RESOLUTION OF THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT  
of 10 May 2012  
with observations forming an integral part of its Decision on discharge in respect of the 
implementation of the budget of Eurojust for the financial year 2010  
THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT,  
— having regard to the final annual accounts of Eurojust for the financial year 2010,  
— having regard to the Court of Auditors’ report on the annual accounts of Eurojust for the financial year 
2010, together with Eurojust’s replies (  1 ), 
— having regard to the Council’s recommendation of 21 February 2012 (06083/2012 – C7-0051/2012),  
— having regard to Article 319 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union,  
— having regard to Council Regulation (EC, Euratom) No 1605/2002 of 25 June 2002 on the Financial 
Regulation applicable to the general budget of the European Communities (  2 ), and in particular 
Article 185 thereof,  
— having regard to Council Decision 2002/187/JHA of 28 February 2002 setting up Eurojust with a view 
to reinforcing the fight against serious crime (  3 ), and in particular Article 36 thereof,  
— having regard to Commission Regulation (EC, Euratom) No 2343/2002 of 19 November 2002 on the 
framework Financial Regulation for the bodies referred to in Article 185 of Council Regulation (EC, 
Euratom) No 1605/2002 on the Financial Regulation applicable to the general budget of the European 
Communities (  4 ), and in particular Article 94 thereof,  
— having regard to Rule 77 of, and Annex VI to, its Rules of Procedure,  
— having regard to the report of the Committee on Budgetary Control and the opinion of the Committee 
on Civil Liberties, Justice and Home Affairs (A7-0128/2012),  
A. whereas the Court of Auditors stated that it has obtained reasonable assurances that the annual accounts 
of Eurojust for the financial year 2010 are reliable and that the underlying transactions are legal and 
regular,  
B. whereas on 10 May 2011 Parliament granted the Administrative Director of Eurojust discharge for 
implementation of the Agency’s budget for the financial year 2009 (  5 ), and in its resolution accom ­
panying the discharge decision, inter alia:  
— called on the Agency to inform the discharge authority of the steps taken to avoid carrying forward 
appropriations,  
— expressed concern at the fact that the Court of Auditors had again noted shortcomings in the 
planning and implementation of recruitment procedures; noted in particular that the level of 
vacant posts (24 %) was still too high, although less than in 2008 (26 %) and in 2007 (33 %),EN L 286/268 Official Journal of the European Union 17.10.2012  
( 1 ) OJ C 366, 15.12.2011, p. 140.  
( 2 ) OJ L 248, 16.9.2002, p. 1.  
( 3 ) OJ L 63, 6.3.2002, p. 1.  
( 4 ) OJ L 357, 31.12.2002, p. 72.  
( 5 ) OJ L 250, 27.9.2011, p. 215.
— called on the Agency to take immediate action on improving the recruitment procedure, reducing 
the number of interim staff, restructuring the Human Resources (HR) Unit, developing an HR 
management plan, reinforcing the monitoring of HR activities and reviewing the content of the 
register of exceptions,  
C. whereas the budget of the Agency for the financial year 2010 was EUR 32 300 000, which is an 
increase of 14,5 % on the financial year 2009,  
D. whereas the Union’s contribution to the budget of the Agency for 2010 was EUR 30 163 220 compared 
to EUR 24 799 400 in 2009 (  1 ), which represents an increase by 21,62 %,  
Budget and financial management  
1. Notes from its Annual Activity Report (AAR) that the Agency executed 97,8 % of its commitment 
appropriations from the operating budget in 2010; notes in particular that compared to 2009 the 
executed budget increased by:  
— 18,6 % under Title 1 (Staff expenditure),  
— 6 % under Title 2 (Administration),  
— 34 % under Title 3 (Operational expenditure);  
2. Acknowledges that the Agency was granted EUR 2 159 000 from the Commission for participation in 
criminal justice programmes (Joint Investigation Teams) and received 95 % of this amount in 2010;  
Transfers and carry-over of appropriations  
3. Establishes from the AAR that six budgetary transfers were made in 2010;  
4. Ascertains from the AAR that automatic carry-overs of the commitment appropriations (excluding 
grants) increased from 16 % in 2009 to 20 % in 2010 with a total of EUR 6 100 000 in 2010;  
5. Calls on the Agency to inform the discharge authority of the steps taken to avoid carrying forward 
appropriations; is concerned, in particular, by the excessive carry-overs under Title III, which amounted 
to 38 % of the Title III total budget, and stresses that this deficiency has been underlined by the Court 
of Auditors for several years;  
6. Regrets the high level of operational expenditure carried forward to 2011; takes note of the Agency’s 
reply that this was mainly due to the Organisational Structural Review project, a new computer 
infrastructure and the costs related to data processing; welcomes the measures to be taken in 2012 
by the Agency, especially the establishment of specific procurement plans for each unit; calls on the 
Agency to implement those measures without further delay; welcomes the assurance that necessary 
authorisations and commitments for procurement will be granted as early as possible in the year and 
calls on the Agency to adhere to this assurance;  
Procurement procedures  
7. Acknowledges from the AAR that nine open procedures, seven negotiated procedures, three inter- 
institutional procedures and one joint procedure with an international organisation were completed 
in 2010 and resulted in 29 new contracts;EN 17.10.2012 Official Journal of the European Union L 286/269  
( 1 ) OJ L 64, 12.3.2010, p. 1052.
