Report on the financial statements of the European Environment Agency for the financial year ended 31 December 2000, together with the Agency's replies
Date: 2001-10-10
Institutions: European Court of Auditors
Subjects: European Environment Agency, activity report, financial control, financial year

28.12.2001

EN

Official Journal of the European Communities

C 372/9

on the financial statements of the European Environment Agency for the financial year ended
31 December 2000, together with the Agency’s replies

REPORT

(2001/C 372/02)

CONTENTS

THE COURT’S OPINION . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

1-4

Paragraph

MAIN OBSERVATIONS ON THE IMPLEMENTATION OF THE BUDGET OF THE EUROPEAN
ENVIRONMENT AGENCY (COPENHAGEN) FOR THE FINANCIAL YEAR ENDING 31 DECEM-
BER 2000 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

Implementation of the budget and budgetary accounts . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

Financial statements and keeping of the accounts . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

Keeping of the accounts . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

Accounting management of fixed assets and inventory . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

Recovery orders . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

Follow-up to the Court’s previous observations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

Management of human resources . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

Staffing policy . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

Recruitment procedures . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

Changes in the Agency’s staff and activities . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

Conclusion . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

5-37

5-8

9-15

9-10

11-12

13-15

16

17-37

17-18

19-20

21-34

35-37

Tables 1 to 5 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

The Agency’s replies . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

Page

10

10

10

10

10

10

11

11

11

11

11

11

12

14

17

C 372/10

EN

Official Journal of the European Communities

28.12.2001

THE COURT’S OPINION

1. This report is addressed to the Management Board of the
European Environment Agency in accordance with Article 13(4)
of Council Regulation (EEC) No 1210/90 (1).

2. The Court has examined the financial statements of the Euro-
pean Environment Agency for the financial year ended 31 Decem-
ber 2000. In accordance with Article 14 of Council Regulation
(EEC) No 1210/90 the budget was implemented on the responsi-
bility of the executive director. This responsibility includes the
drawing-up and presentation of the financial statements (2) in
accordance with the internal financial provisions provided for in
Article 14 of Council Regulation (EEC) No 1210/90. The Court of
Auditors is required under Article 248 of the Treaty establishing
the European Community to audit those accounts.

3. The Court performed its audit in accordance with its audit
policies and standards. These have been adapted from generally
accepted international auditing standards to reflect the specific
characteristics of the Community context. The Court carried out
such tests of the accounting records and applied such other audit
procedures as it deemed necessary in the circumstances. Through
this audit the Court obtained a reasonable basis for the opinion
expressed below.

4. This examination has enabled the Court to obtain reasonable
assurance that the annual accounts for the financial year ended
31 December 2000 are reliable and that the underlying transac-
tions, taken as a whole, are legal and regular.

6. Final appropriations for the financial year totalled 18,9 mil-
lion euro, 18,8 million euro (99 %) of which was committed. The
operating appropriations (Title III, 9 million euro) were commit-
ted almost in their entirety (8,9 million euro).

7. Appropriations carried over to 2001 amounted to 5,4 million
euro (29 % of commitments) and essentially concerned operating
appropriations, 4,4 million euro of which was carried over (50 %
of commitments), i.e. a decrease compared with the previous
financial year (5,4 million euro, 59 % of commitments). Of all the
appropriations that were carried over from 1999, namely 6 mil-
lion euro, approximately 11 % were cancelled at the end of 2000.
The Agency should continue its efforts to minimise its carryovers
of appropriations.

8.
In December 2000, a commitment of 105 000 euro was made
with a view to financing translations and terminology services to
be provided during the first half of 2001. As this was expenditure
for the financial year 2001, it should have been financed by
appropriations from the 2001 budget. Furthermore, this commit-
ment is not supported by any order form.

Financial statements and keeping of the accounts

Keeping of the accounts

MAIN OBSERVATIONS ON THE IMPLEMENTATION OF THE
BUDGET OF THE EUROPEAN ENVIRONMENT AGENCY
(COPENHAGEN) FOR THE FINANCIAL YEAR ENDING
31 DECEMBER 2000

Implementation of the budget and budgetary accounts

9. Tables 2 and 3 show, respectively, the revenue and expenditure
account for the financial year 2000 and the balance sheet as at
31 December 2000.

10. The SI2 budgetary accounting system does not yet include
the module for recording amounts to be recovered and should be
completed.

