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Report on Budgetary and Financial Management 29 March 2019

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Report on Budgetary and Financial Management

Financial Year 2018

29 March 2019


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Table of Contents

Introduction ...................................................................................................................................................................................... 4

1. Overview of the budget ...................................................................................................................................................... 4

1.1. Initial budget, amending budgets and final budget ...................................................................................... 4

1.1.1. Establishment of the initial budget ......................................................................................................... 4

1.1.2. Amending budget ............................................................................................................................................ 5

1.1.3. Budget transfers made during the financial year .............................................................................. 5

1.2. Budget implementation ............................................................................................................................................ 6

1.2.1. Appropriations from the current year ................................................................................................... 6

1.2.2. Appropriations carried-over from the previous year ...................................................................... 8

1.2.3. Internal assigned revenue ........................................................................................................................... 9

1.2.4. Carry-overs to the following financial year ...................................................................................... 10

2. Multi-annual overview .................................................................................................................................................... 11

2.1. Operational workload ............................................................................................................................................ 11

2.2. Operational expenditures ..................................................................................................................................... 13

2.2.1. Coordination meetings and centres ..................................................................................................... 13

2.2.2. Grants to Joint Investigation Teams ..................................................................................................... 16

3. Revenue ................................................................................................................................................................................. 18

3.1. Nature of revenue .................................................................................................................................................... 18

3.2. Overview per contributor ..................................................................................................................................... 19

4. Glossary ................................................................................................................................................................................. 19

Annex I - Detailed budget overview..................................................................................................................................... 20

Annex II – Budgetary outturn account ............................................................................................................................... 22

Annex III – Budget implementation overview................................................................................................................. 23

Annex IV – Overview of carried-over appropriations .................................................................................................. 25

Annex V – Budget implementation per fund source ..................................................................................................... 26

Annex VI – Evolution of key metrics for JIT grants ....................................................................................................... 30


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Introduction

The present report on budgetary and financial management has been drawn up, in accordance with Article 36 of Council Decision 2002/187/JHA of 28 February 2002, amended by Council Decision 2003/659/JHA of 18 June 2003 and by Council Decision 2009/426/JHA of 16 December 2008 (referred to as the “Eurojust Decision”) and Article 93 of the Eurojust Financial Regulation of 14 January 2014.

The budget of Eurojust has been established in compliance with the principles of unity, budget accuracy, annuality, equilibrium, unit of account, universality, specification, sound financial management and transparency as set out in the Eurojust Financial Regulation.

1. Overview of the budget

1.1. Initial budget, amending budgets and final budget

1.1.1. Establishment of the initial budget

In accordance with Article 34(1) of the Eurojust Council Decision and Article 33(4) of the Eurojust Financial Regulation, on 21 March 2017 the Management Board adopted the estimate of revenue and expenditure for the financial year 2018 (draft budget 2018) in the total amount of €39,625,507, on the basis of a proposal by the Administrative Director (AD) (College Decision 2017-07).

Subsequently, in accordance with Article 35(4) of the Eurojust Council Decision and Article 33(9) of the Eurojust Financial Regulation, on 11 December 2017 the Management Board adopted the 2018 budget in the total amount of €38,606,737 as authorised by the budgetary authority (College Decision 2017-35).

Figure 1 – Budget evolution per title

The adopted budget was €1,018,770 less than Eurojust’s draft budget request, reflecting a shortfall in the Temporary Agent (TA) staff salaries. This deficit would have been higher if were not for an additional amount of €1.1 million, stemming from C4 funds carried-over from 2017 to pay part of the rent in 2018. The use of these additional funds for the 2018 rent, which was extensively discussed in


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the 2019 budget negotiations, allowed Eurojust to reinforce key operational work areas as well as other areas heavily impacted by budget reductions in 2017 that had led to deferral of activities and investments. In this respect, the 2018 adopted budget included, among others, increased budget allocations for coordination meetings, Joint Investigation Team (JIT) grants and ICT operational projects, to support the steady growth trends and increased budget needs in operational work areas.

The next table provides a budget title overview of the 2018 adopted budget (henceforth, “initial budget”), the in-year transfers and the allocation after transfers (henceforth, “final budget”), while further details per budget chapter are provided in Annex I.

Table 1 - Initial budget, amending budgets and final budget

Initial Budget (€) Amendments/ Transfers (€) Final Budget (€)

Budget Titles Commitment

Appropriations Payment

Appropriations Commitment




Appropriations

Title 1 – Expenditure relating to persons working with the institution

20,876,805 20,876,805 77,580 77,580 20,954,385 20,954,385

Title 2 – Investments in immovable property, rental of buildings and associated costs

6,896,178 6,896,178 313,608 313,608 7,209,786 7,209,786

Title 3 – Operational expenditures

10,833,754 10,591,754 -391,188 -391,188 10,442,566 10,200,566

Total 38,606,737 38,364,737 0 0 38,606,737 38,364,737

1.1.2. Amending budget

There was no amending budget request in 2018. Eurojust decided to cover the deficits identified in the course of the year through deprioritising other expenditures and related activities.

1.1.3. Budget transfers made during the financial year

In order to ensure optimal budget execution, there were four budget transfer exercises in 2018. Transfers were needed to cover additional costs for TA staff salaries, building maintenance, operational translations and library services for the College, as well as to reinforce areas impacted by prior years’ reductions such as ICT organisational projects and computer infrastructure.

Table 2 - List of transfers1

ID Date of

Adoption Main Subject Description

Impact on Commitment

Appropriations (€)

Impact on Payment

Appropriations (€)

1 22/06/2018

Objective To cover additional service costs for Eurojust old premises (i.e. 2016 and 2017 costs not foreseen in 2018 budget)

- - Main donor (s)

Rent of building New Premises project consultancy Interim staff services

Main recipient (s)

Building maintenance services

2 16/10/2018 Objective

To reinforce computer infrastructure and ICT organisational project, operational translations and optimise budget implementation

- -

Main Telecommunications and internet charges

1 In all cases, the transfers were adopted by the AD and were notified to the Management Board through a briefing note.


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donor(s) Interim staff services

Main recipient(s)

Computer infrastructure for National Desks ICT organisational projects Operational translations European School subsidy

3 04/12/2018

Objective To cover the TA salaries deficit, reinforce computer infrastructure and ICT organisational projects and optimise budget implementation

- -

Main donor(s)

Interim staff services Paymaster Office (PMO) services Contract Agent (CA) and Seconded National Expert

(SNE) costs AD office consultancy and legal advice services Coordination meetings and other Eurojust meetings Security services ICT operational projects

Main recipient(s)

TA salaries Computer infrastructure ICT organisational projects Books and subscriptions for the College

4 19/12/2018

Objective

To use funds available at the end of the year due to uncertain nature of costs (missions, trainings) and other small surpluses for bringing forward priority projects

- - Main donor(s)

Domestic and common EU/3rd country missions Mission insurances Staff training

Main recipient(s)

Computer infrastructure ICT organisational and operational projects

1.2. Budget implementation

1.2.1. Appropriations from the current year2

In 2018 Eurojust maintained a very high level of budgetary performance, similar to previous financial years.

