PURPOSE: to grant discharge to the European Monitoring Centre on Racism and Xenophobia for the financial year 2005.

LEGISLATIVE ACT: Decision 2008/511/EC of the European Parliament on the discharge for the implementation of the budget of the European Monitoring Centre on Racism and Xenophobia for the financial year 2005.

CONTENT: with the present decision, the European Parliament grants discharge to the Director of the European Monitoring Centre on Racism and Xenophobia for the implementation of the Centre's budget for the financial year 2005.

This decision is in line with the European Parliament’s resolution adopted on 24 April 2007 and comprises a series of observations that form an integral part of the discharge decision (please refer to the summary of the opinion of 24/04/2007).

Budget 2008/511
OJ L 187 15.07.2008, p. 0092

SP(2007)2625/2

Results of vote in Parliament

Debate in Parliament

The European Parliament adopted a resolution drafted by Edit HERCZOG (PSE, HU), and granted the director of the European Monitoring Centre on Racism and Xenophobia discharge for the implementation of the Centre's budget for the financial year 2005. It then approved closing the accounts of the European Monitoring Centre on Racism and Xenophobia for the financial year 2005.

The Parliamentary resolution is divided into two parts. The first contained general points, and concerned the majority of EU Agencies requiring individual discharge. The second part contained specific points relating to the Centre.

General points: Parliament considers that the ever-growing number of Community Agencies and the activities of certain of them do not seem to form part of an overall policy framework, and that the remits of some Agencies do not always reflect the real needs of the Union. Accordingly, it invites the Commission to define an overall policy framework for the setting up of new Community Agencies and to present a cost-benefit study before the setting up of any new agency, while being careful to avoid any overlap of activities between Agencies or with the remits of other European organisations. Parliament calls on the Court of Auditors to give its opinion on this cost-benefit study before Parliament takes its decision, and it asks the Commission to present every five years a study on the added value of every existing Agency. ; invites all relevant institutions In the case of a negative evaluation of the added value of an Agency, all relevant institutions are asked to take the necessary steps by reformulating the mandate of that Agency or by closing it.

In view of the constantly increasing number of Agencies, Parliament feels that the Directorates-General of the Commission charged with the setting up and monitoring of Agencies must develop a common approach to the Agencies. It also asks the Commission to improve administrative and technical support to the Agencies. Parliament regretted that the negotiations on the draft interinstitutional agreement on the operating framework for the European regulatory agencies have not yet been concluded, and calls on the Commission, in consultation with the Court of Auditors, to do their utmost to ensure that the agreement is brought to a rapid conclusion. Noting that the Commission's budgetary responsibility calls for closer linking of the Agencies to the Commission, Parliament calls on the Commission and the Council to take all necessary steps to give the Commission a blocking minority in the supervisory bodies of the regulatory Agencies by 31 December 2007 and to provide for such a minority from the outset when new Agencies are set up. It invites the Court of Auditors to create an additional chapter in its Annual Report, devoted to all Agencies to be discharged under the Commission's accounts in order to have a much clearer picture of the use of EU funds by Agencies.

Parliament goes on to ask the Commission to come up with a proposal to harmonise the format of the annual reporting by the Agencies and to develop performance indicators which would allow a comparison of their efficiency. The Commission is urged to monitor and direct the management of the Agencies, especially in relation to the proper application of tender procedures, transparency of recruitment procedures, sound financial management and, most importantly, the proper application of the rules concerning the internal control framework.

Specific points concerning the EMCRX: Parliament notes that, although the Centre's rate of commitment for the appropriations for the financial year 2005 was over 90 %, it was found that more than 50 % of the commitments for administrative expenditure were carried over and that in general there was a high rate of cancellation of the appropriations carried over (between 15 % and 25 %, depending on the title). Accordingly, it invited the Centre to improve its expenditure planning and the way it monitors the implementation of this expenditure. It also invites the Centre to present a work programme which expresses its contributions in operational and measurable terms. It notes that the Centre's internal control system suffered from various shortcomings. There were problems on the financial circuits, and the principle of the segregation of duties was not applied strictly, especially between the duties of initiation and verification. In relation to commitments, the Centre should include sound financial management in the list of matters to be covered by ex ante verifications.

Lastly, Parliament asks the Centre to apply the rule whereby members of the selection boards must always be of a grade equivalent to or higher than that of the post to be filled, and to apply the rules for tenders strictly.