8. Acknowledges the observations from the Court of Auditors that in one case the evaluation committee 
failed to apply the weightings published in the tender specifications; therefore calls on the Agency to 
prevent further similar mistakes and to ensure that the quality standards of procedure used in the 
tender are respected;  
Register of exceptions  
9. Establishes from the AAR that in 2010, six new exception decisions were entered in the Register of 
Exceptions, of which four concerned budget, finance and procurement matters and two concerned HR 
matters;  
10. Notes in particular that, on budget, finance and procurement matters, the four exceptions were 
respectively related to:  
— delegation of the right to make transfers as per Article 23(1) of the Eurojust Financial Regulation,  
— Article 75 of the Eurojust Financial Regulation and the award of a grant by Eurojust — European 
Judicial Network and that the exception expired on 31 December 2010,  
— the extension of a contract that should have been terminated and that the situation ended on 
27 December 2010 with the signature of a new contract following the completion of a tender 
procedure,  
— the increase of the earmarked amount of a 2008 award decision (in 2008),  
calls on the Agency to inform the discharge authority on the status of the two exceptions, which were 
still ongoing at the end of 2010;  
11. Notes, with regard to HR matters, that the two exceptions related to:  
— the extension of the appointment of a staff member, whereby that staff member continued 
temporarily to occupy the post of Head of Unit,  
— the temporary transfer of a staff member in the interest of the service pursuant to Article 7 of the 
Staff Regulations,  
acknowledges the Agency’s statement that the two situations came to an end on 15 October 2010;  
Human resources (HR)  
12. Expresses concern about the fact that the Court of Auditors has once again observed shortcomings in 
the implementation of recruitment procedures; notes in particular that the level of vacant posts (13 %) 
is still high, although lower than in 2009 (24 %), in 2008 (26 %) and in 2007 (33 %); accordingly, calls 
on the Agency to set up a comprehensive recruitment action plan to significantly reduce the vacancy 
rate and to inform the discharge authority about this;  
13. Acknowledges the Court of Auditors’ observation that, despite the fact that recruitment cannot be made 
from expired reserve lists, an official was recruited in 2010 using a reserve list which had expired in 
January 2009 and the extension of which was not accepted; calls on the Agency to ensure that all 
decisions concerning recruitment are adequately documented to avoid such a situation in the future;  
14. Deplores that fact and calls on the Agency to monitor closely the validity of all reserve lists for 
recruitment in order to prevent such mistakes in the future; welcomes the Agency’s reply that 
appointments from a reserve list will only take place after verification of the appropriateness of 
individual appointments;EN L 286/270 Official Journal of the European Union 17.10.2012
15. Calls on the Agency to desist from such practices and to respect recruitment rules;  
16. Deplores the fact that the evaluation committee failed to apply the weightings published in the tender 
specifications; welcomes the information given by the Agency that measures have been taken which 
include submission to the Administrative Director of full documentation concerning the substantial and 
commercial evaluation for each procurement before any contracts are awarded; welcomes the Agency’s 
commitment to fair, transparent and accurate procurement, so as to contribute towards the financial 
credibility of the organisation, and calls on the Agency to take measures to fully ensure that it fulfils 
that commitment;  
Performance  
Organisational structure review  
17. Notes from the AAR that the Organisational Structure Review, which started in 2009, continued in 
2010, and that a proposal for the Multiannual Staff Policy Plan 2012-2014 and the Establishment Plans 
for the year 2011 and 2012 were drafted; also takes note that a detailed plan for the implementation 
phase was submitted by a consultancy by the end of 2010 and ultimately discussed and endorsed by 
the College of the Agency;  
Financial reporting and analysis  
18. Acknowledges the statement in the Agency’s AAR that its Budget, Finance and Procurement Unit 
introduced an enhanced method of financial reporting and analysis at Unit level; understands that 
the Heads of Unit now receive complete information on their spending and commitments by budget 
line and that the information is issued monthly and quarterly, providing comparisons to the budget for 
the year and the previous year, by month and cumulatively;  
