RESOLUTION OF THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT  
of 17 April 2013  
with observations forming an integral part of its Decision on discharge in respect of the 
implementation of the budget of the European Railway Agency for the financial year 2011  
THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT,  
— having regard to the final annual accounts of the European Railway Agency for the financial year 2011,  
— having regard to the Court of Auditors’ report on the annual accounts of the European Railway Agency 
for the financial year 2011, together with the Agency’s replies (  1 ), 
— having regard to the Council’s recommendation of 12 February 2013 (05753/2013 – C7-0041/2013),  
— 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 Regulation (EU, Euratom) No 966/2012 of the European Parliament and of the Council 
of 25 October 2012 on the financial rules applicable to the general budget of the Union and repealing 
Council Regulation (EC, Euratom) No 1605/2002 (  3 ), and in particular Article 208 thereof,  
— having regard to Regulation (EC) No 881/2004 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 
29 April 2004 establishing a European railway agency (Agency Regulation) (  4 ), and in particular 
Article 39 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 (  5 ), 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 Transport and Tourism (A7-0103/2013),  
A. whereas the Court of Auditors stated that it has obtained reasonable assurances that the annual 
accounts of the European Railway Agency (‘the Agency’) for the financial year 2011 are reliable and 
that the underlying transactions are legal and regular,  
B. whereas on 10 May 2012, Parliament granted the Executive Director of the Agency discharge for the 
implementation of the Agency’s budget for the financial year 2010 (  6 ), and in its resolution accom ­
panying the discharge, inter alia:  
— regretted the fact that errors in budgetary forecasts resulted in the cancellation or delay of certain 
investments; urged the Agency to inform the discharge authority immediately of the measures 
implemented in order to allow for better expenditure forecasts,EN L 308/278 Official Journal of the European Union 16.11.2013  
( 1 ) OJ C 388, 15.12.2012, p. 145.  
( 2 ) OJ L 248, 16.9.2002, p. 1.  
( 3 ) OJ L 298, 26.10.2012, p. 1.  
( 4 ) OJ L 164, 30.4.2004, p. 1.  
( 5 ) OJ L 357, 31.12.2002, p. 72.  
( 6 ) OJ L 286, 17.10.2012, p. 229.
— recalled that the Agency already carried over a substantial amount of appropriations in the financial 
years 2008 and 2009 to the financial year 2010; considered that those serious breaches of the 
budgetary principle of annuality can no longer be accepted in the future and that discharge should 
be refused on the next occasion, in the event that there is a further breach of that budgetary 
principle; called on the Agency to take the measures required to remedy the situation without delay,  
— considered that the Agency did not adequately address the problem of appropriations being carried 
forward from one year to the next; recalled the importance of the budgetary principle of annuality; 
called on the Agency to inform the discharge authority about actions taken to improve the annual 
budget implementation and to decrease the carryovers of budget appropriations,  
— urged the Agency to create a multiannual plan translating long-term objectives into multiannual 
tasks and associated key performance indicators; emphasised that this would provide stakeholders 
with better information on the Agency’s objectives, activities, strategic priorities and resource 
allocation,  
— called on the Agency to implement the Internal Audit Service (IAS) recommendations related to the 
audit on human resources management undertaken by the IAS in 2009,  
C. whereas, according to the Agency’s 2011 Annual Accounts Report (  1 ), the budget for the Agency for 
the year 2011 was EUR 25 988 665, compared to EUR 24 147 240 in 2010, which accounts for an 
increase of 7,62 % compared to the previous year,  
Budgetary and financial management  
1. Notes from the Agency’s Annual Activity Report (AAR) that 95 % of appropriations were committed 
and 81 % have been used for payments; notes in particular that:  
— under Title I ‘Staff Expenditure’, the total committed appropriations amounted to EUR 15 930 664 
(100 %), of which 99 % has been used for payment execution (EUR 15 710 948) while 1 % of the 
appropriations were carried forward to 2012 (EUR 219 716);  
— under Title II ‘Administrative Expenditure’, the total committed appropriations amounted 
to EUR 2 212 548 (nearly 100 %), of which 75 % has been used for payment execution 
(EUR 1 649 635) while 25 % of the appropriations were carried forward to 2012 (EUR 562 913);  
— under Title III ‘Operational Expenditure’, the total committed appropriations amounted to 
EUR 6 495 020 (83 %), of which 47 % has been used for payment execution (EUR 3 659 761) 
while 36 % of the appropriations were carried forward to 2012 (EUR 2 835 259);  
2. Acknowledges that the level of payments against budget appropriations improved for all titles, but 
remained low for Title III with 47 % (39 % in 2010); demands that the Agency take further actions to 
address this deficiency as the situation is at odds with the budgetary principle of annuality and report 
back to the budgetary authority forthwith;  
Staff  
3. Observes from the Court of Auditors’ report that the Agency will have to replace half of its operational 
staff in the period 2013–15; calls on the Agency to inform the discharge authority on the actions taken 
to manage this difficult situation which may cause major disruptions in the Agency’s operational 
activities;  
Two locations  
4. Takes note that the Agency recognises that the use of two locations leads to inefficiencies and 
additional costs; notes, moreover, that all efforts are made by the Agency to minimise the negative 
impact of the decision on the Agency’s seat;EN 16.11.2013 Official Journal of the European Union L 308/279  
( 1 ) Annual Accounts Report for 2011, p. 6.
