Resolution (EU) 2023/1860 of the European Parliament of 10 May 2023 with observations forming an integral part of the decision on discharge in respect of the implementation of the budget of the European Union Aviation Safety Agency (EASA) for the financial year 2021
Date: 2023-05-10
Institutions: European Parliament
Subjects: European Aviation Safety Agency, budgetary discharge, financial year, general budget (EU)








L_2023242EN.01023501.xml










29.9.2023   


EN


Official Journal of the European Union


L 242/235








            RESOLUTION (EU) 2023/1860 OF THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT
         
of 10 May 2023
         
with observations forming an integral part of the decision on discharge in respect of the implementation of the budget of the European Union Aviation Safety Agency (EASA) for the financial year 2021


THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT,







—


having regard to its decision on discharge in respect of the implementation of the budget of the European Union Aviation Safety Agency for the financial year 2021,










—


having regard to Rule 100 of and Annex V to its Rules of Procedure,










—


having regard to the opinion of the Committee on Transport and Tourism,










—


having regard to the report of the Committee on Budgetary Control (A9-0098/2023),












A.


whereas, according to its statement of revenue and expenditure (1), the final budget of the European Union Aviation Safety Agency (the ‘Agency’) for the financial year 2021 was EUR 203 802 000, representing an increase of 11,34 % compared to 2020; whereas EUR 38 900 000 of the Agency’s budget derives from the Union budget and EUR 109 791 000 is revenue from fees and charges (2);












B.


whereas the Court of Auditors (the ‘Court’), in its report on the annual accounts of the European Union Aviation Safety Agency for the financial year 2021 (the ‘Court’s report’), states that it has obtained reasonable assurance that the Agency’s annual accounts are reliable and that the underlying transactions are legal and regular;








Budget and financial management









1.


Notes that the budget monitoring efforts during the financial year 2021 resulted in a budget implementation rate of current year commitment appropriations of 96,31 %, representing a decrease of 2,31 % compared to 2020; further notes that the current year payment appropriations execution rate was 87,34 %, showing a decrease of 5,30 % compared to 2020;












2.


Notes that the Agency ended the year with a fees and charges surplus of EUR 11,2 million; notes that the ‘fees and charges’ surplus is added to the accumulated surplus, increasing it from EUR 60,9 million to EUR 72,1 million;












3.


Notes that the rate of cancelled appropriations relating to commitments carried over to 2021 decreased to 1,55 % (5,46 % in 2020), below the 5 % ceiling set by the Commission;





Performance









4.


Notes that in 2021 the Agency used certain measures to assess the added value provided by its activities and other measures to improve its budget management, through a mix of 130 objectives and 60 key performance indicators (KPIs) across 11 key areas of operation and 9 more projects or initiatives of horizontal nature; notes that, despite the continued effects of the COVID-19 crisis, the Agency had a good performance, with a 84 % implementation rate of its 2021 Annual Work Programme and 76 % of KPIs on-track; appreciates that the KPIs were fulfilled and the fact that the Agency has drawn attention to measures that can improve the efficiency and effectiveness of the Agency’s work; however recommends that the Agency takes note of the indicators that have not yet been achieved or are lagging behind, especially the timely processing of occurrence reports and corrective action closure rate of audit findings;












5.


Commends the Agency’s key achievements and progress in 2021 in emerging areas linked to green solutions and digitalisation; notes in this context that the Agency stepped up its efforts for a clean aviation through the EASA sustainable aviation programme – 2021 with various actions such as the uptake of Sustainable Aviation Fuels (SAF), hydrogen & hybrid powered aviation and the completion of the Environmental Labelling Programme pilot phase; takes note of the Agency’s further outputs from its Drone Programme such as the publication of the first U-Space regulatory package, as well as from different projects regarding the streamlining of Air Traffic Management operations through the unification of ATCO licensing and ground equipment; commends the approval of the return to service of a modified version of the Boeing 737 Max; welcomes the Agency’s additional efforts in the research and innovation field by joining in 2021 the Horizon Europe, Clean Aviation and SESAR programmes; further commends the Agency’s continual safety improvement and commitment to support innovation through the European plan for Aviation Safety with key projects in 2021 such as the adoption of an opinion on All-Weather Operations; notes that Brexit resulted in a significant increase in the number of applications for organisation approvals in 2021;












6.


