EN C 417/150 Official Journal of the European Union 11 12 2019 3 28 EUROPEAN UNION AGENCY FOR LAW ENFORCEMENT COOPERATION (EUROPOL) INTRODUCTION 3 28 1 The European Union Agency for Law Enforcement Cooperation (hereinafter Ôthe AgencyŐ, or ÔEuropolŐ), which is located in The Hague, was established by Regulation (EU) 2016/794 of the European Parliament and of the Council (185) replacing and repealing Council Decision (2009/371/JHA) (186) The objective of the Agency is to support and strengthen action by the Member StatesŐ police authorities and other law enforcement services and their mutual cooperation in preventing and combating serious crime affecting two or more Member States, terrorism, and forms of crime which affect a common interest covered by Union policy 3 28 2 The Table presents key figures for the Agency (187) Table Key figures for the Agency Budget (million euros) (1) Staff as at 31 December (2) (1) Budgetfiguresarebasedonpaymentappropriations (2) StaffincludesEUofficials,EUtemporaryagents,EUcontractstaffandsecondednationalexperts,notinterimworkersandconsultants Source: Data provided by the Agency THE COURTŐS STATEMENT OF ASSURANCE PROVIDED TO THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT AND THE COUNCIL Ń INDEPENDENT AUDITORŐS REPORT 2017 118 804 2018 137 826 OPINION 3 28 3 We have audited: (a) the accounts of the Agency which comprise the financial statements (188) and the reports on the implementation of the budget (189) for the financial year ended 31 December 2018; and (b) the legality and regularity of the transactions underlying those accounts as required by Article 287 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union (TFEU) Reliability of the accounts Opinion on the reliability of the accounts 3 28 4 In our opinion, the accounts of Europol for the year ended 31 December 2018 present fairly, in all material respects, the financial position of the Europol at 31 December 2018, the results of its operations, its cash flows, and the changes in net assets for the year then ended, in accordance with its Financial Regulation and with accounting rules adopted by the CommissionŐs accounting officer These are based on internationally accepted accounting standards for the public sector (185) OJ L 135, 24 5 2016, p 53 (186) OJ L 121, 15 5 2009, p 37 (187) More information on the AgencyŐs competences and activities is available on its website: www europol europa eu (188) The financial statements comprise the balance sheet, the statement of financial performance, the cash flow statement, the statement of changes in net assets and a summary of significant accounting policies and other explanatory notes (189) The reports on implementation of the budget comprise the reports which aggregate all budgetary operations and the explanatory notes 
(2) Medzi zamestnancami sú úradníci EÚ, dočasní zamestnanci EÚ, zmluvní zamestnanci EÚ a vyslaní národní experti, nie dočasní agentúrni zamestnanci a konzultanti Zdroj: Údaje poskytnuté agentúrou VYHLÁSENIE DVORA AUDÍTOROV O VIEROHODNOSTI PREDKLADANÉ EURÓPSKEMU PARLAMENTU A RADE – SPRÁVA NEZÁVISLÉHO AUDÍTORA AGENTÚRA EURÓPSKEJ ÚNIE PRE SPOLUPRÁCU V OBLASTI PRESADZOVANIA PRÁVA (EUROPOL) Agentúra Európskej únie pre spoluprácu v oblasti presadzovania práva (ďalej len „agentúra“ alebo „Europol“), so 2017 118 804 STANOVISKO 3.28.3.