5. The implementation of the appropriations for the financial
year 2000 and of the appropriations carried over from the previ-
ous year is set out in Table 1 (3).

Accounting management of fixed assets and inventory

(1) OJ L 120, 11.5.1990, p. 4.
(2) Under Article 13(3) of Council Regulation (EEC) No 1210/90, the
accounts for all the Agency’s revenue and expenditure for the finan-
cial year 2000 were drawn up on 30 March 2001 and were sent to
the Agency’s Management Board, the Commission and the Court of
Auditors and the latter received them on 9 April 2001. The summary
form of those financial statements is published in the tables annexed
to this report.

(3) The calculations in all tables in this report are based on the most
accurate data available. As regards the presentation of figures, figures
have been rounded, which may give the appearance of arithmetical
errors. A dash indicates an unavailable or zero value and 0,0 indicates
a value lower than the rounding threshold.

11. The Agency’s Financial Regulation contains no provisions
concerning the accounting management of fixed assets and no
rules for valuation or depreciation. The Agency should incorpo-
rate the provisions adopted by the Commission in December
2000 (4) into its own regulations so as to avoid, among other
things, problems with the valuation of inventory items (see para-
graph 12).

(4) Commission Regulation (EC) No 2909/2000 of 29 December 2000

(OJ L 336, 30.12.2000, p. 75).

28.12.2001

EN

Official Journal of the European Communities

C 372/11

12. According to Article 52 of its Financial Regulation, the
Agency is required to keep a permanent inventory of all movable
and immovable property which makes up its assets. The Agency’s
inventory system is unsatisfactory. Two inventory lists are kept,
one for furniture and miscellaneous equipment and another for
IT equipment, but the quality of these two lists is very unequal.
The list of IT equipment is incomplete. For a large part of the
equipment, the year of purchase, the location and the value are
not indicated. The list of furniture and miscellaneous equipment
is more detailed, but values are indicated only in local currency.

Recovery orders

13. Any measure or situation which may give rise to a debt due
to the Agency must be preceded by a forward estimate of the
amount due, drawn up by the authorising officer (Article 23 of
the Agency’s Financial Regulation). The forward estimates are sent
to the accounting officer, for provisional registration. When the
debt is established, the authorising officer draws up a recovery
order (Article 24) which he must forward to the accounting officer,
who must in turn ensure that the resources are collected
(Article 25).

14. The Agency draws up the recovery order when the debt is
established but never draws up forward estimates of the amounts
due. The result is a lack of control over recoveries to be made.
Thus, in December 1999, the Agency noted that tax on rent of
approximately 3 865 000 Danish crowns (519 000 euro) was
recoverable. In the absence of a forward estimate, no entry was
made in the accounts. In March 2000, a cheque for 3 000 000 Dan-
ish crowns was received and a recovery order was drawn up for
the same amount. In the absence of a forward estimate as of
31 December 2000, the amount still to be recovered, namely
865 662 Danish crowns (116 067 euro), was not registered in the
accounts. This amount was recovered at the beginning of 2001.

15. When the Agency draws up a recovery order, it does not sys-
tematically notify the debtor with a view to ensuring that the
amount owed can be collected. Of six recovery orders examined,
there were two for which no notice had been sent, which was why
the debtors had not made payment.

Management of human resources

Staffing policy

17. The Agency’s staff is subject to the Regulations and Rules
applicable to officials and other servants of the European Com-
munities. As laid down in the third paragraph of Article 17 of
Regulation (EEC) No 1210/90 of 7 May 1990, the Management
Board has, in agreement with the Commission, adopted the appro-
priate implementing rules (2). Generally speaking, the Agency
implements the general provisions adopted by the Commission
but has not formally incorporated them into its internal rules.

18. At the end of 1999, the Agency drafted a general document
on staffing policy and proposed several implementing decisions
which, as of November 2000, had not yet been approved by its
Management Board. In addition, several general provisions for
implementing the Staff Regulations were incorporated into the
Agency’s internal rules in December 1999.

Recruitment procedures

19. No document on the Agency’s recruitment procedures has
been approved by the Management Board. In order to select tem-
porary staff, the Agency usually recruits from outside following
extensive publication of notice of competition in the Official Jour-
nal, in the European institutions, the other agencies and the media.
In three of the 31 cases examined, staff were taken on without
recourse to an external selection procedure. Three other employ-
ees were recruited on temporary contracts even though they were
not on the reserve lists for filling these posts and all successful
candidates on the lists had not been recruited.