Calls on providing sufficient funding and incentives for further research and development of SAF to make them more efficient and affordable and to enhance and open their market;












7.


Welcomes the continuous efforts by the Agency to look into areas for further cooperation with other Union Agencies where feasible, taking into account the nature of activities, to reduce potential overlaps; welcomes the concrete actions taken with European Food Safety Agency, the European Training Foundation, the European Securities Market Authority and European Environmental Agency; calls on the Agency to continue to develop its synergies, increase cooperation and exchange best practices with other European agencies with a view to improving efficiency (human resources, building management, IT services and security, etc.);












8.


Acknowledges the continuous efforts made by the Agency to become more efficient, freeing up resources, including qualified staff; commends the Agency in this context for making use of the expertise from the National Aviation Authorities, through 26 partnership agreements and 2 framework contracts with Qualified Entities, thus facilitating the outsourcing of 63 000 working hours in 2021;












9.


Encourages the agency to get involved, employing both its expertise and adequate resources, into the Pilot Project on a ‘European body for jet fuel standards and safety certification’ under the 2023 Union budget;












10.


Salutes the efforts of the Agency in supporting the integration of new technologies, operations and business models into the European aviation system through its research and innovation programme;












11.


Welcomes the progress of the Military Programme (2020 – open end) and highlights the role of the Agency within the European military mobility; calls for a rapid and substantial increase of on increasing the EU budget line for military mobility to be able to respond to the challenges in the sector;












12.


Calls for more synergy between civilian and military needs under the Action Plan on Military Mobility by simplifying processes and aligning rules; stresses that this could provide scope for the Agency to further support states and industry competitiveness, for example through common rulemaking and the certification of state aircraft;





Staff policy









13.


Notes that, on 31 December 2021, the establishment plan was 92,94 % implemented, with 632 temporary agents appointed out of 680 temporary agents authorised under the Union budget (compared to 680 authorised posts in 2020); notes that, in addition, 91 contract agents and 18 seconded national experts worked for the Agency in 2021; notes a decrease in the Agency’s staffing levels compared to 2019 due to COVID-19 related financial implications which led the Agency to reduce staff related investments, while favouring internal mobility and sharing of resources; welcomes the Agency’s reported measures to prevent a high staff turnover rate, which in 2021 was 0,84 %;












14.


Notes the gender balance within the Agency’s senior management members, with 3 out of 5 (60 %) being men; notes with concern the lack of gender balance in the Agency’s management board, with 63 out of 82 (77 %) being men; further notes the gender balance within the Agency’s overall staff, with 643 out of 959 (67 %) being men; calls on the Agency to continue its efforts towards gender balance at staff level through concrete actions that attract applications from women for posts offered by the Agency; notes that the Agency is continuously monitoring the gender balance developments and that the representation of women in managerial positions (from Section Manager to Director) has increased from 16,9 % to 21,25 % in 2021 and that since January 2020, out of the 4 Directors in the Agency, 2 are female;












15.


Notes the Agency’s estimation with regard to an upcoming increase in the number of retirements; welcomes in this context the establishment of a competency management and strategic workforce planning programme which will help the Agency to assess, inter alia, where external resource investments are needed; calls on the Agency to report to the discharge authority on the results of this programme; further notes that the Agency adopted a mid-term staffing scenario to reinforce key competence areas and foster staff development by offering professional career opportunities internally across various competence areas to around 80 staff members during 2021;












16.


Recalls the importance of developing a long term HR policy on work-life balance, lifelong guidance and the offer of specific training possibilities for career development, gender balance at all staff levels, teleworking, the right to disconnect, the enhancement of a geographical balance to ensure an appropriate representation from all Member States, and the recruitment and integration of people with disabilities, as well as ensuring that they are treated equally and that their opportunities are widely promoted; notes the importance of providing different training opportunities for all Agency’s staff; suggests that the staff engagement survey should be done yearly instead of every three years;





Procurement









17.


