Debate: Discharge
Date: WEDNESDAY, 4 MAY 2022
Speaker: Petri Sarvamaa
Country: Germany
Language: EN

But nevertheless, the agencies play a very crucial role, of course, in the European Union and Europe. 2020 was very difficult for them due to COVID-19. However, the final budget and management results reflect very decent work by the agencies that showed great resilience and adaptability. Moreover, the pandemic illustrated once more that agencies really play a very important role, from monitoring infections across Member States, authorising vaccines and treatments, issuing guidances on adapting workplace and protecting workers, to issuing different recommendations and so on and so forth.  From a budgetary control perspective, I am happy to say that we see the continuing positive trend of high implementation rates, prevention of conflict of interest, implementation of e-procurement, and improving transparency and internal control. This is horizontally, generally speaking. But a couple of words about one specific agency: Frontex, the Border and Coast Guard Agency, which of course plays a crucial role in protection of our external borders, and we still think it should be further strengthened, not weakened. And obviously the Agency’s mandate has grown rapidly in the last years, and it operates in challenging circumstances. But with greater role comes also greater need for effective management and bigger accountability.  While saying that the agency still has our full support and the staff has our full support, it has to be said that during the last couple of years, the ambiguity and unclarity of how the management is done at Frontex has grown and grown, and as we know we had an OLAF investigation into Frontex.  I have to point out at this moment that we do not have enough information to make a well—informed decision on granting discharge for Frontex, especially due to lack of official information. And this is exactly the OLAF investigation. And this, by the way, is very, very unfortunate that as discharge authority, we are put in an unbearable situation. We have to make a decision without really knowing exactly what’s going on.  But then, on the other hand, we cannot grant discharge today. We have to postpone if we don’t know enough. And we know already that there are a lot of things that need to be looked at. But these are management, administrative issues. I have to underline that.  And now, I think I don’t have two minutes anymore, but listen this last half a minute. I think it’s very, very sad and unfortunate that the discharge procedure for the European Court of Auditors was highly politicised this year. And I have to say that if we keep going like this, then we will harm exactly what we should be protecting, and that is the credibility of this whole process. And if we want to help the institutions and different bodies in the Union to do their job, this, like my dear colleague Mr Freund said, that the European Court of Auditors is the most important instrument in fighting populism.  And I will finish by saying that if we want to help the European Court of Auditors in this job, then we should really refrain from being populist ourselves and put this in this light and in this perspective. I really needed to say this because it has been an historically politicised exercise, and that is not good for the discharge process.