Brussels, 12/04/2011 (Agence Europe) - In May, the European Parliament may decide to postpone the granting of a discharge for the financial 2009 accounts of the European Police College (CEPOL) and the European Medicines Agency (EMEA). This was recommended by the members of the EP budgetary control committee on Monday 11 April, when it adopted the report by Georgios Stavrakakis (S&D, Greece) on the budgetary management practices of these two European Union agencies.
Budgetary control committee members recommend that Parliament postpone discharge for the 2009 budget of the London-based EMEA, because they feel there is no proper guarantee of the independence of experts entrusted with the scientific evaluations of human medicines (see EUROPE 10317 on MEPs' request for an inquiry). The question of independence arose due to problems relating to benfluorex - an anorectic medicine - as some experts, MEPs believe, found themselves in a situation of conflicting interests. The report also criticises the EMEA's management of procurement procedures and its lack of criteria for recruiting staff. The vote to recommend postponing the discharge was 21 in favour and 3 against.
The committee was unanimous that Parliament should postpone granting a budget discharge to the director of CEPOL, based in Bramshill (United Kingdom), due to the “persistent lack of compliance with the financial regulation”. The multi-annual action plan requested by Parliament after previous managerial problems “lacks clarity on some items”, the report states. Furthermore, the progress report is considered “insufficient to allow a clear understanding of implementation of concrete actions”. CEPOL was the only agency for which a discharge was refused in 2008.
Parliament recommended, moreover, that discharge should be given for the 2009 budget of the Euratom Supply Agency, the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) and the Frontex Agency (European Agency for the Management of Operational Cooperation at the External Borders of the Member States of the European Union). The Parliament will vote on discharge for the Commission and other institutions and agencies during the May plenary session, in Strasbourg. (L.C./transl.jl)