Table 3 – Eurojust budgetary performance 2011-2018

Budget Execution Metric 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018

Final Budget (Thousands €) 31,734 32,967 32,359 33,667 33,818 43,540 48,689 38,607

Committed (Thousands €) 30,341 32,299 32,234 33,607 33,770 43,493 48,674 38,582

Committed / Final Budget (%) 95.61% 97.97% 99.61% 99.82% 99.86% 99.89% 99.97% 99.94%

Paid / Final Budget (%) 78.67% 87.96% 86.82% 87.31% 88.97% 80.42% 83.95% 86.91%

The table below summarises the implementation of the commitment and payment appropriations included in the initial budget 2018.

Table 4 – Implementation of 2018 commitment appropriations and payment appropriations

Title Initial

Budget (€) Transfers

(€) Final

Budget (€) Committed

(€)

Committed / Initial

Budget (%)

Committed / Final

Budget (%) Paid (€)

Paid / Committed

(%) Title 1 20,876,805 77,580 20,954,385 20,948,178 100.34% 99.97% 20,695,676 98.79%

Title 2 6,896,178 313,608 7,209,786 7,209,350 104.54% 99.99% 5,722,669 79.38%

Title 3 10,833,754 -391,188 10,442,566 10,424,963 96.23% 99.83% 7,134,169 68.43%

Total 38,606,737 0 38,606,737 38,582,491 99.94% 99.94% 33,552,514 86.96%

2 C1 fund source


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The execution rate of the commitment appropriations reached 99.94%, representing a surplus of only €24,246. The payment rate of these commitments reached 86.96%, which was higher compared to 2017, mainly due to improved rates in Title 2 and Title 3. The majority of unpaid expenses related to multi-annual ICT projects (€1,778K) and computer infrastructure investments (€975K), building maintenance and utilities (€454K), coordination meetings (€317K), European Judicial Network (EJN) secretariat activities/projects (€251K) and security services (€175K). Furthermore, €74K of payment appropriations for JIT grants was carried over to 2019. Section 1.2.4 elaborates further on the carry-overs from 2018 to 2019.

The next sub-sections summarise the budget implementation per title, in relation to the initial budget allocation and the in-year budget transfers and other developments.

1.2.1.1. Title 1 – Expenditures relating to persons working within Eurojust

The initial Title 1 budget was increased by €2.38 million (12.8%) compared to the initial budget 2017 and by €1.12 million (5.7%) compared to the 2017 executed commitment appropriations. This increase reflected the reinstatement of the 2017 budget reductions in a number of areas such as staff trainings, interim staff services and AD office costs for legal advice and consultancy, as well as a partial correction of staff vacancy rates.

Despite this Title 1 increase, in the course of 2018 Eurojust was faced with a large deficit in the TA salaries in the order of €970K, not allowing the recruitment of all posts foreseen in the Establishment Plan. This has been a result of the accumulating deficits of previous years, further exacerbated by the fact that for another year, without providing the corresponding funds, the budgetary authority authorised Eurojust with an Establishment Plan of 209 TA posts, including 1 more than in 2017 and 17 more than the 191 specified in the European Commission’s programming for the Multi-Annual Financial Framework (MFF) 2014-2020.

Figure 2 – Evolution of Temporary Agent posts budget

This deficit was covered in the most part by transfers from other Title 1 budget lines, as well as €77,580 from Title 3. In particular, funds were transferred from other areas where surpluses were identified, such as the CA and SNE budget lines, interim staff services, PMO services and AD office costs for consultancy and legal advisory services.

At the end of 2018, 99.97% of the final Title 1 budget was committed and 98.79% of these commitments were paid.


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1.2.1.2. Title 2 - Investments in immovable property, rental of buildings and associated costs

The initial Title 2 budget was €3.65 million (34.7%) lower than the initial budget 20173. This is largely explained by the delivery of the new premises in 2017 and the corresponding reduction in budgetary needs for 2018. Firstly, €2.3 million of the reduced initial allocation in Title 2 reflected the high tranche of the building transition costs in 2017 and an expected reduction in the building maintenance and security costs, in light of the more reliable information about the actual New Premises exploitation costs which was acquired after the move. Secondly, €1.1 million of the reduction resulted from the fact that a corresponding part of the 2018 rent would be paid from 2017 internal assigned revenues (see section 1.2.3.2).

In the course of 2018, an additional amount of €313,608 was transferred from Title 3, so as to optimise budget implementation and reinforce areas heavily impacted by the 2017 reductions, such as ICT organisational projects and computer infrastructure for the administration. More particularly, the organisational decision not to invest in the redesign of the Eurojust Case Management System (CMS), also in view of Eurojust’s digital justice proposal before the Commission, allowed Eurojust to prioritise the implementation of new ICT organisational systems, such as the new mission and planning tools, aimed to bring efficiencies in key administrative processes.


1.2.1.3. Title 3 - Operational Expenditures

The initial Title 3 budget increased by €2.25 million (26.2%) compared to 2017. This increase mainly reflected budget reinforcements for coordination meetings, JIT grants, ICT operational projects, computer infrastructure for the National Desks, communication projects and initiatives, as well as a full correction of the SNE vacancy rates.

Due to reduced expenditure on coordination meetings (see section 2.2.1), telecommunications and SNEs, an amount of €391,188 could be released and transferred to Titles 1 and 2 to cover other needs. The budgetary developments and performance in the two main operational work areas of coordination meetings and JIT grants are further elaborated in sections 2.2.1 and 2.2.2 respectively.


