MEPs oppose discharge of EMA accounts
Voice concern about errors in procurement management
The European Parliament’s budgetary control committee has attacked the financial discipline of the European Medicines Agency (EMA), recommending that the discharge of its 2009 accounts be postponed.
Noting that EMA spent €194m in 2009, the committee said it was seriously concerned with agency policies on managing procurement, stating that there were persistent errors in 2009 covering a significant amount of the agency’s total budget.
The committee criticised EMA for negotiating procurements of €5.3m and €4m with a single supplier, with no formal invitation to tender being issued; no detailed technical specifications being prepared in advance and no evaluation committee being appointed or report written.
MEPs also raised concerns about EMA identifying and managing conflicts of interest amongst its staff and experts, fearing potential risks to the independence of experts/staff involved in the evaluation of medicinal products. This could damage the agency's reputation should its assessment be formally questioned, the committee said.
There were also potential deficiencies in staff and expert recruitment, which could lead to disqualification of competent candidates and/or recruitment of less qualified candidates, they said.
The committee called on EMA to address these problems and proposed reforms on conflicts of interest issues by 30 June.