19. Is of the opinion that a thorough implementation of this method should lead to better budgetary and 
financial management; calls on the Agency to inform the discharge authority of the concrete results 
following the implementation of this method;  
Responsibilities of the Administrative Director  
20. Recalls that the Administrative Director of the Agency is accountable to the discharge authority for the 
implementation of the revenue and expenditure of the budget and is responsible for putting in place the 
organisational structure, the internal management and control systems and procedures relevant for 
drawing up final accounts that are free from material misstatement, and for ensuring that the trans ­
actions underlying those accounts are legal and regular;  
21. Acknowledges, however, the Court of Auditors’ observation that the Administrative Director is not de 
facto responsible for the majority of the daily management decisions, which are taken by the College of 
the Agency on the basis of the relevant provisions of its founding Decision 2002/187/JHA; calls on the 
Agency to address and review this anomaly as soon as possible; points out that, if ambiguities persist, 
the envisaged new Regulation on the Agency should address this structural deficiency;  
22. Notes from the Agency’s statement that its College has no means to redefine the respective roles and 
responsibilities of the Administrative Director and the College so as to solve the accountability overlap, 
but that measures have been implemented to ensure that the Administrative Director can act in 
accordance with his responsibilities;  
Annual Work Programme (AWP)  
23. Underlines the importance of linking the Agency’s indicators to its objectives, budget and AWP in order 
to allow stakeholders to evaluate the Agency’s performance; urges the Agency, therefore, to inform the 
discharge authority of the key indicators established by the Agency and their links to its objectives, 
budget and AWP;EN 17.10.2012 Official Journal of the European Union L 286/271
24. Considers that the Agency’s internal process supporting the establishment of its AWP has a significant 
impact on the reliability of information that the Agency provides to its stakeholders and to the 
discharge authority; urges the Agency, therefore, to ensure consistency in its planning, adequate 
procedures and guidelines, and to furnish sufficient documentation supporting the AWP in order to 
provide information on all activities carried out and on the resources planned per activity;  
25. Is concerned that the assignment of responsibility for the preparation and adoption of the AWP is not 
stated in its founding Decision 2002/187/JHA; considers that this may lead to confusion and lack of 
ownership for the preparation and adoption of the AWP; therefore calls on the Agency to rapidly 
address this deficiency and to inform the discharge authority of the action taken;  
26. Urges the Agency to take action to ensure that the legal basis for executing its budget is not put in 
question and that its AWP is complete and contains all the information required (i.e. information on all 
activities carried out by the Agency and the resources planned per activities);  
27. Calls also on the Agency to establish a multiannual IT strategy plan for both operational and support 
activities;  
Internal audit  
28. Acknowledges that 12 ‘very important’ recommendations from the Internal Audit Service (IAS) are still 
open, including two that have been reported as implemented by the Agency, and calls on the IAS to 
clarify the actual stage of their implementation;  
29. Notes that, for eight ‘very important’ recommendations, the implementation is delayed beyond the date 
defined by the Agency in its original action plan; notes that the delay is greater than 12 months in the 
case of six of these, relating to:  
— the review of the content of the Register of Exceptions and its corrective actions,  
— the development of a HR management plan,  
— reinforcement of the monitoring of HR activities,  
— the reduction of the number of interim staff,  
— the redefinition of the set-up of the HR Unit,  
— the implementation of an integrated HR IT tool;  
30. Urges the Agency to properly address the recommendations issued by the IAS and to inform the 
discharge authority of the measures taken in this respect;  
31. Draws attention to its recommendations from previous discharge reports, as set out in the Annex to 
this resolution;  
32. Refers, in respect of the other observations accompanying its Decision on discharge, which are of a 
horizontal nature, to its resolution of 10 May 2012 (  1 ) on the performance, financial management and 
control of the agencies.EN L 286/272 Official Journal of the European Union 17.10.2012  
( 1 ) Texts adopted, P7_TA(2012)0164 (see page 388 of this Official Journal).