1.2.2. Appropriations carried-over from the previous year

1.2.2.1. Automatic carry-overs from 2017 to 20184

The automatic carry-overs from 2017 to 2018 amounted to €9,256,348, consisting of:

€8,232,124 of non-differentiated commitment and payment appropriations, including €7,052,446 under C8 fund source and €1,179,678 under C5 fund source; and

€1,024,224 of differentiated commitment appropriations for JIT grants, under C8 fund source.

Of the total amount carried-over, 92.68% was paid in 2018, 4.25% was cancelled and 3.07% was further carried-over to 2019.

The carry-overs of non-differentiated (commitment and payment) appropriations, with C8 fund source, included areas such as consultancy services related to the New Premises project, building maintenance services, ICT projects and hardware, and coordination/operational meetings. An amount of €333,759 of

3 After excluding the New Premises “ring-fenced” budget 4 C5 and C8 fund sources


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these carry-overs was cancelled as a result of lower than estimated expenditures in the respective areas, more specifically for different reasons such as:

Cancellations in building maintenance service costs (€64K) were due to the overestimation of the cleaning service costs in the new Eurojust premises under a new contract.

Cancellations related to the New Premises project (€73K) were mainly due to the fact that some works planned by the Host State under the project were not finally delivered.

Cancellations related to ICT projects (€79K) and coordination/operational meetings (€44K) were due to the fact that the respective costs are subject to a high level of variability and include, to certain extent, risk/contingency components which are outside of Eurojust control.

The carry-overs of non-differentiated (commitment and payment) appropriations, with C5 fund source, concerned mainly rent (€1,103K) and security (€48K) expenditures. Of them, an amount of €1,867 related to the New Premises project could not be reused and was therefore cancelled. More information on the carry-overs of non-differentiated (commitment and payment) appropriations, with C5 fund source, can be found in section 1.2.3.2.

Finally, an amount of €57,916 of the carry-overs of differentiated commitment appropriations related to JIT grants was cancelled. These carried-over appropriations stemmed from the 2016 budget and were reused for awards in 2016 and 2017. The beneficiary claims related to these awards were reimbursed until the end of 2018 at lower levels than projected by the beneficiaries.

Table 5 – Implementation of automatic carry-overs from 2017 to 2018

Title Carried-Over (€) Paid (€) Paid / Carried-

Over (%) Cancellations (€)

Cancelled / Carried-Over (%)

Title 1 258,016 236,054 91.49% 21,592 8.37%

Title 2 6,048,809 5,849,274 96.70% 199,555 3.30%

Title 3 2,949,523 2,493,0600 84.52% 172,415 5.85%

Total 9,256,348 8,578,388 92.68% 393,562 4.25%

1.2.2.2. Non-automatic carry-overs from 2017 to 20185

Since all C1 2017 differentiated payment appropriations related to JIT grants had been consumed, no related payment appropriations were carried over from 2017 to 2018 under C2 fund source,.

1.2.3. Internal assigned revenue

1.2.3.1. From 20186

In accordance with Article 23 of the Eurojust Financial Regulation, Eurojust used the following items of internal assigned revenue to finance similar items of expenditure:

Title 1: Revenue in the amount of €848 arising from the repayment of overpaid administrative staff mission costs;

Title 2: Revenue in the amount of €20,030 arising mainly from the sale of Eurojust furniture from the old premises (€19,500), as well as including other minor amounts from insurance compensation, recovery of telephone costs from staff members and compensation from telecom supplier for excessive costs in the Eurojust old premises.

Title 3: Revenue in the amount of €8,864 arising mainly from the Dutch tax authorities’ compensation of overpaid insurance premium taxes (€6,178) and the recovery of overpaid advances for catering and mission costs of coordination meetings and national workshops.

5 C2 fund source 6 C4 fund source


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Of the above listed appropriations with C4 fund source, only €340 (1.1%) was committed and paid in 2018 and the rest was carried over to be used as C5 fund source in 2019 (see section 1.2.4.1).

1.2.3.2. Carried-over from 2017 to 20187

An amount of €1,179,678 of commitment appropriations of internal assigned revenue was carried over from 2017 to 2018. These commitment appropriations were executed almost in full (99.84%) and for the same type of expenses for which the revenue was initially assigned. The vast majority of these funds (i.e. 93.5% or €1,103,213) was utilised to cover part of the building rent in 2018, as explained in section 1.1.1. Additionally, an amount of €48,265 was used for security related expenditures and €13,032 for insurances.

Similarly, the committed amounts were paid almost in full by the end of 2018, with only €370 (0.03%) of the payment appropriations carried over to be used as C8 fund source in 2019 (see section 1.2.4.1).

1.2.4. Carry-overs to the following financial year

1.2.4.1. Automatic carry-overs from 2018 to 20198

The automatic carry-overs from 2018 to 2019 amounted to €6,026,055, reflecting a significant reduction of €3,230,293 compared to the carry-overs from 2017 to 2018 (see section 1.2.2.1). This reduction is mainly due to the finalisation of the New Premises project that constituted 30% of the carry-overs from 2017 to 2018.

The total automatic carry-overs consist of:

€4,744,090 of non-differentiated commitment and payment appropriations, including €4,714,319 under C8 fund source and €29,771 under C5 fund source; and

€1,281,965 of differentiated commitment appropriations for JIT grants, under C8 fund source.

The main reasons for the carried-over non-differentiated appropriations are the following:

An amount of €2.8 million concerns outstanding orders related to ICT projects and computer infrastructure. The delay in placing these orders arises due to the need to maintain a reserve for potential deficits in staff salaries. At the same time, due to budget constraints a further assessment of the business needs and priorities for these ICT expenditures was necessary.

An amount of €629,595 relates to estimated building specific service costs (utilities, maintenance, security etc.) to be invoiced by the host state during 2019 on a retroactive basis.

Outstanding payments of approximately €330,799 related to estimates for Eurojust and coordination meetings occurring in 2018 (travel and accommodation of external participants, interpretation, catering).

An amount of €250,646 concerns EJN projects and activities, including outstanding orders for EJN website developments and pending payments for the second EJN plenary of 2018.