T6-0115/2007

A6-0118/2007

A6-0118/2007

The committee adopted the report by Edit HERCZOG (PES, HU) granting discharge to the European Monitoring Centre for Racism and Xenophobia for 2005. In its accompanying resolution, it made a number of general points concerning the majority of the EU agencies:

- the ever-growing number of Community Agencies and the activities of some of them do not seem to form part of an overall policy framework, and "the remits of some Agencies do not always reflect the real needs of the Union or the expectations of its citizens”;

- the Commission should therefore define an overall policy framework and should present a cost-benefit study before the setting up of any new Agency, and the Court of Auditors should give its opinion on this study before Parliament takes its decision;

- every 5 years, the Commission should present a study on the added value of every existing Agency; where the evaluation is negative in the case of a particular Agency the latter’s mandate should be reformulated or the Agency should be closed;

- the Commission should improve administrative and technical support to the Agencies, given the growing complexity of the Community’s administrative rules and technical problems;

- the Agencies should improve their cooperation and benchmarking with actors in the field;

- the Commission should harmonise the format of the annual reporting by the Agencies to develop performance indicators which would allow a comparison of their efficiency.

In its specific remarks concerning the EMCRX the committee called on the Centre to improve its expenditure planning and the way it monitors the implementation of this expenditure. It also noted that no activity-based management had been brought in, despite the Centre's financial regulation making provision for its introduction, on the lines of that applied to the general budget, with a view to improving the monitoring of performance. The Centre was urged to present a work programme "which expresses its contributions in operational and measurable terms". Lastly, the report highlighted shortcomings in the Centre's internal control system and called for strict compliance with the rules for tenders.

PE384.339

PE386.404

PE384.435

Having examined the revenue and expenditure account for the financial year 2005 and the balance sheet of revenue and expenditure at 31 December 2005 of the European Monitoring Centre on Racism and Xenophobia, the Council recommends the European Parliament to give a discharge to the Director of the Monitoring Centre in respect of the implementation of the budget for the financial year 2005.

In doing so, the Council confirms that EUR 700 000 (75%) of the EUR 900 000 in appropriations carried forward from the financial year 2004 to the financial year 2005, have been used. In addition, EUR 1.4 million in appropriations have been carried forward from the financial year 2005 to the financial year 2006 and EUR 800 000 has been cancelled.

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

notes once again, as already pointed out in its recommendations for the financial years 2003 and 2004, the need for the Centre to improve its expenditure planning and calls on the Centre to take all necessary measures to keep automatic carry-overs to a minimum level, in order to comply with the principle of annuality. Furthermore, the Council calls on the Centre to introduce an activity-based management system; takes note that the Centre's financial workflows were changed in order to improve the quality of its internal control standards regarding transactions and to fulfil the requirements of the Financial Regulation; shares the Court's concerns about the lack of clarity of information provided in the call for tenders and calls on the Centre to take adequate measures.

05711/2007

This report from the Court of Auditors concerns the results of the audit carried out by the Court on the annual accounts of the European Monitoring Centre on Racism and Xenophobia for the financial year ended 31 December 2005. The transactions underlying the Agency’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 8 279 000 with EUR 7 608 000 committed and EUR 6 290 000 paid. EUR 1 408 000 was carried over to 2006 and EUR 581 000 cancelled.

In its report, the Court states that although the rate of commitment for the appropriations for the financial year 2005 was over 90 %, it was found that more than 50 % of the commitments for administrative expenditure were carried over and that in general there was a high rate of cancellation of the appropriations carried over (between 15 % and 25 %, depending on the title). This situation shows that there is still a need for the Centre to improve its expenditure planning and the way it monitors the implementation of this expenditure.

The Court noted that no activity-based management had been brought in, despite the Centre’s financial regulation making provision for its introduction, on the lines of that applied to the general budget, with a view to improving the monitoring of performance. In this context, achieving the Centre’s aims should not mean merely carrying out a series of tasks. It should rather be seen as contributing to the goals laid down in its basic Regulation. The Centre’s work programme should, in principle, express this contribution in operational and measurable terms.

The Court states that the Centre had no system for planning and managing its equipment acquisitions. Furthermore, it did not make any cyclical checks on its inventory, although this would have improved the inventory’s reliability.

Morever, the Centre’s internal control system suffered from various shortcomings. The financial circuits set up by the authorising officer had not been described. The systems whereby the authorising officer and his delegates supplied information to the accounting officer had in particular not been validated by the latter.

The principle of the segregation of duties was not applied strictly, especially between the duties of initiation and verification. Furthermore, for commitments the lists of ex ante verifications should include sound financial management criteria.

As regards the recruitment procedure, the Court highlights that the rule whereby members of the selection boards must always be of a grade equivalent to or higher than that of the post to be filled was not always complied with.

In addition, the invitations to tender issued by the Centre do not offer much by way of explanation as regards the minimum quality of bids and the weighting of price factors. As a result of this situation, an adequate level of transparency cannot be guaranteed and risks are entailed as regards the quality of the products and services to be provided. Barring a specific reason to the contrary, the price-quality ratio method should be used as it ensures that the goods and services to be purchased are of the highest possible quality.