5. Acknowledges from the AAR that the preparatory phase of the project to increase the capacity of 
headquarters in Valenciennes was completed; notes moreover that the improvement of the Lille 
premises was postponed due to the lack of resources;  
Accounting system  
6. Observes from the AAR that the Agency updated its Manual for Financial Procedures according to the 
use of the modules of accrual-based accounting (ABAC) workflow and ABAC assets; notes, moreover, 
that the ABAC assets module was implemented in 2011;  
7. Welcomes the Agency’s implementation, as of 1 September 2010, of a centralised system for the 
registration of incoming invoices; stresses that this measure is necessary to ensure the timely 
recording of all invoices and contributes to avoiding delays in processing payments;  
Carryovers  
8. Acknowledges from the Court of Auditors’ report that the appropriations carried forward to 2012 
amounted to EUR 3 617 887; calls on the Agency to take further action to address this deficiency as 
the situation is at odds with the budgetary principle of annuality;  
Recruitment procedures  
9. Acknowledges from the Court of Auditors’ report that the Agency could improve its recruitment 
procedures in order to fully ensure transparency and equal treatment of candidates; calls on the 
Agency to inform the discharge authority of the actions taken to improve the recruitment procedures; 
considers that some of the provisions of the Staff Regulations may present a considerable administrative 
burden; encourages, therefore, the Commission to allow for a certain degree of simplification under 
Article 110 of the Staff Regulations in regard to the agencies;  
10. Takes note from the AAR that staff had been recruited as planned with a vacancy rate of 2,78 % at the 
end of the year; notes, moreover, that the total number of staff at the end of 2011 was 140 temporary 
agents and 14 other staff (contractual agents and seconded national experts);  
Conflicts of interest  
11. Calls on the Agency to scrutinise and prohibit possible conflicts of interest when hiring experts and 
staff from the sector it supervises;  
Internal audit  
12. Acknowledges from the Agency that the IAS carried out an audit ‘Expert Management in Interoper ­
ability’ in 2011 in order to provide reasonable assurance on the adequacy and effectiveness of the 
internal control system regarding expert management in interoperability in the Agency; notes that 
based on the results the IAS raised six recommendations, out of which two as ‘very important’, 
three as ‘important’ and one as ‘desirable’; calls on the Agency to implement the IAS recommendations 
and to inform the discharge authority of the actions taken;  
13. Welcomes the Agency’s initiative of setting up an Internal Audit Capability (IAC) at the end of 2007 
that is dedicated to providing support and advice to its Executive Director and management on internal 
control, risk assessment and internal audit; notes, moreover, that the IAC activity during 2011 was 
aimed at providing management support as regards the annual assessment of the 16 Internal Control 
Standards, the revision of the risk management framework, the coordination of the 2011 risk 
assessment exercise, and the development of a specific policy on the management of conflicts of 
interest within the Agency;  
14. Refers, in respect of the other observations accompanying its Decision on discharge, which are of a 
horizontal nature, to its resolution of 17 April 2013 (  1 ) on the performance, financial management and 
control of the agencies.EN L 308/280 Official Journal of the European Union 16.11.2013  
( 1 ) Texts adopted, P7_TA(2013)0134 (see page 374 of this Official Journal).