Table 6 –Automatic carry-overs from 2018 to 2019

Title Carry-Overs Non-Differentiated (€) Carry-Overs Differentiated (€) Total Automatic

Carry-Overs (€) C1C8 C4C5 + C5C8 C1+C8C8 Title 1 252,872 848 - 253,719

Title 2 1,486,681 19,690 - 1,506,371

Title 3 2,975,136 8,864 1,281,965 4,265,965 Total 4,714,319 29,771 1,281,965 6,026,055

7 C5 fund source 8 C5 and C8 fund sources


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1.2.4.2. Non-automatic carry-overs from 2018 to 20199

An amount of €73,658 of differentiated payment appropriations for JIT grants were carried over from 2018 to 2019 under the C2 fund source by a decision of the Management Board (College Decision 2019-03). These concerned payment appropriations which were not needed in 2018.

In accordance with the Eurojust Financial Regulation, in 2019 Eurojust will have to first consume all differentiated payment appropriations with C1 fund source, before starting to use these carried-over C2 funds. Further information on the challenges that this requirement poses to Eurojust’s budgetary performance can be found in section 2.2.2.

2. Multi-annual overview

2.1. Operational workload

In line with prior year trends, as a demand-driven agency, in 2018 Eurojust faced a significant increase in its operational workload, which exceeded original expectations and assumptions and caused a notable increase of the expenditure in all main operational work areas.

Figure 3 – Evolution of Title 3 operational expenditure

First and foremost, as a continuation to the 61% increase in casework during 2014-2017, in 2018 the number of cases received by Eurojust from the EU Member States continued to grow steadily, from 2,550 to 3,148 (increase of 23%). Since 2007, Member State case referrals have grown at a historical annual rate of 9%, which remains the assumption for planning next years’ budgets.

9 C2 fund source


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Figure 4 – Evolution of case referrals from Member States

In 2018, of the total 3,148 cases, 2,644 (84%) were bilateral10 (cf. 1,920 or 85% in 2017) and the rest 504 (16%) multilateral11 (cf. 386 or 15% in 2017). The proportion of bilateral and multilateral cases varied significantly across Member States, although it remained similar to prior years.

Figure 5 –Geographical distribution and type of case referrals across Member States in 2018

10 A case involving two countries (at least one Member State) or one Member State and the European Commission 11 A case involving at least three countries (at least one Member State) or two countries (at least one Member State) and the European Commission


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Similarly, case referrals from other countries with a Liaison Prosecutor (LP) posted at Eurojust also continued to grow in 2018, from 148 to 169 cases (increase of 14%). LP case referrals show historically a significant increase in the first years that a LP is posted at Eurojust (i.e. at a rate of 25%-30%) and stabilise at a more moderate growth rate (i.e. 5%) in the next years. In 2018 Ukraine also posted a LP at Eurojust and the expectation is that more countries will do so the coming years.

This growth in Eurojust’s casework and the resulting increases in other operational work areas, further elaborated in section 2.2, were not covered by a corresponding increase in Eurojust’s financial and human resources. On the contrary, Eurojust managed to meet these growth trends and the Member States’ demand for enhanced services under limited resource availability. For another year, Eurojust managed to “do more (casework, coordination meetings/centres and JIT funding) with less (resources)”, through reorganising its internal processes/structures and shifting more resources to the operational work areas. The achieved efficiency gains are also illustrated by the caseload/staff ratio12, which showed an unprecedented increase in 2018 and is expected to keep increasing in the future.

Figure 6 – Evolution of caseload/staff ratio

2.2. Operational expenditures

2.2.1. Coordination meetings and centres

The past years’ growth in Eurojust’s casework, as well as the increasing complexity of the registered cases, has also been the main driver of a significant growth in the number of coordination meetings and coordination centres and respective expenditures, even though the latter did not grow in 2019 at the same rate.

In particular, since 2014, the annual growth rates have been quite high for both the coordination meetings (i.e. 16%) and coordination centres (i.e. 14%). The expectation is that, although these growth trends may become more moderate, they will continue in the next years. Specifically in 2018, coordination meetings continued to show a steep growth, increasing by 57 (i.e. 19%) from 2017 and exceeding by 9 (3%) the original forecast and assumption for 350 meetings.

12 Ratio of Member State case referrals over number of TA posts included in Eurojust’s Establishment Plan


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Figure 7 – Evolution of coordination meetings and centres

Eurojust managed to accommodate this unprecedented growth in the number of coordination meetings by closely monitoring and controlling their average cost, to the extent possible. Continuing the decreasing trends of recent years, the average cost of coordination meetings was decreased from €6,598 in 2017 to €6,20013 in 2018 (6%). However, like previous years, the costs of coordination meetings continued to show a high variance, up to €21,000, depending on the complexity of the case(s), the number of countries involved, and the subsequent interpretation needs.

Figure 8 – Average coordination meeting expenditures per category

13 Taking into account only the payments executed by 15 March 2019


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This 6% reduction in average costs reflects predominantly savings in catering and interpretation services, as well as a small increase in the use of video-conferencing. As a result of this reduction, eventually Eurojust managed to organize 19% more coordination meetings with only a corresponding 10% increase in the budget14.

At the end of 2018, outstanding commitments of approximately €316,547 related to coordination meetings that took place at the latter end of the year.

Figure 9 – Evolution of expenditures for coordination meetings and centres15

Finally, the graphic below indicates the unbalanced distribution of coordination meeting expenditures throughout 2018, with a summer recess and a peak in the last months of the year.

14 For both coordination meetings and coordination centres, the final 2018 outturn was €2,280,455 as compared to an initial budget allocation of €2,535,750. 15 Executed commitment and payment appropriations with C1 and C8 fund sources


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Figure 10 – Quarterly evolution of coordination meeting expenditures

2.2.2. Grants to Joint Investigation Teams

In 2018, the initial budget allocated for JIT grants was €1,442,000 in commitment appropriations and €1,200,000 in payment appropriations, including €500,000 from 2017 and €700,000 from 2018.

The use of differentiated appropriations as of 2016 has provided more flexibility in the re-use of commitment appropriations. During 2018, the reuse of unclaimed funds from awards in 2017-201816 allowed Eurojust to award a higher amount to Member States’ investigative operations. The funds reused from the initial 2018 budget allocation (commitment appropriations) are projected to reach €1,230,02717, which is almost three times higher than the funds reused from the 2017 budget.

