial year 2018 are reliable and that the underlying transactions are legal and regular, Parliament adopted by 491 votes to 193 with 9 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:

Agency’s financial statements

The final budget of the Agency for the financial year 2018 was EUR 11 473 788, representing an increase of 2.67 % compared to 2017.

Budget and financial management

Budget monitoring efforts during the financial year 2018 resulted in a budget implementation rate of 99.98 %, representing a decrease of 0.01 % compared to 2017. The payment appropriations execution rate was 88.56 %, representing a slight increase of 0.37 % compared to 2017.

Other observations

Members also made a series of observations regarding performance, staff policy, procurement and internal controls.

In particular, they noted that:

- the Agency should step up its action to tackle the security vulnerabilities of 5G and to disseminate information on the subject as widely as possible in order to ensure that the existing technical solutions are adopted by the industry;

- on 31 December 2018, the establishment plan was executed only to 93.62 %, with 44 temporary agents appointed out of 47 temporary agents authorised under the Union budget. The Agency finds it difficult to recruit, attract and hold suitably qualified staff, mainly due to the types of post that are advertised, namely contract agent posts, and to the low correction coefficients applied to the salaries of the Agency’s members of staff in Greece. In this regard, it has implemented a number of social measures in order to increase its attractiveness;

- the gender balance is still an issue within the Agency;

- the Agency does not have a sensitive post policy for the purpose of identifying sensitive functions, keeping them up to date and establishing appropriate measures to mitigate the risks of vested interests. Parliament called on the Agency to adopt and implement such a policy without delay;

- although the impact of the United Kingdom’s decision to withdraw from the Union on the Agency’s operations and administration is very limited, it has reviewed its internal processes to mitigate any risks linked to the United Kingdom’s withdrawal from the Union.