20. The Agency applies to seconded national ‘experts’ (SNEs) the
arrangements which are applied at the Commission. In two of the
eight cases examined, experts were chosen without recourse to a
selection procedure. The Agency granted one SNE an amount
equivalent to 40 % of national salary to cover children’s educa-
tion expenses. The regulations make no provision for this prac-
tice.

Follow-up to the Court’s previous observations

Changes in the Agency’s staff and activities

16.
In its 1999 Annual Report on the Agency (1), the Court
pointed out weaknesses in the financial management of contracts,
in particular as regards the handling of payment requests. An
analysis of the files on payments made in 2000 revealed that the
financial files did not always contain supporting documents for
the payment requests and instead, despite the undertakings given
by the Agency, contained only a declaration of the authenticity
and compliance of the work carried out.

21. The Agency’s staff who are employed under the Staff Regula-
tions are either permanent or temporary employees (PEs or TEs).
The number of posts to be filled by staff employed under the Staff
Regulations is authorised by the budgetary authority each year
when the budget is adopted. In addition, the budget may allocate
appropriations for the recruitment of auxiliary employees (AEs),
whose contracts are limited to a maximum of one year, and sec-
onded national experts (SNEs). Local employees (LEs) may also be
recruited but the Agency does not avail itself of this option.

(1) OJ C 373, 27.12.2000.

(2) Decision No EEA/99/DGE/01 of 15 December 1999.

C 372/12

EN

Official Journal of the European Communities

28.12.2001

22. Table 4 shows the growth in the Agency’s staff and the cat-
egories to which they belong. The increase in the number of staff
has tended to level off in recent years.

30. The ratio of operational staff to support staff is unfavourable
in so far as the proportion of operational A grade staff has tended
to fall. For 2000, the figure was 42 %, i.e. slightly lower than the
average for the period examined (43 %).

23. Since the Agency was set up, it has taken on 133 members
of staff. No employees were recruited to a permanent post directly.
In 54 % of cases staff were first recruited as TEs, and in 46 % of
cases as AEs or SNEs. At the end of 2000, 78 % of staff were PEs
or, more often, TEs; the remainder were AEs or SNEs.

31. Table 5 shows changes in staff-related costs and administra-
tive expenditure from 1995 to 2000. The increase in salary costs
was higher than the increase in staff numbers. This difference
(approximately 10 %) can largely be attributed to automatic sal-
ary increases.

24. An analysis of the procedure for recruiting staff currently
employed by the Agency reveals a recruitment model where:

32. As regards other staff-related costs, the audit paid particular
attention to professional training (PT) expenditure and adminis-
trative expenditure, in particular in the field of IT.

— in the majority of cases, staff are recruited by procedures akin
to external competitions as temporary employees, and subse-
quently have the opportunity to obtain a permanent post by
means of a competition which is not widely advertised,

— other staff are recruited first as auxiliaries and then, by means
of an open competition, have the opportunity to obtain a
temporary post.

25. This staff-management model is revealed by an analysis of
recruitment by procedures, which shows that approximately 64 %
of new employees were recruited by means of open competitions
advertised in the Official Journal and 25 % following competi-
tions advertised in the Community institutions and the agencies.
On average, recruitment costs totalled 2 330 euro per recruit.

26. Departures from the Agency lead to a turnover rate for staff
(PEs, TEs, AEs and SNEs) averaging 15 % per year, three quarters
of which can be attributed to the expiry of contracts and the
remainder to terminations of contracts, mainly by the staff con-
cerned.

27. The Court’s examination of a sample of 14 employees revealed
no problems as regards their professional suitability for the duties
proposed.

28. For the purposes of the audit, staff were broken down into
in two categories:

— staff responsible for support activities (support staff), i.e. activi-
ties necessary for the continuity of the Agency’s operations
(e.g. administration, accounts, secretarial services, etc.),

— other, ‘operational’, staff, who contribute directly to the reali-

sation of the Agency’s objectives.

29. On average, 87 % of A grade staff, i.e. 43 % of the total, may
be regarded as operational. All other staff are considered to be
support staff.

33. PT expenditure increased more quickly than the number of
staff. Administrative expenditure fell slightly on average once the
initial investment had been made.

