Speaking during yesterday’s European Parliament debate about the budgetary discharge, the EPP Group’s coordinator on Employment and Social Affairs Policy David Casa MEP said that EU Agencies are particularly needed when it comes to the preparation and implementation of EU policies.

“EU Agencies are separate legal entities set up to perform specific and important tasks under EU law and in this case deal with issues such as vocational training, health and safety of workers and modernising education and training systems — their work provides valuable support and input to EU policymaking," explained PN Head of Delegation David Casa.

David Casa emphasised that 'the synergies, cooperation and mutual complementarity among the agencies is very important and that this should be underscored and preserved'. He further added that, 'although these agencies work within the same area of expertise, the conclusions of periodic external evaluation have showed that there was indeed no duplication of activities'. He also urged EU agencies 'to continue to explore ways on how to further enhance these synergies in order to ensure cost-efficiency'.

As Rapporteur for the Committee on Employment and Social affairs Mr Casa analysed and made recommendations on the performance and management of these agencies and the implementation of the general budget.

Yesterday’s debate on the annual discharge reports of the EU Agencies was based on the European Court of Auditors reports for the 2014 financial year. Each year the discharge procedure ensures ex-post democratic oversight at political level of how the EU’s annual budget has been used. It aims to verify whether implementation of the EU budget was in compliance with the relevant rules, including the principles of sound financial management.  

In his speech, the PN Head of Delegation David Casa focussed entirely on the performance and compliance of the EU Agencies that contribute to the development of social and employment policy, CEDEFOP, ETF, Eurofound and EU-OSHA. He praised their valuable work and their sound financial management and the implementation rate of their budget.