What changed between the plenary report and the adopted text

Changed:3. Notes the roll-out by the Agency in 2022 of the Commission’s new financial management and accounting system (SUMMA) and the related technical issues which impacted the Agency’s budget implementation and reporting; notes in particular the Agency’s view that those issues also impacted the high rate of payments not executed on time (52,9 %) and complicated the monitoring of areas with high cost volatility such as coordination meetings (CMs); notes in this context the observation from the Court’s report that the Agency, contravening some of the provisions of the Financial Regulation, did not update its risk management and control strategy to cover risks linked to the implementation of the SUMMA system,SUMMA, nor its financial circuits and ex-ante and ex-post checks strategy and does not specifically check the rights that have been attributed to a user in that system, which constitutes a risk that the user roles in SUMMA may not be correctly assigned and updated;

Changed:6. Notes that the number of cases referred to the Agency by the Member States continued to grow, with a total of 11 544 cases handled in 2022 (of which 5 227 were newly opened), which represents a 14 % increase compared to 2021; commends in this context the contribution of the Agency in providing legal advice, analysis and operations assistance resulting in 941 operational deliverables in support to 528 cases, including with regard to complex cases that led to the arrest of smugglers of people (including migrants), as well as the cracking down on or actions against criminal networks in areas such us money laundering, sexual exploitation, online investment fraud or drug-trafficking; notes with satisfaction moreover that, in 2022, the Agency supported 265 Joint Investigation Teams (JITs) (of which 78 JITs newly established), organised 528 CMs and 22 Coordination Centres (CCs), facilitated the execution of 1 262 European Arrest Warrants (of which 504 new cases) and enabled the use of 5 415 European Investigation Orders (around half of which newly opened); notes that the Agency maintains cooperative relations with OLAF,the European Anti-Fraud Office (OLAF), with a view to enhancing the fight against crimes affecting the financial interests of the EU;Union;

Changed:8. Welcomes that in 2022 the Agency enhanced its operational and strategic cooperation with various stakeholders, such as the European justice and home affairs agencies (JHA), the Union's institutions, OLAF, EPPO,the European Public Prosecutor’s Office (EPPO), as well as judicial practitioner networks, third countries and international organisations; notes in particular the Agency’s cooperation with the European Union Agency for the Operational Management of Large-Scale IT Systems in the Area of Freedom, Security and Justice (eu-LISA) on a joint report on Artificial Intelligence (AI) supporting cross-border cooperation in criminal justice, with the European Union Agency for Law Enforcement Training (CEPOL) on 16 courses covering judicial cooperation and with the European Union Agency for Law Enforcement Cooperation (Europol) on the SIRIUS project and the Europol’s ‘hit/no-hit’ system, with national authorities from 20 Member States, Europol, OLAF and EPPO on Operation SENTINAL targeting fraud against COVID-19 recovery funds; highlights the Agency’s contribution to the Commission’s initiatives in the area of justice digitalisation (SIS II, CMS, ECRIS-TCN, among other); notes that the Agency has been relying on an ever-growing network of Contact Points with the competent authorities in third countries, whereas in 2022, the Agency's total number of Contact Points grew to include Australia, Bahrain and Morocco; commends the expansion of the Agency’s cooperation on criminal matters at international level, in particular through the EuroMed Justice Programme with the South Partner Countries and an EU-funded project focusing on cross-border cooperation in criminal justice in the Western Balkans;

Changed:10. Highlights that, in addition to the rolling out of SUMMA, the Agency further enhanced its Activity Based Management processes and tools, by increasing the efficiency, data quality/integrity and usability of its planning tool, by introducing a new activity-recording tool, and by continuing its gradual move from output to result KPIs; commends the Agency for initiating a discussion with Europol to explore the potential sharing of medical services in the future; commends further the Agency’s decision to retain certain efficiencies gained during the COVID-19 pandemic; notes from the Agency’s replies to Parliament’s written questions that in 2022 the Agency organised online 47 % of the Coordination Meetings (CMs)CMs and all staff trainings and selection procedures, thus reducing significantly the related financial and human resource costs, as well as 29 % of all CMs in hybrid mode;

Changed:12. Notes from the Court’s report that the Agency is not yet among the agencies that have established corporate plans in order to improve energy efficiency and climate neutrality of their operations, have some form of environmental reporting integrated in their annual activity reports or have received the EMASEco-Management and Audit Scheme (EMAS) registration; recalls that in 2021 the Agency initiated the implementation of the EMAS / ISO 14001 compliance framework; notes in this context that in 2022 the Agency received the final report from the external consultancy company, including all relevant information regarding the environment-related regulations in the Netherlands; notes further that during 2022, the Agency joined the public tender for consultancy in Environmental Management Systems and Reduction and Offsetting of Greenhouse Gas Emissions;

Changed:22. Notes that, although the Agency does not have meetings with lobbyists, the meetings of the Agency’s Executive Board with externals guests visiting the Agency were published on the Agency’s twitter account in 2022 and, as of 2023, on the Agency’s public website; deeply regrets that, despite Parliament’s repeated calls in several discharge resolutions, the Agency still does not publish on its website the CVs of all its senior management staff and in-house experts and external experts; urges the Agency to publish those CVs and/oror explain the reasons why the Agency has not yet done so;

Changed:23. Recalls that in 2021 aan OLAF investigation, carried out following an anonymous complaint regarding allegations of irregularities in recruitment procedures, was ongoing; notes that in 2022 OLAF reported that no irregularities were found thereon; notes further in this context that because this investigation was partially still pending at the end of 2022, and due to confidentiality reasons, OLAF decided not to share more details at that stage; welcomes from the follow-up report the Agency’s commitment to keep the discharge authority informed of any development on this matter in due time;

Changed:24. Notes that at the end of 2022, there were four significantly delayed recommendations issued by the Commission’s Internal Audit Service (IAS) in 2019 and 2021; notes in this context that, as regards the IAS recommendation from 2021 on own initiative on operational tasks, the Agency’s relevant internal working group agreed on a strategic document and an action plan, with short and md-termmid-term actions, some of which have already been implemented in 2023, whereby, subject to final IAS assessment, the Agency has marked that recommendation as implemented; notes further from the follow-up report, as regards the IAS recommendation from 2021 for the Agency to carry out an iCAT survey to strengthen the assessment of soft controls, that the launch of that survey, planned in Q4 2022, was delayed due to the implementation of major cross-organisational projects (e.g. SUMMA), the increase in workloads due to new priorities related to the war in Ukraine, and the transitional period between the departure of the previous administrative director and the appointment of the new one; notes in this context that the relevant iCAT questions were integrated into the Agency's Engagement Survey (SES) launched in Q2 2023; notes lastly that, subject to the IAS final assessment, that recommendation also is deemed implemented by the Agency; calls on the Agency to speed up the implementation of the remaining open IAS recommendations, in particular those that are significantly delayed;

Changed:28. Commends the Agency’s continued efforts in 2022 to strengthen its data protection compliance; welcomes the increase in the team of the Agency’s Data Protection Officer (DPO) with two more staff for the new tasks in connection with the Regulation (EU) 201817252018/1725 and the extension of the Agency’s mandate for core international crimes, which adds to the data protection requirements; notes that in 2022 the DPO and the European Data Protection Supervisor continued holding regular (bi-monthly) meetings, as well as ad-hoc ones, and consultations on various data protection issues such as data breaches and complaints, among other;

Changed:30. Refers, for other observations of a cross-cutting nature accompanying its decision on discharge, to its resolution of [...]11 April 2024 on the performance, financial management and control of the agencies.