In order to understand the relationship between the Agen-
34.
cy’s activities and the change in its staff and related costs, the
change in these items was compared with the change in the
amount of operating appropriations (Title III) which were actu-
ally disbursed (appropriations for the year and appropriations car-
ried over) in the course of one year. This comparison suggests
that, on average, the Agency’s use of human resources and the
cost of using them are increasing more quickly than the Agency’s
workload. This observation is corroborated by the fact that, on
average, support expenditure (Titles I and II) is growing more
quickly than operating expenditure. However, the Agency is not
yet fully operational and cannot, in view of its size, reap substan-
tial economies of scale given its material and administrative infra-
structure. In this respect, the relationship between the growth-
rate of its operational staff and the rate of growth of its volume
of expenditure is satisfactory.

Conclusion

In general terms, it can be seen that from the very beginning
35.
the Agency has been unable to take on the number of staff pro-
vided for by the establishment plan in its budget, but it has been
able to remedy the situation by recruiting auxiliary staff and sec-
onded national experts.

36.
In order to recruit its temporary employees, in the majority
of cases the Agency employs an external recruitment model simi-
lar to the model advocated by the Community institutions.

37.
In view of the expected development of the Agency’s activi-
ties, and therefore of its staff, it might be preferable for the Agency,
in the case of posts involving support and operational activities
which require qualifications of an administrative nature, to join
forces with the Community institutions and the other decentra-
lised bodies with a view to recruiting staff on the broadest pos-
sible basis. Furthermore, in general terms the Agency should
improve its staff management and information system.

28.12.2001

EN

Official Journal of the European Communities

C 372/13

This report was adopted by the Court of Auditors in Luxembourg at the Court meeting of 10 October 2001.

For the Court of Auditors

Jan O. KARLSSON

President

C 372/14

EN

Official Journal of the European Communities

28.12.2001

TABLES 1 TO 5

Table 1

Implementation of the budget

Title

I — Staff

Budget 2000
Carryovers 1999

II — Administration

Budget 2000
Carryovers 1999

III — Operations

Budget 2000
Carryovers 1999

Total

Budget 2000
Carryovers 1999

Total

Total

Total

Total

Appropria-
tions

Commitments

Payments

%

Carryovers

Cancellations

%

(Mio EUR)

(c)

7,1
0,1

7,2

1,6
0,4

1,9

4,5
4,9

9,4

13,2
5,3

18,5

(d=c/b)

92 %
53 %

91 %

75 %
89 %

77 %

50 %
91 %

66 %

70 %
89 %

75 %

(f)

0,5

0,5

0,5

0,5

4,4

4,4

5,4

5,4

(g=a-c-f)

(h=g/a)

0,2
0,1

0,2

0,1
0,0

0,2

0,0
0,5

0,5

0,3
0,6

0,9

2 %
47 %

3 %

5 %

6 %

9 %

4 %

2 %
11 %

4 %

(a)

7,7
0,2

7,9

2,2
0,4

2,6

9,0
5,4

14,4

18,9
6,0

24,9

(b)

7,7
0,2

7,9

2,1
0,4

2,5

8,9
5,4

14,3

18,8
6,0

24,7

Table 2

Revenue and expenditure account for the financial years 2000 and 1999

(1 000 EUR)

2000

1999

17 816
67
423

Total revenue

18 306

Revenue
Subsidy received from the Commission
Other subsidies
Miscellaneous revenue

Expenditure
Staff expenditure — Title I of the budget
Payments
Appropriations carried over

7 137
456

1 570
517

4 505
4 432

Buildings, equipment and miscellaneous administrative expenditure — Title II of the budget
Payments
Appropriations carried over

Operating expenditure — Title III of the budget
Payments
Appropriations carried over

Total expenditure

18 617

Outturn for the financial year
Balance carried over from the previous financial year
1999 amount for re-use not used
Appropriations carried over from the previous financial year which lapse
Exchange-rate differences

– 310
– 3 517
84
628
– 2

Balance for the financial year

– 3 117

Source: Table prepared by the Court of Auditors on the basis of data compiled by the Agency.