Notes that in 2021 the Agency managed and/or concluded 33 high-value and middle-value procedures, 90 low-value procedures and 48 expert contracts, and 600 specific contracts under framework contracts; welcomes the implementation of a consolidated procurement strategy for technical facility management services by bundling several types of contracts in order to improve contract management and centralise outsourced services;












18.


Notes, regarding the follow-up of observations from the discharge authority for 2020, that the Agency took measures to improve its procurement practices that aim to maximise fair competition and value for money, increase transparency, and reduce the need for exceptions, including through awareness raising training for its financial actors; welcomes the Agency’s progress regarding the e-invoicing solution; calls on the Agency to continue the optimisation and modernisation of its digital solutions to further streamline the procurement processes and to report to the discharge authority on the developments in this regard;





Prevention and management of conflicts of interest, and transparency









19.


Acknowledges the Agency’s existing measures and ongoing efforts to ensure transparency, prevention and management of conflicts of interest, and whistle-blower protection; welcomes the fact that in 2021 there were no actual cases of conflict of interest; further notes that any potential cases in the Agency could be addressed with mitigating measures; acknowledges that the CVs and declarations of interest of board members and senior managers are published on the Agency’s website; calls on the Agency to participate in the newly established interinstitutional agreement on a mandatory transparency register for interest representatives, signed by the Commission, the Council and Parliament;












20.


Notes the observation made by the Court of Auditors regarding non-compliance with Article 16 of the Staff Regulations concerning potential conflict of interest; calls on the Agency to complete corrective action and to cover the risk of conflicts of interests; notes the Agency’s reply stating that there was been a thorough evaluation;












21.


Notes that the Agency updated its management and prevention of conflict of interests policy by adopting a ‘Code of Conduct for the staff of EASA’ (CoC), that includes a requirement for all the Agency’s staff members to fill in a declaration of conflict of interests, rules regarding gifts and hospitality, and mandatory trainings on the CoC and its annexes for all the Agency’s staff;












22.


Recalls the importance to strengthen management and control systems to ensure the proper functioning of the Agency; strongly insists on the requirement of an effective management and control systems to avoid potential cases of conflict of interest, missing ex-ante/ex-post controls, inadequate management of budgetary and legal commitments, and failures to report issues in the register of exceptions;












23.


Notes that, given its technical nature, the Agency runs open dialogues with aviation stakeholders, taking into consideration their views when deciding on rulemaking and certification procedures; further notes that all the technical workshops organised by the Agency with its aviation stakeholders are reflected on the events page of the Agency’s website;





Internal control









24.


Notes that the Agency’s internal control standards include a framework consisting of five internal control components, 17 principles and the international quality standard (ISO 9001:2015); further notes that in 2021 a surveillance audit was carried out which led to the conclusion that the internal control system of the Agency fully complies with its management standards;












25.


Notes that the Agency has implemented most of the actions resulting from the Internal Audit Service’ audit on certification and organisations level of involvement in 2021; calls on the Agency to implement the remaining actions;












26.


Notes that in 2021 the Internal Audit Capability performed three assurance audits to assess respectively whether the relevant regulations were complied with, whether process objectives were being met, and whether the key risks were properly mitigated within the Agency; notes that some recommendations were given to further enhance either the control environment or the overall efficiency of the processes; calls on the Agency to finalise the implementation of the remaining actions in connection with the 2021 follow-up audits;





Digitalisation and the green transition









27.


Commends the Agency for its broad palette of measures that aim to reduce its environmental footprint; highlights in this context the technologies that equip the Agency’s sustainable building and help to optimise the use of energy and water consumption, the inclusion of energy management as a service in tender specifications, the purchase of 100 % renewable energy and other measures incentivising the use by its staff of train or public transport, as well as the reduction of business travel; further commends the Agency for its offsetting scheme with regard to electricity consumption and business travel by train;












28.


