On discharge in respect of the implementation of the budget of the European Union Agency for Asylum (before 19.1.2022 the European Asylum Support Office) for the financial year 2022

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SUGGESTIONS

The Committee on Civil Liberties, Justice and Home Affairs calls on the Committee on Budgetary Control, as the committee responsible, to incorporate the following suggestions into its motion for a resolution:

1. Welcomes the fact that the Court of Auditors (the ‘Court’) has declared the transactions underlying the annual accounts of the European Union Agency for Asylum (EUAA) for the financial year 2022 to be legal and regular in all material respects;

2. Welcomes the fact that two issues, the high number of temporary managers and the lack of update of the policy for the management and prevention of conflict of interest, identified in previous years Court’s observations have been addressed; notes that the observations on procurement procedures reported in previous years, namely the rented premises in Lesbos and in Rome will be closed in 2023;

3. Welcomes the EUAA’s efforts to implement the new mandate in force since January 2022 despite the lack of sufficient number of additional staff; calls the Commission and Member States to allow additional staff and reclassification of certain posts to ensure a proper implementation in particular as regards the Fundamental Rights Officer, the Asylum reserve Pool and the monitoring and operational activities;

4. Welcomes that almost 4 million persons benefited from temporary protection after the Council mandated the EUAA, along with the European Border and Coast Guard Agency (Frontex) and the European Union Agency for Law Enforcement Cooperation (Europol), to provide operational support to Member States requesting assistance in coping with the refugee influx following the Russian invasion of Ukraine;

5. Notes with satisfaction the EUAA’s continues support to Member States in ensuring a protective reception system for unaccompanied minors through the provision of training, operational support, guidance, tools and informational material such as leaflets and videos targeting minors in reception; recalls that in 2022, 42 000 asylum applications were lodged by unaccompanied minors;

6. Notes with satisfaction that EUAA implemented operational plans in 14 Member States, thus expanding its operations to six additional EU countries and that EUAA deployed personnel to a non-EU country, Moldova first since its foundation; further appreciates EUAA’s strong engagement in the external dimension of Common European Asylum System (CEAS) supporting 2,585 persons through 13 selection and 3 pre-departure missions;

7. Notes the Court’s observation that the agreements between the EU and the Schengen associated countries (SAC) serving as legal basis for calculating their contributions to EUAA’s budget are unclear and allow divergent interpretations, resulting lower contribution by SAC and overstated contribution by the EU; notes EUAA’s response that its approach is in line with the legal provisions; calls the Commission to examine these agreements;

8. Recalls that OLAF is currently conducting an investigations concerning allegations of misconduct and staff-related irregularities in EUAA’s senior management; requests that allegations of misconduct are thoroughly checked and investigated; welcomes EUAA’s commitment to full cooperation with OLAF; calls on EUAA to ensure the full and sincere cooperation with OLAF throughout all stages of the investigation and to regularly report to the European Parliament about the progress of the state and outcome of the investigation;