ANNEX  
EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT RECOMMENDATIONS OVER PAST YEARS  
Eurojust  2006  2007  2008  2009  
Performance  n.a.  The lack of indicators, the deficits in measurement 
of user satisfaction and the lack of coordination 
between the budget and the work programme 
make it difficult to evaluate Eurojust’s performance  Calls on the Agency to inform the discharge 
authority on the Key Performance Indicators and 
their links to the Agency’s objectives, budget and 
work programmes of the Agency  
Carry-over 
appropriations  The annuality and the specification 
principles are not strictly observed: 
the management of the budget 
showed a high number of transfers 
of appropriations between budget 
lines and in many cases the 
supporting documentation was 
insufficiently detailed  The annuality principle was not 
strictly observed: high levels of 
carry-overs and weaknesses in the 
programming and monitoring 
(budget: EUR 18 900 000; 
appropriations: EUR 18 000 000; 
carry-over: EUR 5 200 000)  — The annuality principle was not strictly 
observed: the level of appropriations carried 
over from the previous year and then cancelled 
(EUR 1 000 000, or 25 % of appropriations 
carried over) was high 
— Calls on the Commission to keep Eurojust’s 
cash holdings as low as possible; Eurojust has a 
permanently high level of cash holdings 
(December 2008: EUR 4 612 878,47)  — The Court of Auditors does not comment on 
the level of carry-overs and cancellations of 
appropriations in 2009 
— Calls on the Agency to inform the discharge 
authority of the steps taken to avoid carrying 
forward appropriations, such has been a 
constant issue during the previous discharge 
procedures  
Procurement procedures  Deficiencies in the procurement 
procedures  Deficiencies in the procurement 
procedures, as in the two previous 
years (i.e. the Agency extended 
existing contracts in a manner 
contrary to the rules)  Deficiencies in procurement procedures, as in the 
three previous years: in most procurement cases no 
prior estimation of the market value was made 
before the procedure was launched; weaknesses in 
the monitoring of contracts and the programming 
of procurements; calls on the Agency to inform 
the discharge authority on the plan to overcome 
this situation  Congratulates the Agency for establishing measures 
to estimate the market value of relevant 
products/services before commencing a 
procurement procedure; considers this initiative an 
important practice to be followed by other agencies; 
welcomes, in addition, the Agency’s annual 
procurement plan for 2009, which greatly helped 
the Agency’s units and services in the management 
of their tenders; considers that these initiatives 
improve the authorising officer’s guidance and 
controlEN 17.10.2012 Official Journal of the European Union L 286/273
Eurojust  2006  2007  2008  2009  
Human resources  n.a.  — Weaknesses in the recruitment 
procedures 
— Reduction of the vacancy rate 
from 34 % at the end of 2007 
to 25 % at the end of 2008 
— Shortcomings in the 
recruitment planning  — Shortcomings in the planning and 
implementation of recruitment procedures: 
26 % of the posts are still vacant 
— Eurojust has not respected the principle of 
specification 
— Calls on the Agency to inform the discharge 
authority about its new recruitment procedure  — The Court of Auditors notes shortcomings in 
the planning and implementation of the 
recruitment procedures (24 % of posts remain 
vacant) 
— Calls on the Agency to set up a comprehensive 
recruitment action plan to significantly reduce 
the vacancy rate and to inform the discharge 
authority about this 
— Calls on the Agency to reduce the number of 
temporary staff to the number recommended by 
the IAS 
— Expresses concern that the Court of Auditors has 
reported that three out of six middle 
management posts at the Agency were filled on 
a temporary basis by ‘acting’ staff members  
Internal audit  n.a.  n.a.  Calls on the Agency to implement 26 out 26 
recommendations made by the Internal Audit 
Service; calls on the Agency to put in place 
without delay the following recommendations on 
human resources management: preparing short 
term to fill the current vacancies; redefining the 
set-up of the Human Resources Unit; reducing the 
number of temporary staff; strengthening the 
recruitment procedure; adopting the implementing 
rules for career development; ensuring the 
independence of the members of the Selection 
Board; and making sure that the public 
procurement procedures are correctly implemented  Calls on the Agency to inform the discharge 
authority of the reasons for the delay in resolving 
the recommendations made by the IAS on 
31 December 2008 and to take immediate action 
on improving the recruitment procedure, reducing 
the number of interim staff, restructuring the HR 
unit, developing a HR management plan, reinforcing 
the monitoring of the HR activities and reviewing 
the content of the register of exceptionsEN L 286/274 Official Journal of the European Union 17.10.2012