However, there remains a difficulty in terms of forecasting and planning the level of payment appropriations for the annual budget due to the Framework Financial Regulation requirement to first utilise the C1 funds before any C2 funds carried-over from previous years.

This practically means that Eurojust has to wait until late in the year to start implementing the C2 funds, with high risk of cancelling them due to the complexities and frequent delays in the JIT investigative operations. In particular, JIT grants are awarded based on actions planned by the judicial authorities, which due to external factors may change or be postponed beyond the three month action period, leading to an under-execution of the awarded amount. As a result, funds will be released, and if possible, reused in subsequent awards, delaying further the payment.

The nature of grants in Eurojust is significantly different to most EU grants that have a longer duration and plans that lie, to high degree, within the control of the beneficiaries. Implementation of the JIT

16 Amounts not implemented/claimed in full by beneficiaries due to various external and uncertain factors of investigative/judicial nature 17 This reflects Eurojust’s projection as at 15 January 2019. The actual amount will be known by 31 December 2019.


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grants’ budget is influenced by many factors outside the control of Eurojust or the beneficiaries, which may cause extensive cancellations of payment appropriations. Therefore, Eurojust has submitted a request for derogation to the Framework Financial Regulation, requesting to utilise C2 funds prior to C1 funds, thus avoiding cancellations because of unforeseeable or uncontrollable circumstances.

The increase in the initial budget allocation had a positive effect on the level of awards while the number of received applications did not increase as expected and was in fact lower than in 2017 (i.e. 239 in 2018 cf. 253 in 2017). As a result, Eurojust was able to make a more substantial contribution to the beneficiaries.

Figure 11 – Evolution of JIT grants adopted budget, requested, awarded and paid amounts18

The growth of the JIT grants’ budget in 2018 reflected the observed developments in the quantitative and qualitative characteristics of the Member State demand for financial assistance to establish JITs. Although the number of received applications decreased, the total requested amount increased from 2017 by 11%. At the same time, the extent to which specific Member States make use of Eurojust’s financial assistance to set up JITs in support of their cases referred to Eurojust increased, with 5 more becoming “exceptional” users of Eurojust’s JIT financial assistance19. The high potential for further growth is shown by the fact that in 2018 only 17 Member States were ‘exceptional’ or ‘frequent’ users while a slow and steady uptake has been observed in other Member States.

18 For 2019-2020 Eurojust’s estimated budget/amounts are provided. Furthermore, the paid amount for 2018 reflects Eurojust’s projection as at 15 January 2019. 19 “Exceptional” users are considered those with 1 funded JIT every 1-10 cases they refer to Eurojust, “frequent” those with 1 funded JIT every 10-20 cases, “average” those with 1 funded JIT every 20-40 cases and “basic” those with 1 funded JIT every more than 40 cases.


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Figure 12 – Use of JIT grants by Member States to support casework

Annex VI provides more information on the multi-annual evolution of key metrics and statistics regarding Eurojust’s JIT financial assistance to JITs.

3. Revenue

3.1. Nature of revenue

In 2018, Eurojust received a budget of €38,606,737 from the general budget of the European Union, including €38,351,468 of fresh appropriations plus €255,269 of assigned revenue deriving from 2016 surpluses which were returned to the European Commission in 2017.

An amount of €38,364,737 was cashed, including differentiated payment appropriations for JIT grants and non-differentiated appropriations for all other Eurojust budget lines. An additional €29,741 came from the recovery of overpaid expenses in specific areas, as presented in section 1.2.3.1.

Revenues Executed Budget (€)

1 REVENUE FROM FEES AND CHARGES

2 EU CONTRIBUTION 38,364,737

- Of which assigned revenues deriving from previous years' surpluses 255,269

3 THIRD COUNTRIES CONTRIBUTION (incl. EEA/EFTA and candidate countries)

- Of which EEA/EFTA (excl. Switzerland)

- Of which candidate countries

4 OTHER CONTRIBUTIONS

5 ADMINISTRATIVE OPERATIONS 29,741

- Of which interest generated by funds paid by the Commission by way of the EU contribution (FFR Art. 58)

6 REVENUES FROM SERVICES RENDERED AGAINST PAYMENT

7 CORRECTION OF BUDGETARY IMBALANCES

Total 38,394,487


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3.2. Overview per contributor

Eurojust received most of its 2018 revenues from the European Union contribution (€38,364,737), and as an exception, an amount of €29,741 (0.08%) from administrative operations related to the recovery of overpaid expenses, as explained in previous subsection.

4. Glossary

The following terms, abbreviations and acronyms are used in the present report:

Abbreviation Description

AD Administrative Director (of Eurojust)

C1 Current year appropriations

C2 Appropriations not automatically carried over (carried-over upon College decision)

C4 Appropriations from internal assigned revenue

C5 Appropriations from internal assigned revenue automatically carried-over

C8 Current year appropriations automatically carried-over

CA Contract Agent

EJN European Judicial Network (secretariat)

ICT Information and Communication Technology

JIT Joint Investigation Team

JSB Joint Supervisory Body

LP Liaison Prosecutor (posted at Eurojust by a third country)

MFF Multi-Annual Financial Framework

PMO Paymaster Office

RAL Amount still to be paid

SNE Seconded National Expert

TA Temporary Agent


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Annex I - Detailed budget overview

Initial Budget (€) Amendments/ Transfers (€) Final Budget (€)

Budget Titles/Chapters Commitment






Appropriations Title 1 – Expenditure relating to persons working with the institution

20,876,805 20,876,805 77,580 77,580 20,954,385 20,954,385

1.1 Salaries and allowances 19,832,310 19,832,310 214,283 214,283 20,046,593 20,046,593

1.2 Expenditure related to staff recruitment 60,930 60,930 26,456 26,456 87,386 87,386

1.3 Administrative missions 55,000 55,000 -2,685 -2,685 52,315 52,315

1.4 Socio-medical infrastructure 164,565 164,565 -20,832 -20,832 143,733 143,733

1.5 External services 363,500 363,500 -103,160 -103,160 260,340 260,340

1.6 Social welfare 40,000 40,000 -3,510 -3,510 36,490 36,490

1.7 Receptions, events and representation 5,500 5,500 -5,372 -5,372 128 128

1.8 Training and development for staff 355,000 355,000 -27,600 -27,600 327,400 327,400

Title 2 – Investments in immovable property, rental of buildings and associated costs

