Resolution of the European Parliament

of 10 May 2011

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 2009

THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT,

having regard to the final annual accounts of Eurojust for the financial year 2009,

having regard to the Court of Auditors’ report on the annual accounts of Eurojust for the financial year 2009, together with Eurojust’s replies [1],

having regard to the Council’s recommendation of 15 February 2011 (05892/2011 — C7-0052/2011),

having regard to Article 276 of the EC Treaty and 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 (A7-0133/2011),

A. whereas the Court of Auditors stated that it has obtained reasonable assurances that the annual accounts for the financial year 2009 are reliable and that the underlying transactions are legal and regular,

B. whereas on 5 May 2010 Parliament granted the Administrative Director of Eurojust discharge for implementation of the Agency’s budget for the financial year 2008 [5], and in its Resolution accompanying the discharge Decision, inter alia:

- welcomed the conclusion on 24 September 2008 of the Practical Agreement on arrangements of cooperation between the Agency and OLAF,

- noted the Court of Auditors’ finding that in 2008 the Agency still had difficulties carrying forward appropriations, even if the amount appeared to be lower than in the previous year (13 % of final budget appropriations, instead of 25 % of appropriations carried over in 2007),

- regretted that the Court of Auditors again found deficiencies in procurement procedures, as in the previous 3 years,

C. whereas the budget of the Agency for 2009 was EUR 26400000, which is an increase of 6,4 % on the financial year 2008,

Performance

1. Welcomes the Agency’s initiative to include Key Performance Indicators in its 2010 unit plans; calls, nevertheless, on the Agency to inform the discharge authority on these key indicators and their links to the Agency’s objectives, budget and work programme; considers, in fact, that linking indicators to the objectives, budget and work programme of the Agency will allow stakeholders to evaluate the Agency’s performance better;

2. Welcomes the Agency’s initiative to have presented, in the table annexed to the Court of Auditors’ 2009 report, a comparison of the operations that were carried out during 2008 and 2009 so as to enable the discharge authority to assess more effectively its performance from one year to the next;

Carry-over of appropriations

3. Notes with satisfaction that the Court of Auditors does not comment on the level of carry-overs and cancellations of appropriations in 2009;

4. Notes that the discharge for the implementation of the budget for the Agency should be further based on its performance throughout the year;

5. Calls on the Agency to inform the discharge authority of the steps taken to avoid carrying forward appropriations; such carrying forward of appropriations has been a constant issue during the previous discharge procedures;

Improvement in procurement procedures

6. 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 control;

Human resources

7. Expresses concern at the fact that the Court of Auditors has again noted shortcomings in the planning and implementation of recruitment procedures; notes in particular that the level of vacant posts (24 %) is still too high, although less than in 2008 (26 %) and in 2007 (33 %); calls, accordingly, on the Agency to set up a comprehensive recruitment action plan to significantly reduce the vacancy rate and inform the discharge authority about this; welcomes, however, the Agency’s intention to reduce the vacancy rate to less than 8 % by the end of 2011;

8. Congratulates the Agency’s achievement in 2009 of reducing the number of temporary staff "acting as staff members" from 31 to 10 by the end of that year; calls, nevertheless, on the Agency to further reduce this number as recommended by the Internal Audit Service (IAS);

9. Acknowledges that the Agency launched its new recruitment procedure in 2009 which provided that members of the selection board shall only invite applicants to interviews who score a minimum of 75 % on the preliminary evaluation and only place on reserve lists candidates who score a minimum of 75 % on the interview evaluation and on the written tests;

10. Expresses concern that the Court of Auditors has reported that three out of six middle management (Head of Unit) posts at the Agency were filled on a temporary basis by "acting" staff members; underlines that this situation indicates difficulties in attracting and retaining the right staff; welcomes, nevertheless, the Agency’s plan to adopt a decision which will provide that the final assessment of applicants will be based on the combination of the grade given at the moment of the completion of the application form, and the result of interviews and written tests; considers that this approach is an improvement of the Agency’s selection procedures as it takes into account, in an effective manner, each candidate’s merits;

Internal audit

11. Acknowledges that out of the 26 recommendations made by the IAS in 31 December 2008 just 4 have been resolved (2 of which were considered "critical"); notes, in addition, that the IAS issued an additional recommendation in December 2009 and that 15 out of the remaining 23 recommendations have an implementation delay of more than 12 months; calls, accordingly, on the Agency to inform the discharge authority of the reasons for such a delay and 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;

12. Welcomes the Agency’s initiative of providing the discharge authority with the IAS Annual Internal Audit Report concerning the Agency; considers this to be an indication of transparency and an example of best practice to be followed by all other agencies;

13. Refers, in respect of the other observations accompanying its Decision on discharge, which are of a horizontal nature, to its Resolution of 10 May 2011 [6] on the performance, financial management and control of the agencies.

[1] OJ C 338, 14.12.2010, p. 144.

[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 252, 25.9.2010, p. 202.

[6] Texts adopted, P7_TA(2011)0163 (see page 269 of this Official Journal).

--------------------------------------------------