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having regard to the final annual accounts of the European Agency for the Management of Operational Cooperation at the External Borders of the Member States of the European Union for the financial year 2009,

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having regard to the Court of Auditors’ report on the annual accounts of the European Agency for the Management of Operational Cooperation at the External Borders of the Member States for the financial year 2009, together with the Agency’s replies (1),

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having regard to the Council’s recommendation of 15 February 2011 (05892/2011 — C7-0052/2011),

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having regard to Article 276 of the EC Treaty and Article 319 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union,

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having regard to Council Regulation (EC, Euratom) No 1605/2002 of 25 June 2002 on the Financial Regulation applicable to the general budget of the European Communities (2), and in particular Article 185 thereof,

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having regard to Council Regulation (EC) No 2007/2004 of 26 October 2004 establishing a European Agency for the Management of Operational Cooperation at the External Borders of the Member States of the European Union (3), and in particular Article 30 thereof,

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having regard to Commission Regulation (EC, Euratom) No 2343/2002 of 19 November 2002 on the framework Financial Regulation for the bodies referred to in Article 185 of Council Regulation (EC, Euratom) No 1605/2002 on the Financial Regulation applicable to the general budget of the European Communities (4), and in particular Article 94 thereof,

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having regard to Rule 77 of, and Annex VI to, its Rules of Procedure,

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having regard to the report of the Committee on Budgetary Control and the opinion of the Committee on Civil Liberties, Justice and Home Affairs (A7-0145/2011),

A.

whereas the Court of Auditors stated that it has obtained reasonable assurances that the annual accounts for the financial year 2009 are reliable and that the underlying transactions are legal and regular,

B.

whereas, on 5 May 2010, Parliament granted the Executive Director of the European Agency for the Management of Operational Cooperation at the External Borders of the Member States of the European Union discharge for implementation of the Agency’s budget for the financial year 2008 (5), and, in its resolution accompanying the discharge decision, inter alia:

C.

whereas 2008 was the fourth full year of the Agency’s operation,

D.

whereas the Agency’s budget for the year 2009 was EUR 88 800 000, which is an increase of nearly 28 %, compared with the previous year,

1.

Is pleased to note that the Court of Auditors has been able to obtain reasonable assurances that the annual accounts of the Agency for the financial year 2009 are in all material respects reliable and that the underlying transactions, taken as a whole, are legal and regular;

2.

Notes that the Agency’s budget has increased substantially in the last 4 years; notes that, for the financial year 2009, the budget increased more than threefold over the financial year 2006 (EUR 19 200 000);

3.

Welcomes that, in June 2009, the Management Board of the Agency adopted a multiannual plan for the period 2010-2013 despite the lack of provision for this in its basic regulation; stresses the importance of that multiannual plan in enabling the Agency to plan its activities and risk-assess them more effectively; none the less, calls on the Agency to promptly establish a link between its work programme and its financial forecasts;

4.

Calls again on the Agency to set out, in its table to be annexed to the Court of Auditors’ next report, a comparison of the operations that were carried out during the year for which discharge is to be granted and in the previous financial year, so as to enable the discharge authority to assess more effectively its performance from one year to the next;

5.

Welcomes the Agency’s initiative of launching, in 2009, the so-called ‘Frontex Performance Management System’ to better inform the Agency’s Governing Board by providing it with data on the impact of the agency operations; notes that this new system is intended to promote reporting which is more ‘outcome-oriented’ and which completes input and output indicators; calls, nevertheless, on the Agency to provide information on the impact of its operations and to inform the discharge authority thereof;

6.

Notes that the discharge for the implementation of the Agency’s budget should be further based on its performance throughout the year;

7.

Calls on the Agency to improve its financial management with regard to the reimbursement of costs incurred by Member States by identifying, with those Member States, the roots of the problem so as to implement, together, the appropriate solutions;

8.

Is concerned that the Court of Auditors has reported carry-overs which were already reported in its 2006, 2007 and 2008 annual reports; regrets, in particular, the high level of carry-overs and cancellations since 2006;

9.

Urges, therefore, the Agency to improve the level of use of appropriations by putting in place appropriate instructions and procedures for the analysis of potential carry-forwards to reduce to a minimum the volume of appropriations carried over; considers it, also, to be important for the Agency to improve the programming and the monitoring of activities;

10.

Is also concerned that the Agency had to cancel appropriations (EUR 13 900 000 for 2009 and EUR 13 000 000 for 2008);

11.

Notes that the Court of Auditors reported 28 budgetary transfers due to the fact that the procedures for drawing up the budget were not sufficiently rigorous; observes, also, that, by the end of 2009, six of 39 budgetary lines of Title II -Administrative expenditure had not been used and 35 % of the corresponding appropriations were cancelled;

12.

Points out that a high level of carry-overs and cancellations is indicative of the inability of the Agency to manage such a large increase in its budget; wonders whether it would not be more responsible for the budgetary authorities to take greater care in future when deciding on increases in the Agency’s budget in the light of the time needed to carry out the new activities; calls on the Agency therefore to provide it with fuller details on the feasibility of future commitments;

13.

Welcomes, nevertheless, the Agency’s initiative to further develop its system for scheduling and monitoring the contractual deadline laid down in grants; notes also that since 2009 the Agency has implemented a risk assessment and risk management process for its activities;

14.

Observes that the Court of Auditors reported, for the second year running, that the Agency paid out amounts on the basis of unilateral grant decisions signed by the Agency, while the rules in force make no provision for this type of instrument; notes that the amount paid out in 2009 was more than EUR 28 000 000 and in 2008 was EUR 17 000 000; welcomes, nevertheless, the Agency’s initiative, made in response to the Court’s observation, of signing a framework Partnership Agreement with Member States border authorities;

15.

Calls on the Agency to improve its grant management by:

16.

Notes with concern that the Court of Auditors reported the overstatement by 27 % of the costs for pre-financing to border authorities in the 8 cases audited; notes also that, for the activities which ended in 2009, more than 40 recovery orders had to be issued to recover advances made in excess;

17.

Welcomes the Agency’s initiative of taking measures to increase the objectivity and transparency of the recruitment processes, in accordance with the Parliament’s recommendations; notes, in fact, that the Agency adopted implementing rules and internal guidelines for the members of the selection committees; congratulates, in particular, the Agency for adopting a Recruitment Policy in November 2010 which includes the following concrete actions: compliance with deadlines when nominating the selection board members, prior preparation of interview questions and the content of written tests, anonymous assessment of written tests; preparation of model answers for interview questions and written tests, preparation of minutes in respect of any recruitment, development of an e-recruitment tool to be implemented in the course of 2011 to facilitate the recruitment and selection process;

18.

Acknowledges that the Internal Audit Service (IAS) carried out, in 2009, an audit on Grant Management with the objective of assessing the following: the annual planning of grants, the legal instrument used, the implementation of grants and the monitoring and reporting;

19.

Acknowledges that, out of the 19 recommendations issued by the IAS on the follow-up of early recommendations, 6 have been adequately and effectively implemented, 10 are in progress and 3 are completed but still need to be verified by the IAS; calls, nevertheless, on the Director of the Agency to inform the discharge authority as to the content of the recommendations that are considered to be ‘very important’ by the IAS and on the actions taken in that respect;

20.

Refers, in respect of the other observations accompanying its Decision on discharge, which are of a horizontal nature, to its resolution of 10 May 2011 (6) on the performance, financial management and control of the agencies.