6,896,178 6,896,178 313,608 313,608 7,209,786 7,209,786

2.0 Rental of building and associated costs 5,132,136 5,132,136 -66,900 -66,900 5,065,236 5,065,236

2.1 Information management and data processing expenditure

1,405,417 1,405,417 456,613 456,613 1,862,030 1,862,030

2.2 Movable property and associated costs 112,500 112,500 -1,541 -1,541 110,959 110,959

2.3 Current administrative expenditure 63,700 63,700 -3,645 -3,645 60,055 60,055

2.4 Postage and telecommunications 122,425 122,425 -34,730 -34,730 87,695 87,695

2.5 Other infrastructure and operating expenditure 60,000 60,000 -36,190 -36,190 23,810 23,810

Title 3 – Operational expenditures 10,833,754 10,591,754 -391,188 -391,188 10,442,566 10,200,566

3.0 Meetings, trainings and representation expenses 2,771,750 2,771,750 -299,872 -299,872 2,471,878 2,471,878

3.1 Operational and experts missions 1,802,737 1,802,737 -473,790 -473,790 1,328,947 1,328,947

3.2 Public relations and publications 386,000 386,000 -25,343 -25,343 360,657 360,657

3.3 Data processing and documentation expenditure 3,678,867 3,678,867 393,754 393,754 4,072,621 4,072,621

3.4 Translation of documents 133,000 133,000 48,100 48,100 181,100 181,100


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3.5 EJN projects, meetings and other expenses 460,000 460,000 - - 460,000 460,000

3.6 JSB meetings and other expenses 30,400 30,400 -1,924 -1,924 28,476 28,476

3.7 Joint Investigation Team (JIT) meetings and other expenses

1,500,000 1,258,000 -17,794 -17,794 1,482,206 1,240,206

3.8 Meetings on genocide and other expenses 71,000 71,000 -14,319 -14,319 56,681 56,681

Total 38,606,737 38,364,737 0 0 38,606,737 38,364,737


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Annex II – Budgetary outturn account

Budgetary Outturn Account 2018 (€) 2017 (€)

REVENUE

Union contribution, cashed 38,364,737 47,879,237

Other revenue, cashed 29,741 1,453,368

TOTAL REVENUE (a) 38,394,478 49,332,605

EXPENDITURE

Title 1 - Staff expenditure

Payments current year 20,695,677 19,496,791

Payment appropriations carried-over to next year 253,719 258,016

Title 2 - Infrastructure and operating expenditure


Payment appropriations carried-over to next year 1,506,371 6,048,809

Title 3 - Operational expenditure


Payment appropriations carried-over to next year 3,057,657 1,925,299

TOTAL EXPENDITURE (b) 39,548,043 49,517,749

RESULT FOR THE FINANCIAL YEAR BEFORE SPECIAL ITEMS (= a - b) -1,153,565 -185,144

Cancellation of unused payment appropriations carried-over from the previous year 333,759 448,452

Adjustment for carry-overs from the previous year – assigned revenue 1,179,678 200,013

Adjustment for cancelled carry-overs from the previous year – JITs - -

Exchange rate differences -368 -643

BALANCE OF THE OUTTURN ACCOUNT FOR THE FINANCIAL YEAR 359,504 462,678


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Annex III – Budget implementation overview20

Eurojust Budget

Line

Initial Budget (€)

Transfers (€)

Final Budget (€)

Committed (€)

Committed / Initial

Budget (%)

Committed / Final

Budget (%) Paid (€)

Paid / Committed

(%) 1100 11,670,874 722,304 12,393,178 12,393,178 106.19% 100.00% 12,393,178 100.00% 1101 5,051,572 283,396 5,334,968 5,334,968 105.61% 100.00% 5,334,968 100.00% 1102 696,769 -37,547 659,222 659,222 94.61% 100.00% 659,222 100.00%

1110 1,384,488 -385,348 999,140 999,140 72.17% 100.00% 999,140 100.00%

1160 400,000 -400,000 - - 0.00% 0.00% -

1171 628,607 31,478 660,085 660,085 105.01% 100.00% 660,085 100.00% 1200 30,360 37,692 68,052 68,052 224.15% 100.00% 52,930 77.78% 1201 30,570 -11,236 19,334 19,334 63.25% 100.00% 19,334 100.00%

1300 55,000 -2,685 52,315 46,212 84.02% 88.33% 45,912 99.35%

1400 95,731 -11,816 83,916 83,916 87.66% 100.00% 74,327 88.57%

1410 68,834 -9,017 59,817 59,817 86.90% 100.00% 57,025 95.33%

1500 200,000 -70,418 129,582 129,582 64.79% 100.00% 41,650 32.14%

1503 3,500 -1,742 1,758 1,758 50.23% 100.00% 1,758 100.00%

1504 160,000 -31,000 129,000 129,000 80.63% 100.00% 128,201 99.38%

1620 5,000 -5,000 - - 0.00% 0.00% -

1630 35,000 1,490 36,490 36,490 104.26% 100.00% 19,642 53.83% 1700 2,000 -1,936 64 64 3.21% 100.00% 64 100.00%

