Activites

• 2004/04/21 Final act published in Official Journal
  • Budget 2004/711
  • OJ L 330 04.11.2004, p. 0027-0027
• 2004/04/21 Decision by Parliament, 1st reading/single reading
  • T5-0324/2004 summary

    The European Parliament adopted the report by Jan MULDER (ELDR, NL) concerning the granting of discharge to the Director of the Translation Centre for the bodies of the European Union in respect of the implementation of its budget for the financial year 2002. The Parliament records its comments in the accompanying resolution. Firstly, on the issue of the implementation of the budget (financial rules), the Parliament welcomes the Centre's reply to the questionnaire concerning the trend in its carry-overs in recent years which shows a clear reduction. The Centre is encouraged to continue its efforts to make further improvements in this field. Parliament notes the Centre's effort to respond positively to the ECA's observation concerning the way in which the Centre should apply financial rules when the balance for one financial year is entered as revenue in the budget for the subsequent year and it expects the Centre to finalise a solution in line with the ECA's recommendation. In addition, the Parliament approves the Centre's efforts to reach agreement with the Luxembourg authorities on the question of its premises. It notes that no solution has yet been found and in its opinion that the solution of purchasing is preferable to that of renting. The Centre is encouraged to make further efforts, together with the Luxembourg authorities, to find a permanent solution to the problem, finding premises suitable to its needs. In parallel, the Parliament has made a series of horizontal points on all of the Agencies' discharges which can be summarised as follows: - Internal audit and control measures : Parliament reiterates the position taken in its resolutions 2003 accompanying the discharge given to the Agencies for 2001 as regards the implementation of the new Financial Regulation and invites the Commission and the Agencies to continue their cooperation, in particular in the areas of accounting, internal audit, management and control procedures, so as to ensure that a coherent harmonised framework for the functioning of the Agencies is established. It recalls that it expressed concern in the discharge resolution for 2001 concerning the lack of controls on the agencies carried out by the internal audit service of the Commission (IAS). Parliament expresses grave concern that such controls do not seem to have been carried out this year. It stresses that it is essential that the Agencies be required to submit to the investigative powers of OLAF under the same conditions as the other institutions. - Financial Management : Parliament invites the Agencies to better explain their analysis and to indicate in particular which of their activities of a multi-annual nature might be financed by such appropriations. The Commission is invited to present its position on such a solution and, should it consider that this solution is not feasible, to outline alternatives allowing for a substantial reduction in carry-overs. - Review of the agencies : the Parliament states that that, prior to any decision to set up an agency, the Commission must make a rigorous analysis of the need for and added value of the functions that the agency will perform, with an eye to the principles of subsidiarity, budgetary rigour and proceduralsimplification. Like last year, the Commission is called upon to make a general study of activities currently carried out by various Community bodies that might overlap or serve the same goals, and to propose appropriate solutions, including the possible mergers of agencies. Parliament is concerned by the fact that there is an imbalance between administrative and operational expenditure in many Agencies, with administrative expenditure exceeding expenditure for operational purposes. The Commission and the Agencies are called upon to set targets and a timetable to reduce the level of administrative expenditure as a proportion of total expenditure. The Agencies are encouraged to : - improve cooperation between themselves in order to meet their needs in specific areas (for example, software development) and reduce costs, rather than adopt solutions which were initially designed for the purposes of the Commission but which often prove to be too cumbersome and complicated for the Agencies' specific needs; - organise and develop a close working relationship with the competent parliamentary committees; invites its standing committees with competence in the areas of activity of each of the Agencies to co-ordinate their action with the Committees of Budgets and Budgetary Control, with a view to ensuring efficient monitoring of the activity of the Agencies. - New sources of financing : Parliament calls on the Commission and the Agencies to come forward with constructive proposals with regard to further development of new sources of additional financing, which would increase the level of self-financing. It welcomes the financial contributions of some Member States and regions to the agencies located on their area and considers it important for Council and the Commission to demand such contributions, especially when new agencies are set up. - Harmonised operating framework : Parliament recalls its that the multitude of different forms in the existing agencies' structures was thought to be "neither transparent nor comprehensible. Therefore, it has invited the Commission to present appropriate proposals, aimed at creating such a harmonised framework for the agencies, prior to or at least in parallel with the presentation of the legislative proposals for the new agencies; insists that an interinstitutional agreement spelling out common guidelines is a pre-condition for creating the harmonised framework. - Staff policy : the Parliament considers that the staff policy of the Agencies should comply with the Financial Regulation, the Staff Regulations and the best practice generally followed by the Institutions. The Parliament recalls the principle that the Agencies should as far as possible employ staff on temporary contracts, in order to maintain flexibility and efficiency. In this respect, it is concerned about the serious anomalies detected in connection with the selection procedures of the European Monitoring Centre for Drugs and Drug Addiction and that selection procedures organised by the Agencies should meet the same standards as those organised by the European Personnel Selection Office (EPSO) and that they should not be perceived as a backdoor for easy entry into the European civil service. Lastly, the Commission is invited to make proposals in order to ensure that the Agencies benefit from appropriate support from the EPSO when organising selection procedures and that there is a mechanism in place to validate the outcome of such proceduresexternally before recruitment takes place.�

• 2004/04/20 Debate in Parliament
  • Debate in Parliament
• 2004/03/18 Vote in committee, 1st reading/single reading
  • A5-0212/2004
• 2003/12/18 Committee referral announced in Parliament, 1st reading/single reading
• 2003/10/15 Non-legislative basic document published
  • N5-0027/2003 summary

    PURPOSE : to present the report from the Court of Auditors on the financial statements of the Translation Centre for the bodies of the European Union for the financial year 2002. CONTENT : this report concerns the results of the audit performed by the Court on the financial statements of the Translation Centre for the bodies of the European Union for the financial year ended 31/12/2002. This examination has enabled the Court to obtain reasonable assurance that the annual accounts for the financial year ended 31 December 2002 are reliable and that the underlying transactions, taken as a whole, are legal and regular. Nevertheless, the Court has drawn attention to some specific issues. The report states that the appropriations entered into the financial year 2002 amount to EUR 23,6 million. EUR 15,9 million was committed and EUR 14,7 million was paid. EUR 1,2 million was carried over and a total of EUR 7,7 million was cancelled. The appropriations carried over from the previous year amount to EUR 1,8 million, of which EUR 1,6 million were made in payments and EUR 0,2 million was cancelled. The Court states that Article 26a of the Centre's Financial Regulation provides that the balance for the previous financial year shall be entered as revenue for the financial year. The way that the Centre interprets this Article is to enter as revenue for the year solely that part of the balance for the previous financial year which corresponds to the outturn for the year preceding that one. For 2002, this has the effect of leaving EUR 3,4 million of resources temporarily unused; this sum is to be found under liquid assets. Since the Centre does not fully exploit the capabilities of its general accounting software, it uses a spreadsheet to monitor its revenue and client accounts, thus giving rise to a major risk of error which was highlighted during the audits. The Centre replies to the criticisms made by the Court. It states in particular that since the end of its start-up phase on 31 December 1997, the Translation Centre has interpreted Article 26a of its Financial Regulation on a permanent basis, considering the balance for the financial year to be that established at the time when the Management Board, following the report by the Court of Auditors for the financial year in question, grants discharge to the Director in respect of the implementation of the budget. When presenting its revenue and expenditure account and balance sheet, the Translation Centre has always informed the Management Board before 31 March of the following year of the balances for each financial year. For 2002, the Translation Centre informed the Management Board of the outturn for 2001 at their first meeting following the close of the financial year, which was held on 14 March 2002. At this meeting, the Management Board decided to enter the EUR 3,4 million as revenue in the preliminary draft budget for 2003. The Centre highlights that in accordance with Council Regulation 1605/2002/EC, the problem with the interpretation of Article 26a of the Centre's Financial Regulation could be resolved.�

Documents

• Non-legislative basic document published: N5-0027/2003
• Committee report tabled for plenary, single reading: A5-0212/2004
• Debate in Parliament: Debate in Parliament
• : Budget 2004/711
• : OJ L 330 04.11.2004, p. 0027-0027
• Decision by Parliament, 1st reading/single reading: T5-0324/2004

History

(these mark the time of scraping, not the official date of the change)