18 246
0
118

18 364

6 688
179

1 845
396

3 808
5 389

18 305

59
– 4 386
80
695
34

– 3 518

28.12.2001

EN

Official Journal of the European Communities

C 372/15

Balance sheet as at 31 December 2000 and 31 December 1999

Table 3

Assets

2000

1999

Liabilities

2000

1999

(1 000 EUR)

Fixed assets
Equipment and furniture
IT equipment

Stocks

Current assets
Subsidies from the Commission
Other subsidies
Sundry accounts receivable
Recoverable VAT
Recovery orders

Cash accounts
Banks
Cash

2 219
1 562

3 781

13

9 324
185
105
130
117

9 861

3 484
2

3 486

Subtotal

Subtotal

Subtotal

2 135
1 484

3 619

12

8 701
0
55
250
0

9 006

4 799
2

4 801

Fixed capital
Own capital
Outturn for the financial year

Current liabilities
Commission
Other subsidies
Automatic carryovers of appropriations
Recovery orders
VAT
Payroll deductions

Suspense accounts
Reuse accounts (VAT and others)
Payments in progress

3 794
– 3 117

3 631
– 3 518

Subtotal

677

113

9 324
185
5 405
117
130
153

8 701
0
5 964
0
250
56

Subtotal

15 314

14 971

764
386

Subtotal

1 150

1 100
1 254

2 354

Total assets

17 141

17 438

Total liabilities

17 141

17 438

Source: Table prepared by the Court of Auditors on the basis of data compiled by the Agency.

Table 4

Changes in staff numbers

Establishment plan

Posts filled

Other staff

PE

7

7

7

8

8

10

1995

1996

1997

1998

1999

2000

TE

41

48

55

55

60

66

Total

PE

48

55

62

63

68

76

0

0

0

1

4

4

TE

30

46

55

53

58

57

PE: Permanent employees.
TE: Temporary employees.
AE: Auxiliary employees.
SNE: Seconded national experts.

Total

AE

SNE

Total

30

46

55

54

62

61

3

1

4

6,5

8

9

4

7

5

7

7

7

Total

37

54

64

7

8

9

13,5

67,5

15

16

77

77

Table 5

Changes in staff numbers and in staff-related costs

Salary costs

Total staff

Direct (1)

Indirect (2)

Total

Other
salary-
related
costs (3)

Overall
total (4)

Salary costs/head

Other staff-related costs

Administrative expenditure

Direct

Indirect

Total

PT (5)

PT/head

Recruitment
and
installation

Total

Of which
IT (6)

Total/head

IT/head

(1 000 EUR)

1995

1996

1997

1998

1999

2000

37

54

64

1 486,5

3 680,2

4 415,2

67,5

5 148,8

77

77

5 931,0

6 144,1

523,0

174,6

230,1

250,8

276,1

281,5

2 009,5

287,1

2 296,7

3 854,8

4 645,3

5 399,6

6 207,1

6 425,5

7,7

11,1

11,4

6,7

10,7

3 862,5

4 656,4

5 410,9

6 213,8

6 436,2

40,2

68,2

69,0

76,3

77,0

79,8

14,1

3,2

3,6

3,7

3,6

3,7

54,3

71,4

72,6

80,0

80,6

83,4

8,5

3,1

11,1

16,9

22,2

29,0

0,2

0,1

0,2

0,3

0,3

0,4

517,6

287,1

176,0

141,6

102,0

281,6

2 159,4

2 337,6

2 243,3

2 448,2

2 683,1

1 923,4

0,0

0,0

0,0

264,3

103,2

32,3

58,4

43,3

35,1

36,3

34,8

25,0

0,0

0,0

0,0

3,9

1,3

0,4

(1) Salaries paid to staff in active employment (all categories taken together).
(2) Social benefits and other salary adjustments.
(3) Overtime and supplementary services.
(4) Expenditure related to salaries under Title I, excluding mission expenses, etc.
(5) PT: Professional training.
(6) IT: Expenditure on informations.

C
3
7
2
/
1
6

E
N

O

f
f
i
c
i
a
l

J
o
u
r
n
a
l

o
f

t
h
e

E
u
r
o
p
e
a
n
C
o
m
m
u
n
i
t
i
e
s

.

2
8
1
2
2
0
0
1

.

28.12.2001

EN

Official Journal of the European Communities

C 372/17

THE AGENCY’S REPLIES

Implementation of the budget and budgetary accounts

8. The Court refers to work that was planned for in the 2000
work plan but due to uncertainty in the actual translation require-
ments, which can change in terms of the volume and timing, the
final decision to execute this work was delayed until later in the
year. It can be noted that work to the Translation Centre is ordered
through work sheets while order forms are used with outside sup-
pliers.