1703 3,500 -3,436 64 64 1.82% 100.00% 64 100.00%

1800 355,000 -27,600 327,400 327,297 92.20% 99.97% 208,177 63.60%

2000 1,617,657 -81,706 1,535,951 1,535,951 94.95% 100.00% 1,535,945 100.00% 2010 105,785 -24,294 81,491 81,491 77.03% 100.00% 80,991 99.39% 2020 1,762,694 102,985 1,865,679 1,865,679 105.84% 100.00% 1,411,691 75.67% 2050 1,641,000 -76,361 1,564,639 1,564,623 95.35% 100.00% 1,389,516 88.81% 2091 5,000 12,477 17,477 17,477 349.54% 100.00% - 2101 1,028,917 258,696 1,287,613 1,287,613 125.14% 100.00% 938,391 72.88% 2102 376,500 197,917 574,417 574,414 152.57% 100.00% 146,408 25.49% 2210 50,000 -12,492 37,508 37,373 74.75% 99.64% 20,461 54.75% 2230 40,000 10,951 50,951 50,951 127.38% 100.00% 45,936 90.16% 2250 22,500 - 22,500 22,500 100.00% 100.00% 17,885 79.49% 2300 51,700 6,205 57,905 57,624 111.46% 99.52% 38,447 66.72% 2320 2,000 -1,300 700 700 35.00% 100.00% 440 62.89% 2330 10,000 -8,550 1,450 1,450 14.50% 100.00% 1,450 100.00% 2400 26,000 16,000 42,000 42,000 161.54% 100.00% 32,015 76.23% 2410 96,425 -50,730 45,695 45,695 47.39% 100.00% 39,283 85.97% 2500 60,000 -36,190 23,810 23,810 39.68% 100.00% 23,810 100.00% 3000 2,535,750 -237,398 2,298,352 2,296,953 90.58% 99.94% 1,980,406 86.22% 3005 42,000 -23,997 18,003 18,003 42.86% 100.00% 13,204 73.34% 3010 180,000 -48,677 131,323 116,051 64.47% 88.37% 101,799 87.72% 3020 14,000 10,200 24,200 24,200 172.86% 100.00% 9,751 40.29% 3100 300,000 -41,817 258,183 258,160 86.05% 99.99% 241,988 93.74% 3120 150,000 -44,582 105,418 105,418 70.28% 100.00% 104,891 99.50% 3130 75,000 -14,155 60,845 60,845 81.13% 100.00% 47,731 78.45% 3140 25,000 -11,301 13,699 13,699 54.79% 100.00% 13,699 100.00% 3150 1,252,737 -361,936 890,801 890,801 71.11% 100.00% 890,801 100.00% 3200 273,500 -13,954 259,546 259,528 94.89% 99.99% 77,107 29.71% 3203 107,500 -16,646 90,854 90,854 84.52% 100.00% 90,854 100.00%

20 For appropriations of current year’s budget (C1 fund source)


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3205 5,000 5,257 10,257 10,257 205.13% 100.00% 10,257 100.00% 3300 132,000 47,237 179,237 179,235 135.78% 100.00% 77,186 43.06% 3310 1,708,500 27,842 1,736,342 1,736,242 101.62% 99.99% 384,471 22.14% 3320 224,991 -113,695 111,296 111,296 49.47% 100.00% 96,977 87.13% 3323 1,613,376 432,370 2,045,746 2,045,746 126.80% 100.00% 1,419,541 69.39% 3400 133,000 48,100 181,100 181,100 136.17% 100.00% 134,302 74.16% 3500 460,000 - 460,000 459,502 99.89% 99.89% 208,856 45.45% 3600 30,400 -1,924 28,476 28,185 92.71% 98.98% 28,061 99.56% 3700 58,000 -17,794 40,206 40,206 69.32% 100.00% 34,504 85.82% 3720 1,442,000 - 1,442,000 1,442,000 100.00% 100.00% 1,126,342 78.11% 3800 71,000 -14,319 56,681 56,681 79.83% 100.00% 41,441 73.11% Total 38,606,737 0 38,606,737 38,582,491 99.94% 99.94% 33,552,514 86.96%


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Annex IV – Overview of carried-over appropriations21

Carry-overs From 2018 to 2019 (€)

From 2017 to 2018 (€)

Automatic (= a + b) 6,026,055 9,256,348

a. Non-differentiated (commitment and payment) appropriations (= i + ii) 4,744,090 8,232,124

i. With C8 fund source 4,714,319 7,052,446

Of which, cancellations 333,759

ii. With C5 fund source 29,771 1,179,678


b. Differentiated commitment appropriations with C8 fund source 1,281,965 1,024,224


Non-automatic (= c) 73,658 -

c. Differentiated payment appropriations with C2 fund source 73,658 -

Of which, cancellations -

21 For appropriations with C2, C5 and C8 fund sources


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Annex V – Budget implementation per fund source

2018 Budget Implementation for C1 Fund Source 2018 2017

Title 1 - Staff expenditure Final budget (€) 20,954,385 19,7594 Committed (€) 20,948,179 19,752,656 Paid (€) 20,695,677 19,495,029 Automatic carry-overs of commitment appropriations (€) 252,502 257,627 Non-automatic carry-overs of payment appropriations (€) - - Commitment appropriations not utilised (€) 6,206 6,437 Committed/Final budget (%) 99.97% 99.97% Paid/Committed (%) 98.79% 98.70% Title 2 - Infrastructure and operating expenditure Final budget (€) 7,209,786 20,584,271 Committed (€) 7,209,350 20,583,724 Paid (€) 5,722,669 15,766,639 Automatic carry-overs of commitment appropriations (€) 1,486,681 4,817,084 Non-automatic carry-overs of payment appropriations (€) - - Commitment appropriations not utilised (€) 436 548 Committed/Final budget (%) 99.99% 100.00% Paid/Committed (%) 79.38% 76.60% Title 3 - Operational expenditure Final budget (€) 10,442,566 8,345,873 Committed (€) 10,424,963 8,337,989 Paid (€) 7,134,169 5,614,246 Automatic carry-overs of commitment appropriations (€) 2,548,794 1,913,743 Non-automatic carry-overs of payment appropriations22 (€) 742,000 810,000 Commitment appropriations not utilised (€) 17,604 7,884 Committed/Final budget (%) 99.83% 99.91% Paid/Committed (%) 68.43% 67.33% Total Final budget (€) 38,606,737 48,689,237 Committed (€) 38,582,491 48,674,368 Paid (€) 33,552,514 40,875,914 Automatic carry-overs of commitment appropriations (€) 4,287,976 6,988,454 Non-automatic carry-overs of payment appropriations23 (€) 742,000 810,000 Commitment appropriations not utilised (€) 24,246 14,869 Committed/Final budget (%) 99.94% 99.97%24 Paid/Committed (%) 86.96% 83.98%25

22 Concerns differentiated appropriations for JIT grants 23 Concerns differentiated appropriations for JIT grants 24 99.96% if the New Premises “ring-fenced” budget is excluded. 25 85.5% if the New Premises “ring-fenced” budget is excluded.


