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having regard to the final annual accounts of the European Railway Agency for the financial year 2009,

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having regard to the Court of Auditors’ report on the annual accounts of the European Railway Agency 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 Regulation (EC) No 881/2004 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 29 April 2004 establishing a European railway agency (Agency Regulation) (3), and in particular Article 39 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 Transport and Tourism (A7-0125/2011),

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 Railway Agency 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 the budget of the Agency for 2009 was EUR 21 000 000, which is an increase of 16,6 % on the financial year 2008,

1.

Notes that the Agency received EUR 16 060 000 in commitment and in payment appropriations from the 2009 Union budget;

2.

Considers that using two locations (Lille and Valenciennes) for carrying out its activities exposes the Agency to additional costs; notes, also, that this observation has been made since 2006 and that no action has been taken by the Council to change the Decision of 13 December 2003 (6) obliging the Agency to have a double seat;

3.

Calls once more on the Agency to set out, in a 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 during the previous financial year so as to enable the discharge authority to assess more effectively the Agency’s performance from one year to the next;

4.

Regrets that the Agency has yet again failed to address the problem of appropriations being carried forward from one year to the next; considers the carry-over of 41 % of Title II (property, data processing and other administrative costs) and 61 % of Title III (operational expenditure) to represent a serious breach of the budgetary principle of annuality and demonstrate delays in the implementation of the activities financed from Titles II and III of the Agency’s budget; is disappointed that the Agency’s reply merely restates the problem;

5.

Requests that a report be attached to each year’s budget on the unspent appropriations carried over from previous years, explaining why those monies have not been used and how and when they will be used;

6.

Is concerned that the Court of Auditors has again highlighted cancellations and delays in procurement procedures, recurrent delays in the execution of payments and significant changes made to the work programme during the year;

7.

Notes, in particular, that since 2006 the Court of Auditors has reported a very high level of carry-overs and cancellations; considers, also, the Agency’s reply on these issues to be inadequate and, accordingly, calls on the Agency to rapidly redress the situation;

8.

Congratulates the Agency, following the Court of Auditors’ comments, for implementing as of 1 September 2010 a centralised system for registration of incoming invoices; stresses that this measure is necessary to ensure the timely recording of all invoices and contributes to avoiding delays in processing payments;

9.

Regrets the shortcomings in the management of the fixed assets’ inventory identified by the Court of Auditors but notes the Agency’s assurance that this will be remedied in the 2010 accounts; considers that uncertainty about the location of fixed assets is another illustration of the problems and additional costs arising from using two sites;

10.

Notes that the Agency’s Annual Activity Report provides only limited information on the planning, allocation and use of human resources and considers that this deficiency could affect the stakeholders’ view on the Agency’s use of its staff; calls, accordingly, on the Agency to better reflect in its work programme and Annual Activity Report the planned allocation of staff resources as well as the final use of such resources; calls, in particular, on the Agency to include in its Annual Activity Report a description of the impact on the available human resources when setting the objectives of the Agency;

11.

Expresses its concern about the failure to follow the Staff Regulations and their implementing rules when retroactively modifying the place of origin for three staff members; calls, accordingly, on the Agency to recover any unjustified payments;

12.

Notes also that the Agency does not have a consolidated manual on different rules, instructions and guidelines governing staff recruitment; stresses that this deficiency could lead to differences in the processing and managing of individual recruitments and thus compromising the principle of equal treatment of candidates; urges, accordingly, the Agency to create a ‘consolidated recruitment procedure’, to be used as a manual for all staff involved in new recruitment;

13.

Acknowledges that six out of the 10 recommendations made by the Internal Audit Service (IAS) on human resources management still need to be implemented; stresses, nevertheless, its disappointment for not having been informed about the content of three of these recommendations and calls on the Agency to urgently pass on this information as required by the framework Financial Regulation;

14.

Welcomes the Agency’s initiative of having set up at the end of 2007 an Internal Audit Capability (IAC) that is dedicated to providing support and advice to its Director and management on internal control, risk assessment and internal audit;

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 (7) on the performance, financial management and control of the agencies.