14. The comment on the recovery of an outstanding amount of
EUR 116 067 in relation to the rent of the EEA building is indeed
correct. The delay in recovery was caused by the need for a clari-
fication with and between the previous and the current owners of
the building EEA rents. The matter has now been clarified and the
recovery has been registered in the accounts.

Follow-up to previous observations made by the Court

Financial statements and keeping of the accounts

16. The Agency recognises the need to include documents in
support of payment requests and has improved and implemented
procedures to ensure this with authorising officers.

10. The income module in the financial system (SI2) is currently
being implemented and made operational.

Accounting management of fixed assets and inventory

11. The new dispositions referred to by the Court (Decision
2000/716/EC) will be integrated in the Agency’s procedures and
will be used as a basis for the 2001 closing of the accounts and
the assessment of the value of the assets of the Agency.

12. The Agency will have for the 2001 closing exercise, a fully
integrated and unique inventory including the value of assets, date
of acquisition and location of the material.

The Agency is implementing a permanent system in which the
values in the assets are calculated at the time of purchase instead
of taking it as an operation at the end of the year. It can be noted
however that the impact on the value of the inventory is minor
and has no repercussions on the correct amounts paid to the con-
tractors.

Recovery orders

In addition, providing access to and linking of supporting docu-
ments to the payment requests is being reviewed and developed
in the context of the automation project that the EEA is conduct-
ing jointly with other Agencies on the basis of Commission IT
system (CSS group on the basis of SINCOM2).

Management of human resources

Staffing Policy

18. A number of internal decisions have been formalised with
the Management Board, but it is agreed that this has not been
done fully. While analogy with Commission’s internal disposi-
tions is the main aim, and harmonisation with other EU bodies is
considered to be important, the Agency also strives to stay in line
with the Community personnel regulations and implementation
rules, recognising that they are currently being revised and rede-
veloped in the context of the reform process and specifically in
the personnel policy area.

The EEA will propose to the Management Board, for approval,
implementation of those Commission rules which will be fully
followed, and specific decisions where the EEA deviates from the
Commission’s approaches.

13. The Agency recognises the need to build into the SI2 finan-
cial system recovery and credit operations and better to formalise
the procedure.

Recruitment procedures

This area is a main priority for the EEA in 2001, especially in view
of the increased importance of contract-based funding of the
EEA’s operations.

19. The Agency follows common procedures for recruitment.
These procedures will be put to the Board for approval as explained
above in relation to point 18 on staffing policy.

C 372/18

EN

Official Journal of the European Communities

28.12.2001

The EEA continues to give widespread notification on recruit-
ment opportunities of temporary agents.

States of the areas for which the competences would be relevant
and would complement the available capacities.

These three candidates were recruited and appointed directly by
the AIPN, in the early start up period of the Agency (1996). Two
of these candidates (now former staff members of the EEA) were
appointed after identification and proposal by the Agency’s Finan-
cial Controller. The third staff member as referred to by the Court
was recruited directly with the aim of assuring the functioning of
the EEA, and specifically the IT infrastructure, after he had shown
excellent and dedicated work as consultant to the task force and
to the EEA. The three other employees mentioned were recruited
in any case on the basis of shortlists that were established for
posts for which the technical background is similar and the same
expertise/skills are required.

20. The EEA follows for the recruitment of detached national
experts the same ‘regime’ as the Commission. It can be noted here
that the recruitment of detached national experts was initially
driven by the ‘offer side’ by Member States rather than a ‘demand
pull’ by the EEA. Nevertheless, the EEA has in recent years, and
will continue to do so, given widespread notification to Member

Indeed the EEA has followed an approach of positive discrimina-
tion in the cases where the basic salaries of national experts are
considerably lower than average. This approach was taken upon
the advice of Commission services.

Changes in the Agency’s staff and activities

It is considered as part of our developing personnel policy
23.
that the number of permanent posts should be kept to a mini-
mum. Currently, the possibility of recruiting to a permanent post
is only considered to allow interinstitutional mobility. Only two
permanent staff members are now employed by the EEA.

29. Our view is that many of the Agency’s B and C grade staff
participate considerably and directly in the operational work and
hence an operational support split is not easy to quantify.