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Title 1 - Staff expenditure Final budget (€) 848 370 Committed (€) - - Paid (€) - - Automatic carry-overs of commitment appropriations (€) 848 370 Non-automatic carry-overs of payment appropriations (€) - - Commitment appropriations not utilised (€) 848 370 Committed/Final budget (%) 0.00% 0.00% Paid/Committed (%) 0.00% 0.00% Title 2 - Infrastructure and operating expenditure Final budget (€) 20,030 1,441,330 Committed (€) 340 271,313 Paid (€) 340 209,605 Automatic carry-overs of commitment appropriations (€) 19,690 1,231,725 Non-automatic carry-overs of payment appropriations (€) - - Commitment appropriations not utilised (€) 19,690 1,170,017 Committed/Final budget (%) 1.70% 18.82% Paid/Committed (%) 100.00% 77.26% Title 3 - Operational expenditure Final budget (€) 8864 11,668 Committed (€) - 2,377 Paid (€) - 189 Automatic carry-overs of commitment appropriations (€) 8,864 11,479 Non-automatic carry-overs of payment appropriations (€) - - Commitment appropriations not utilised (€) 8,864 9,291 Committed/Final budget (%) 0.00% 20.37% Paid/Committed (%) 0.00% 7.95% Total Final budget (€) 29,741 1,453,368 Committed (€) 340 273,690 Paid (€) 340 209,794 Automatic carry-overs of commitment appropriations (€) 29,401 1,243,574 Non-automatic carry-overs of payment appropriations (€) - - Commitment appropriations not utilised (€) 29,401 1,179,678 Committed/Final budget (%) 1.14% 18.83% Paid/Committed (%) 100.00% 76.65%


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Title 1 - Staff expenditure Final budget (€) 370 1,781 Committed (€) 370 1,781 Paid (€) - 1,762 Automatic carry-overs of commitment appropriations (€) 370 19 Non-automatic carry-overs of payment appropriations (€) - - Commitment appropriations not utilised (€) 370 - Committed/Final budget (%) 100.00% 100.00% Paid/Committed (%) 0.00% 98.93% Title 2 - Infrastructure and operating expenditure Final budget (€) 1,170,017 192,363 Committed (€) 1,168,150 192,363 Paid (€) 1,168,150 192,363 Automatic carry-overs of commitment appropriations (€) - - Non-automatic carry-overs of payment appropriations (€) - - Commitment appropriations not utilised (€) 1,867 - Committed/Final budget (%) 99.84% 100.00% Paid/Committed (%) 100.00% 100.00% Title 3 - Operational expenditure Final budget (€) 9,291 5,868 Committed (€) 9,291 5,868 Paid (€) 9,291 5,792 Automatic carry-overs of commitment appropriations (€) - 77 Non-automatic carry-overs of payment appropriations (€) - - Commitment appropriations not utilised (€) - - Committed/Final budget (%) 100.00% 100.00% Paid/Committed (%) 100.00% 98.70% Total Final budget (€) 1,179,678 200,013 Committed (€) 1,177,811 200,013 Paid (€) 1,177,441 199,918 Automatic carry-overs of commitment appropriations (€) - 96 Non-automatic carry-overs of payment appropriations (€) - - Commitment appropriations not utilised (€) 1,867 - Committed/Final budget (%) 99,84% 100.00% Paid/Committed (%) 99.97% 99.95%


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Title 1 - Staff expenditure Final budget (€) 257,646 136,975 Committed (€) 236,055 124,149 Paid (€) 236,055 124,149 Automatic carry-overs of commitment appropriations (€) - - Non-automatic carry-overs of payment appropriations (€) - - Commitment appropriations not utilised (€) 21,592 12,826 Committed/Final budget (%) 91,62% 90.64% Paid/Committed (%) 100.00% 100.00% Title 2 - Infrastructure and operating expenditure Final budget (€) 4,878,792 6,446,530 Committed (€) 4,681,124 6,337,148 Paid (€) 4,681,124 6,337,148 Automatic carry-overs of commitment appropriations (€) - - Non-automatic carry-overs of payment appropriations (€) - - Commitment appropriations not utilised (€) 197,669 109,382 Committed/Final budget (%) 95.95% 98.30% Paid/Committed (%) 100.00% 100.00% Title 3 - Operational expenditure Final budget (€) 2,940,231 1,337,372 Committed (€) 2,767,816 1,225,351 Paid (€) 1,801,509 1,225,351 Automatic carry-overs of commitment appropriations (€) - - Non-automatic carry-overs of payment appropriations (€) - - Commitment appropriations not utilised (€) 172,415 112,020 Committed/Final budget (%) 95.14% 91.09% Paid/Committed (%) 65.09% 100.00% Total Final budget (€) 8,076,670 7,920,877 Committed (€) 7,684,994 7,686,648 Paid (€) 6,718,687 7,686,648 Automatic carry-overs of commitment appropriations (€) - - Non-automatic carry-overs of payment appropriations (€) - - Commitment appropriations not utilised (€) 391,676 234,228 Committed/Final budget (%) 95.15% 97.04% Paid/Committed (%) 87.43% 100.00%


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Annex VI – Evolution of key metrics for JIT grants

Metric26 2016 2017 201827

Initial budget allocation (Thousands EUR) 1,000 1,310 1,442

Total requested amount (Thousands EUR) 4,295 5,786 6,402

Total awarded amount (Thousands EUR) 1,262 1,975 2,529

Total claimed amount (Thousands EUR) 1,104 1,717 1,938

Total paid amount (Thousands EUR) 0,742 0,969 1,126

Funds reused (Thousands EUR) - 0,324 1,230

Number of received applications 179 253 239

Number of awarded applications 146 226 227

Number of JITs supported 90 128 121

Amount awarded over amount requested (%) 34% 40% 38%

Amount claimed over amount awarded (%) 87% 87% 77%

Amount paid over amount claimed (%)28 67% 56% 58%

Amount paid over amount awarded (%)29 59% 49% 45%

Awarded applications over received applications (%) 82% 89% 95%

26 All metrics refer to all calls for JIT applications during a specific year, with the exception of the initial budget allocation (commitment appropriations) and the funds reused from this initial allocation (i.e. funds to be reused in the respective year as well as in the following year). 27 For the claimed, paid and reused amounts as well as for the respective ratios, the figures reflect Eurojust’s projections as at 15 January 2019. The actual figures for the claimed and reused amounts will be known by 31 December 2019. 28 Average claim rate 29 Average execution rate

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