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having regard to the final annual accounts of the European Monitoring Centre for Drugs and Drug Addiction for the financial year 2009,

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having regard to the Court of Auditors’ report on the annual accounts of the European Monitoring Centre for Drugs and Drug Addiction for the financial year 2009, together with the Centre’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 Regulation (EC) No 1920/2006 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 12 December 2006 on the European Monitoring Centre for Drugs and Drug Addiction (3), and in particular Article 15 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 (A7-0120/2011),

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 Director of the European Monitoring Centre for Drugs and Drug Addiction discharge for implementation of the Centre’s budget for the financial year 2008 (5), and in its resolution accompanying the discharge decision, inter alia:

C.

whereas the budget of the Centre for the year 2009 was EUR 14 720 000, which is a decrease of 2,25 % on the financial year 2008,

1.

Is pleased to note that the Court of Auditors has been able to obtain reasonable assurances that the annual accounts of the Centre 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.

Welcomes the Centre’s initiative to run a computerised network for the collection and exchange of information called ‘European information network on Drugs and Drug Addiction’; notes that this network connects national drug information networks, specialist centres in the Member States and the information systems of international organisations working with the Centre;

3.

Notes that the Centre appointed an extra full-time member of staff to improve its planning and monitoring system and to develop suitable indicators;

4.

Calls on the Centre to consider making a Gantt diagram part of the programming for each of its operational activities, with a view to indicating in concise form the amount of time spent by each staff member on a project and encouraging an approach geared towards achieving results;

5.

Congratulates the Centre for having set out, in a table annexed to the Court of Auditors’ 2009 report, a comparison of the operations that were carried out during 2009 and 2008 so as to enable the discharge authority to assess more effectively its performance from one year to the next; notes that the Centre has increased its number of thematic papers and policy briefings;

6.

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

7.

Calls on the Centre to put in place appropriate instructions and procedures for the analysis of potential carry forwards in order to reduce the volume of appropriations carried over to the minimum necessary to cover the amounts still due against the year’s commitments; considers it also important for the Centre to improve the programming and the monitoring of activities with a view to reducing carry-over; notes, in fact, that the Court of Auditors reported EUR 339 000 of carry forwards in the Centre’s 2009 appropriations for Title II- Administrative expenditure (26 %), EUR 250 000 of which corresponded to commitments without any payment, mostly for activities related to 2010;

8.

Welcomes the fact that the Centre has further enhanced the annual forecast of its cash needs; notes that this forecast is constantly updated and submitted as a supporting document to the relevant Commission services to justify the Centre’s quarterly request for payment of the next instalment of its annual subsidy allocated by the Union;

9.

Calls for clarification of the applicable rules on internal assigned revenues in the light of the questions which were raised after the refund of part of the accumulated surplus of the Translation Centre to the Centre; notes the Centre’s response pointing out that a number of agencies are faced with the same problem; suggests that in future a joint approach should be adopted to deal with this type of horizontal problem;

10.

Calls on the Centre to continue to ensure consistent implementation of the approved staff appraisal procedure through adequate information and guidance to reporting officers and jobholders;

11.

Welcomes the Centre’s initiative of providing the discharge authority with the Internal Audit Service (IAS) Annual Internal Audit Report on the Centre; considers this to be an indication of transparency and an example of best practice to be followed by all other agencies;

12.

Acknowledges that in 2009 the IAS performed an audit on grant management to provide the Centre’s Director with reasonable assurance as regards the adequacy and effectiveness of the internal control system applicable to the grant management at the Centre; notes in this respect that the IAS found deficiencies in the Centre’s compliance with the current Commission’s guidelines for grant agreements, in the implementation of the Centre’s grant agreement and in its grant reporting; welcomes, nevertheless, the Centre’s positive results and its ongoing efforts to establish and maintain a quality management of the grant procedures, aiming at ensuring high quality of funded actions as well as of administrative and financial execution of the grants;

13.

Calls on the Centre to inform the discharge authority of the progress made on risk management and, in particular, on its annual risk analysis;

14.

Acknowledges that 9 of the 19 IAS recommendations opened in 31 December 2009 are considered ‘very important’ and mainly concern: the adaptation of the Centre’s grant agreement, the quality control of the new location, the precautions against damage from flooding, the Business Continuity Plan and the investment in equipment; urges, therefore, the Centre to implement without delay these 9 ‘very important’ recommendations and inform the discharge authority of the progress made;

15.

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.