PURPOSE: to grant discharge to the Translation Centre for the bodies of the European Union for the financial year 2004.

LEGISLATIVE ACTS: Decisions 2006/834/EC and 2006/835/EC of the European Parliament on the discharge for the implementation of the budget of the Translation Centre for the bodies of the European Union for the financial year 2004 and closure of accounts for the year in question.

CONTENT: with the present decisions, the European Parliament grants discharge to the Director of the Translation Centre for the implementation of the Centre's budget for the financial year 2004 and approves the closure of the accounts.

This decision is in line with the European Parliament’s resolution adopted on 27 April 2006 and comprises a series of observations that form an integral part of the discharge decision (please refer to the summary of the opinion of 27/04/2006).

Budget 2006/834
OJ L 340 06.12.2006, p. 0102-0102

SP(2006)2095

Results of vote in Parliament

The European Parliament adopted a resolution drafted by Umberto GUIDONI (GUE/NGL, IT) and granted discharge to the Director of the Translation Centre for the bodies of the European Union for the implementation of the Centre’s budget for the financial year 2004. In its accompanying comments, Parliament noted the high level of appropriations cancelled by the Centre in 2004, and insisted that the Centre improve its estimates in order that the budget as implemented more closely resembles the budget adopted by the budgetary authority. Parliament was disappointed to note that the conflict concerning payment of employer's pension contributions has still not been resolved, and urged the Centre to step up its efforts to settle this dispute.

Parliament also made a series of general remarks on the agencies. As well as spending money properly, agencies should also strive to spend money as efficiently and effectively as possible. The Court of Auditors was asked to consider the possibility of extending its specific annual reports on the agencies to include an examination of performance and achievement of objectives. The following aspects should be taken into account: duplication of work among the agencies must be avoided as much as possible and measures designed to improve transparency and communication with the public must be clarified, along with Community affirmative action measures at all levels of recruitment, training and the assignment of responsibilities.

Parliament noted that Community agencies did not always have a good image or good press and that many of them did not deserve such a negative image. EU citizens should be made aware of this, and Parliament called on the Commission to act accordingly, using whatever means it considers necessary.

Furthermore, the enlargement of the European Union in 2004 had affected the structures and operating arrangements of the Community agencies in many ways, and several of the agencies draw attention to these effects in their activity reports, focusing in particular on the increase in the number of administrators. The Commission needed to assess the problems encountered and recommend the regulatory changes required.

The Commission had made a commitment to harmonising the way in which activity reports concerning its directorates-general were presented. Parliament called for a similar approach to be taken in respect of the activity reports of the Communities" agencies, which differed significantly in terms of content. The Commission should point out to the agencies the information and activity indicators that they must provide.

Finally, Parliament asked the Commission to improve synergies between agencies by making cooperation more effective, avoiding duplication of work and addressing shortcomings, in particular as regards common areas such as training, the implementation of Community policies across the board, the use of the latest management systems and solving problems relating to sound management of the budget.

T6-0174/2006

Debate in Parliament

A6-0100/2006

A6-0100/2006

The committee adopted the report by Umberto GUIDONI (GUE/NGL, IT) recommending that Parliament should grant discharge for the implementation of the budget of the Translation Centre for the bodies of the European Union for 2004.

In their accompanying comments, MEPs noted that the enlargement of the EU in 2004 had affected the structures and operating arrangements of the Community agencies in many ways. They called on the Commission to "assess the real or supposed problems encountered and to recommend the regulatory changes required".

In addition to calling on the agencies to spend the money available to them as efficiently and effectively as possible, MEPs urged them to avoid duplication as far as possible and to clarify measures for improving transparency and communication with the public. This was particularly important as Community agencies "do not always have a good image or good press" and many of them did not deserve such a negative image. In its other recommendations, the committee called on the Commission to help harmonise the activity reports of the agencies - which differed significantly in terms of content - by informing them of the common indicators that they must provide, and to improve cooperation between the agencies, particularly in such common areas as training, the use of the latest management systems and solving problems relating to sound management of the budget.

Lastly, the committee urged the Translation Centre to step up its efforts to settle the ongoing dispute concerning payment of employers' pension contributions.

PE370.235

Having examined the Centre’s revenue and expenditure account and the observations made by the Court of Auditors, the Council recommends the European Parliament to give a discharge to the Director of the Centre in respect of the implementation of the budget for the financial year 2004.

In doing so, the Council confirms that EUR 1.1 million (92 %) of the EUR 1.2 million in appropriations carried forward from the financial year 2003 to the financial year 2004 have been used. In addition, EUR 1.7 million in appropriations have been carried forward from the financial year 2004 to the financial year 2005 and EUR 8.9 million have been cancelled.

In parallel, the Council makes accompanying comments on the discharge which should be followed up. In particular, it:

§ shares the Court's remarks concerning the method used for removing the balance sheet provision created to cover the dispute over rent with the host-country authorities;

§ considers the amount of cancelled appropriations for the financial year 2004 as too high and asks the Centre to take remedial actions to avoid these cancellations in future;

§ is disappointed of the fact that the conflict with the Commission over the payment of employer's contributions in respect of its employees' pension rights remains unsolved and calls on the Centre to strengthen its efforts in order to find an agreement.