The Centre responds point by point to the Court’s observations. Firstly, it states that the high rate of the administrative appropriations carried forward is due to the fact that the Procurement Section was created late in 2005. Tenders were launched after this, in order to ensure the legality of the procedures. A procedure has been put in place to decrease the level of cancelled carry-overs. Future budgetary transfers will be fully documented.

The Annual Work Programme 2006 has been prepared in a format which meets the needs of Article 40 of the Framework FR, setting the key activities, objectives, tasks, output, performance

indicators, and outcome/impact of the work of the Centre. Consequently, the Annual Activity Report for year 2006 will be drawn corresponding to the structure of the Work Programme thus providing the required performance indicators and performance review based on quantifiable data.

The Centre also states that:

an inventory management application has been procured and is currently configured and installed; an inventory count is planned to be performed in the last quarter of the year; the financial workflows were changed to improve internal controls over transactions and adhere to the requirements of the Financial Regulation.

Whilst the EUMC’s staffing table foresees a total of only 37 posts, it is very difficult and, in some cases impossible, to constitute boards with agents having at least the same grade of the position to be filled. The Centre will consider improving the clarity of information provided in the call for tenders and shall apply the method of ‘price/quality’ ratio where it is deemed to be appropriate.

N6-0001/2007
OJ C 312 19.12.2006, p. 0001

PURPOSE: presentation of the final accounts of the European Monitoring Centre for Racism and Xenophobia for the financial year 2005.

CONTENT: this document published in the Official Journal of the EU sets out a detailed account of the implementation of the 2005 budget, including the revenue and expenditure and the balance sheet for the year concerned.

According to this document, the final budget amounted to EUR 8.279 million (compared to EUR 7.9 million in 2004) including a 100% Community contribution.

As regards the staffing policy, the Centre, whose headquarters are based in Vienna (Austria), officially set out 37 posts in its establishment plan. 35 of these are currently occupied + 4 other staff (auxiliary contract, seconded national experts, local and employment-agency staff) totalling 41 members of staff assigned to administrative, operational and mixed tasks. Staff expenditure amounted roughly to EUR 3.2 million in 2005.

The Monitoring Centre’s primary tasks are to provide the Union and the Member States with reliable information on racism, xenophobia and anti-Semitism in the Union and to cooperate with the Council of Europe in these areas. It aims to study the extent and development of the phenomena of racism and xenophobia and to collect and analyse information, via the European Racism and Xenophobia Information Network (RAXEN).

During 2005, the Monitoring Centre’s activities concentrated on the following:

Raxen

400 contributions through the 25 national focal points; 5 meetings.

Research reports

13 reports; 7 meetings; 2 annual reports; 5 EUMC newsletters; 2 editions of “Equal Voices”.

Cooperation with the Member States and other institutions: number of events organised jointly:

Member States: 4 Commission: 14 European Parliament: 8 COR: 3 EESC: 3 Council of Europe: 10 OSCE: 3 UN: 3 Inter-agency: 3 NRT: 6 ERT: 1

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

http://eumc.eu.int

N6-0024/2006
OJ C 266 31.10.2006, p. 0046

PURPOSE: presentation of the final accounts of the European Monitoring Centre for Racism and Xenophobia for the financial year 2005.

CONTENT: this document published in the Official Journal of the EU sets out a detailed account of the implementation of the 2005 budget, including the revenue and expenditure and the balance sheet for the year concerned.

According to this document, the final budget amounted to EUR 8.279 million (compared to EUR 7.9 million in 2004) including a 100% Community contribution.

As regards the staffing policy, the Centre, whose headquarters are based in Vienna (Austria), officially set out 37 posts in its establishment plan. 35 of these are currently occupied + 4 other staff (auxiliary contract, seconded national experts, local and employment-agency staff) totalling 41 members of staff assigned to administrative, operational and mixed tasks. Staff expenditure amounted roughly to EUR 3.2 million in 2005.

The Monitoring Centre’s primary tasks are to provide the Union and the Member States with reliable information on racism, xenophobia and anti-Semitism in the Union and to cooperate with the Council of Europe in these areas. It aims to study the extent and development of the phenomena of racism and xenophobia and to collect and analyse information, via the European Racism and Xenophobia Information Network (RAXEN).

During 2005, the Monitoring Centre’s activities concentrated on the following:

Raxen

400 contributions through the 25 national focal points; 5 meetings.

Research reports

13 reports; 7 meetings; 2 annual reports; 5 EUMC newsletters; 2 editions of “Equal Voices”.

Cooperation with the Member States and other institutions: number of events organised jointly:

Member States: 4 Commission: 14 European Parliament: 8 COR: 3 EESC: 3 Council of Europe: 10 OSCE: 3 UN: 3 Inter-agency: 3 NRT: 6 ERT: 1

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

http://eumc.eu.int

N6-0024/2006