Salutes the approval of several European Partnerships to accelerate the green and digital transition, including on Single European Sky ATM Research 3 with the aim of accelerating the digital transformation of ATM in line with the European ATM Master Plan; recalls in that regard the importance of Single European Sky 2+ in achieving harmonisation, improved interoperability and efficiency;












29.


Notes that the Agency continued its corporate transformation programme, ‘Destination: Future-proof’ with key objectives linked to modernising ways of working and simplification of key processes including the core activities such as rulemaking, initial airworthiness and organisation approvals; commends in this context the progress made by the Agency in providing external stakeholders with digital services by making ready for deployment solutions line to the occurrence reporting (ECCAIRS2), the access to EASA rules (e-rules), the FlexTool for gathering exemptions and derogations, collaborative sites and the Drones repository; calls on the Agency to continue building its New Digital Core IT platform in line with the digitalisation roadmap (CORAL) and to exceed the target set (65 %) in this regard; calls on the Agency to put in place a cybersecurity policy and implement an information security roadmap;












30.


Encourages the Agency to work in close cooperation with ENISA (European Union Agency for Cybersecurity); underlines the importance of carrying out regular risk assessments of its IT infrastructure and ensuring regular audits and tests of its cyber defences; also encourages the Agency to offer systematic updated cybersecurity-related training programmes to all of its staff, including management, as this is a key element in an effective cyber security framework;





Business continuity during the COVID-19 crisis









31.


Notes the Agency’s conservative approach in the second year of the pandemic regarding expenditure planning, including a slow-down of external recruitments; further notes that the growing workload was managed through leveraging new working methods (e.g. remote working and daily hybrid working regime) and investing in efficiency and digitalisation initiatives to reduce the pressure on existing resources; encourages the Agency to put the lessons learned regarding remote and hybrid working methods into practice, in order to better organise meetings that could be carried out more efficiently remotely than in-person in the future;












32.


Notes that, due to the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic, the Agency focused on protecting the travelling public and identifying and mitigating safety consequence; welcomes the Agency’s actions under the Return to Normal Operations (RNO) project by publishing Safety Information Bulletins and guidance material, and other actions providing flexibility measures and regulatory relief, addressing health and emerging risks and building cooperation with partner states;












33.


Suggests that the Agency continuously monitor aviation safety, including cabin crew fatigue as foreseen in the Regulation (EU) 2018/1139 of the European Parliament and of the Council (3) establishing the Agency;





Other comments









34.


Commends the Agency for its success in delivering EASA light, an area on its website that offers content for a non-specialist audience; encourages the Agency to develop this offering, in the light of usability feedback; further commends the Agency for its improved metrics regarding the use of EASA Pro, an area on its website offering detailed information for professional stakeholders; welcomes the fact that in 2021 the Agency strengthened its links to academia with the formation of a Scientific Committee grouping experts who can advise on developments in relevant areas;












35.


Stresses that financial regulation and high management standards have to be respected by all the EU’s institutions;












36.


Refers, for other observations of a cross-cutting nature accompanying its decision on discharge, to its resolution of 10 May 2023 (4) on the performance, financial management and control of the agencies.







(1)  
            OJ C 141, 29.3.2022, p. 81.

(2)  
            OJ C 141, 29.3.2022, p. 80.

(3)  Regulation (EU) 2018/1139 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 4 July 2018 on common rules in the field of civil aviation and establishing a European Union Aviation Safety Agency, and amending Regulations (EC) No 2111/2005, (EC) No 1008/2008, (EU) No 996/2010, (EU) No 376/2014 and Directives 2014/30/EU and 2014/53/EU of the European Parliament and of the Council, and repealing Regulations (EC) No 552/2004 and (EC) No 216/2008 of the European Parliament and of the Council and Council Regulation (EEC) No 3922/91 (OJ L 212, 22.8.2018, p. 1).

(4)  Texts adopted, P9_TA(2023)0190.