Skip to content
OPINION (2024/2030(DEC))

On discharge in respect of the implementation of the budget of the EU agencies for the financial year 2023

LIBE-AD-765284

Committee on Civil Liberties, Justice and Home Affairs · Rapporteur: Tomáš Zdechovský

Official HTML ↗ PDF DOCX
✦ In shortFull textProcedure & committee votes
✦ In short · AI summary of this text, generated 4 Sept 2026

Written by a language model from the full text only; every figure comes from the text. The paragraph links open the paragraph a statement rests on — check the text itself before relying on it.

This opinion covers the discharge for seven EU justice and home affairs agencies for 2023, noting audit findings and calling for improvements. It welcomes increased budgets and activities, supports Ukraine-related work, and urges agencies to address financial irregularities and staffing issues.

Committee position. The Committee on Civil Liberties, Justice and Home Affairs proposes granting discharge to the agencies, while calling for corrective actions on financial and operational issues.

Key points

  1. Calls on Eurojust to minimise payment delays and fully implement its new financial system, noting technical difficulties caused late payments.
  2. Welcomes Eurojust's increased budget and staff, and its support for Ukraine through the JIT, CICED, and ICPA.
  3. Notes FRA's high carry-overs but welcomes its legal and regular accounts, and calls for more resources.
  4. Highlights FRA's role in fundamental rights, including work on equality, asylum, and rule of law, and calls for synergy with the Commission's Rule of Law Report.
  5. Calls for adequate funding for EUAA given increased asylum applications, and notes irregular payments for premises contracts.
  6. Welcomes EUAA's operational Asylum Reserve Pool but regrets shortfall in experts, and calls on Member States to meet obligations.
  7. Regrets eu-LISA's non-compliant expenditure and qualified opinion, and calls for a corrective action plan.
  8. Notes delays in EES, ETIAS, and ECRIS-TCN, and calls on eu-LISA to prioritise swift implementation.
  9. Notes Frontex's increased returns and SAR operations, but expresses concern over migrant deaths and calls for efforts against smuggling.
  10. Urges Frontex to fully implement recommendations from audit bodies and strengthen its fundamental rights framework.
  11. Calls on the Commission to increase Frontex staff to up to 30,000 agents and provide adequate resources.
  12. Notes CEPOL's training efforts but regrets decrease in fundamental rights training, and calls for increased transparency.

Who is affected

  • Eurojust, FRA, EUAA, eu-LISA, Frontex, CEPOL, EMCDDA, and Europol are subject to discharge and must address audit findings.
  • Member States are called on to nominate experts to the EUAA Asylum Reserve Pool and ensure fundamental rights compliance.
  • The Commission is asked to review Schengen associated countries' contributions and increase Frontex and Europol staff.

Figures and deadlines

  • Eurojust's budget increased from EUR 67 million to EUR 88 million (+31%) and staff from 285 to 298 (+5%).
  • Eurojust handled over 13,000 cases, facilitated 1,259 European Arrest Warrants, and contributed to arrests of over 4,200 suspects.
  • FRA's carry-overs were EUR 6.4 million (23%) of 2023 commitment appropriations, lower than 26% in 2022.
  • EUAA's budget increased from EUR 208 million to EUR 228 million (+10%) and staff from 519 to 529 (+2%).
  • eu-LISA had EUR 12.6 million non-compliant expenditure, 3.2% of total payment appropriations.
  • Frontex assisted 39,239 returns, exceeding its target of 20,000, and managed 6,438 reintegration cases.
  • Frontex responded to 785 incidents involving 43,508 migrants in SAR operations.
  • Europol accepted 107,856 operational contributions and supported 3,155 operations in 2023.