The European Parliament this week went against the view of its Budgetary Control Committee and voted to sign off the European Environment Agency (EEA)'s 2011 accounts by agreeing to grant discharge to its Executive Director. Last month the Budgetary Control Committee singled out the EEA among 22 European agencies in refusing to vote for discharge (see EE&PL: March 27, 2013, pl6). The Committee had wanted a rerun of last year's discharge procedure for the 2010 accounts where not only the EEA but also the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) and European Medicines Agency saw discharge postponed until the autumn. It was unhappy about a probe into tendering procedures at the EEA by the European anti-fraud office OLAF, although the rapporteur (draftsman) for the discharge procedure Dutch Liberal Gerben-Jan Gerbrandy had opposed the delay since the investigation was unrelated to the 2011 accounts.
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