EN 11 12 2019 Official Journal of the European Union C 417/197 THE AGENCYŐS REPLY 3 38 8 The cancelation of budget appropriations carried over from 2017 to 2018 was essentially linked to the provision for evaluation expenses related to the LIFE contract, which resulted to be less important than foreseen The costs are estimated at the beginning of the proposal evaluation process, potentially resulting with a leftover once all proposals are evaluated This risk should be reduced in the future as such evaluation expenses will be supported by the operational budget The level of new carryovers from 2018 to 2019 has lowered compared to the previous year, both in amounts and in percentage of the initial budget The Agency will continue to closely monitor the level of budget needs and to raise awareness to the concerned sectors/units to increase the budgetary consumption within the year 3 38 9 The Agency has updated its analysis of sensitive functions in January 2019 The Agency will define the appropriate measures to mitigate the risks and update the sensitive posts policy in the short term EN C 417/198 Official Journal of the European Union 11 12 2019 3 39 EUROPEAN RESEARCH COUNCIL EXECUTIVE AGENCY (ERCEA) INTRODUCTION 3 39 1 The European Research Council Executive Agency (hereinafter Ôthe AgencyŐ, or ÔERCEAŐ), which is located in Brussels, was created by Commission Decision 2008/37/EC (238) The Agency was established for a period beginning on 1 January 2008 and ending on 31 December 2017 with the aim of managing the ÔIdeasŐ specific programme under the 7th Framework Programme for Research As per Council Decision 2013/743/EU (239) the AgencyŐs mandate was extended as it became the dedicated implementation structure responsible for the administrative implementation and programme execution of the Horizon 2020 research programme and implements the actions under the programmeŐs part I, ÔExcellent scienceŐ, which relate to the specific objective of strengthening frontier research through the activities of the European Research Council (ERC) (240) 3 39 2 The Table presents key figures for the Agency (241) 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 47 477 2018 49 494 OPINION 3 39 3 We have audited: (a) the accounts of the Agency which comprise the financial statements (242) and the reports on the implementation of the budget (243) 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 Reliability of the accounts Opinion on the reliability of the accounts 3 39 4 In our opinion, the accounts of the Agency for the year ended 31 December 2018 present fairly, in all material respects, the financial position of the Agency 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 (238) OJ L 9, 12 1 2008, p 15 (239) OJ L 347, 20 12 2013, p 965 (240) Implementation period 2014 to 2020 (241) More information on the AgencyŐs competences and activities is available on its website: www erc europa eu (242) 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 (243) The reports on implementation of the budget comprise the reports which aggregate all budgetary operations and the explanatory notes 
ÚVOD 3.39.1. na základe rozhodnutia Komisie 2008/37/ES (238). Agentúra bola zriadená na obdobie od 1. januára 2008 do 31. decembra 2017 s cieľom riadiť špecifický program Idey v rámci 7. rámcového programu pre výskum. V súlade s rozhodnutím Rady 2013/743/EÚ (239) bol mandát agentúry rozšírený a agentúra sa stala osobitnou vykonávacou štruktúrou zodpovednou za administratívne vykonávanie a realizáciu programov v rámci výskumného programu Horizont 2020 a vykonáva opatrenia v rámci programovej časti I „Excelentná veda“, ktorá súvisí so špecifickým cieľom posilniť hraničný výskum prostredníctvom činností Európskej rady pre výskum (ERC) (240) VÝKONNÁ AGENTÚRA EURÓPSKEJ RADY PRE VÝSKUM (ERCEA) Výkonná agentúra Európskej rady pre výskum (ďalej len „agentúra“ alebo „ERCEA“), so sídlom v Bruseli, bola zriadená 3.39.2.