05972/2006

PE367.987

This report from the Court of Auditors concerns the annual accounts of the Translation Centre for the bodies of the European Union for the financial year ended 31 December 2004.

The Court is of the opinion that the Centre’s accounts for the financial year 2004 are, in all material respects, reliable. The transactions underlying the Centre’s annual accounts, taken as a whole, are legal and regular.

The report shows that the appropriations entered in the final budget amount to EUR 29 824 000 with EUR 21 001 000 committed and EUR 19 248 000 paid. EUR 1 753 000 was carried over to 2005 and EUR 8 823 000 was cancelled. The outstanding commitments carried over from the previous year amount to EUR 1 216 000.

The Court highlights that the dispute over rent between the Centre and the Luxembourg authorities was resolved in 2004. Consequently there was no longer any need for the balance-sheet provision that had been created to cover the risks arising from this dispute. In order to remove this provision, the Centre, by means of an amending budget, increased its expenditure by the amount of the provision and at the same time offset this by entering a negative amount in a provision heading. This operation calls for the following two remarks:

- the entry in the budget of amounts which did not correspond to the requirements of the financial year does not comply with the principle of budgetary accuracy;

- the Centre’s recording of the provision in its revenue and expenditure account would have sufficed from the point of view of the legality and transparency of the transaction.

The Centre cancelled appropriations for the financial year 2004 amounting to EUR 8,8 million. Even if EUR 4,1 million of these cancellations concerned provisions, the volume of the remaining cancellations is still too high (16 % of expenditure appropriations).

The conflict, which is already an old one, over the payment by the Centre to the Commission of employer’s contributions in respect of its employees’ pension rights has not yet been resolved. In order to deal with the financial uncertainty resulting from this conflict, the Centre created provisions which, at the end of 2004, amounted to EUR 7,5 million, or more than a quarter of its balance sheet total. As the Court pointed out in its previous report, the Centre must step up its efforts to settle this dispute and thus liquidate this provision.

The Centre responds point by point to the Court’s observations :

- the Centre introduced this operation in an amending budget for the sake of transparency and in order to inform the Management Board thereof as soon as possible, without waiting for the accounts to be closed. It should be noted that the outturn for the financial year was unaffected by the application of this approach. The Centre takes note of the Court’s observation and will seek to improve its budgetary estimates.

OJ C 332 28.12.2005, p. 0053-0059
N6-0008/2006

PURPOSE : presentation of the final accounts of the Translation Centre for the bodies of the European Union.

CONTENT : this document published in the Official Journal of the EU sets out a detailed account of the implementation of the 2004 budget, including the revenue and expenditure and the balance sheet for the year concerned.

According to this document, the final budget amounted to EUR 29,8 million.

As regards the staffing policy, the Centre, which is based in Luxembourg, officially set out 181 posts in its establishment plan. 150 posts are currently occupied + 15 other posts totalling 165 posts assigned to operational, administrative and mixed duties.

Staff expenditure amounted to EUR 12 million in 2004.

The Centre’s role is to provide the EU bodies, and any other EU institutions and bodies which call upon its services, with the translation services necessary for their activities. During 2004, the Centre:

- translated 374 106 pages. The number of pages per language :369 377 in the official languages and 4 729 in other languages;

- translated 362 162 pages for the EU bodies and 11 944 pages for the institutions with 146 350 pages translated freelance.

The total operational expenditure amounted to nearly EUR 6 million. The Centre showed an operating result of EUR 1,6 million and positive result of EUR 4,2 million.

The complete version of the final accounts may be found at the following address:

www.cdt.eu.int

OJ C 269 28.10.2005, p. 0025
N6-0008/2005

PURPOSE : presentation of the final accounts of the Translation Centre for the bodies of the European Union.

CONTENT : this document published in the Official Journal of the EU sets out a detailed account of the implementation of the 2004 budget, including the revenue and expenditure and the balance sheet for the year concerned.

According to this document, the final budget amounted to EUR 29,8 million.

As regards the staffing policy, the Centre, which is based in Luxembourg, officially set out 181 posts in its establishment plan. 150 posts are currently occupied + 15 other posts totalling 165 posts assigned to operational, administrative and mixed duties.

Staff expenditure amounted to EUR 12 million in 2004.

The Centre’s role is to provide the EU bodies, and any other EU institutions and bodies which call upon its services, with the translation services necessary for their activities. During 2004, the Centre:

- translated 374 106 pages. The number of pages per language :369 377 in the official languages and 4 729 in other languages;

- translated 362 162 pages for the EU bodies and 11 944 pages for the institutions with 146 350 pages translated freelance.

The total operational expenditure amounted to nearly EUR 6 million. The Centre showed an operating result of EUR 1,6 million and positive result of EUR 4,2 million.

The complete version of the final accounts may be found at the following address:

www.cdt.eu.int

N6-0008/2005