PURPOSE: to grant discharge to the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control for the financial year 2007.

LEGISLATIVE ACT: Decision 2009/651/EC of the European Parliament on the discharge for the implementation of the budget of the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control for the financial year 2007.

CONTENT: with the present decision, the European Parliament grants discharge to the Director of the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control for the implementation of the Authority’s budget for the financial year 2007.

This decision is in line with the European Parliament’s resolution adopted on 23 April 2009 and comprises a series of observations that form an integral part of the discharge decision (please refer to the summary of the opinion of 23/04/2009). The decision to grant discharge is also an approval of the closure of the accounts of this EU agency.

The European Parliament adopted by 583 votes to 11, with 41 abstentions, a decision concerning the discharge to be granted to the Director of the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control in respect of the implementation of the Centre’s budget for the financial year 2007. The decision to grant discharge is also an approval of the closure of the accounts of this EU agency.

In parallel, the European Parliament adopted a resolution with observations which are an integral part of the decision to grant discharge.

Parliament states that:

in 2006, the carry-over rate was nearly 45 %, and that no major improvement was made in 2007, when it was close to 43 %, which shows the Centre´s difficulties in implementing its budget; the level of budget amendments revealed weaknesses in the monitoring of budget implementation; the Centre disbursed EUR 500 000 on renovation works on the buildings rented for its premises, and that, as in 2006, these works were decided upon by direct agreement between the Centre and the owner without specifying the nature of the works and the deadlines and payment conditions; according to the ECA, (this practice did not comply with the financial regulation and was at odds with the principle of economy).

Parliament calls on the Centre to align its practices with the financial regulation.

As regards the follow-up to previous discharge exercises , Parliament notes that, as in 2006, the Court of Auditors detected weaknesses as regards budget implementation, in particular a high level of appropriations carried over. It calls on the Centre to follow up on the Court's recommendations, in particular as regards budget implementation, and to report on the action taken and the results achieved in its forthcoming annual report 2008.

Lastly, noting that the Centre’s annual accounts for the financial year 2007 are reliable, and the underlying transactions are legal and regular, the Parliament approves the closure of the Centre’s accounts and refers, for other observations accompanying its decision on discharge, to its resolution on financial management and control of EU agencies - see 2008/2207(INI) - adopted in parallel.

The Committee on Budgetary Control adopted the report by. Christofer FJELLNER (EPP-ED, SE) on discharge to be granted to the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control calling on the European Parliament to grant the Director of the Centre discharge in respect of the implementation of its budget for the financial year 2007.

Noting that the Centre’s annual accounts for the financial year 2007 are reliable, and the underlying transactions are legal and regular, MEPs approve the closure of the Centre’s accounts.

However, they make a number of recommendations as part of the decision on discharge. In addition to the general recommendations appearing in the draft resolution on financial management and control of EU agencies (see 2008/2207(INI) ), MEPs make the following observations:

the fact that, in 2006, the carry-over rate was nearly 45 %, and that no major improvement was made in 2007, when it was close to 43 %, which shows the Centre´s difficulties in implementing its budget; that the level of budget amendments revealed weaknesses in the monitoring of budget implementation; that the Centre disbursed EUR 500 000 on renovation works on the buildings rented for its premises, and that, as in 2006, these works were decided upon by direct agreement between the Centre and the owner without specifying the nature of the works and the deadlines and payment conditions; notes that, according to the ECA, (this practice did not comply with the financial regulation and was at odds with the principle of economy).

MEPs call on the Centre to align its practices with the financial regulation.

As regards the follow-up to previous discharge exercises, MEPs note that, as in 2006, the Court of Auditors detected weaknesses as regards budget implementation, in particular a high level of appropriations carried over. They call on the Centre to follow up on the Court's recommendations, in particular as regards budget implementation, and to report on the action taken and the results achieved in its forthcoming annual report 2008.

Based on the observations contained in the revenue and expenditure account and the balance sheet of the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control for the financial year 2007, as well as on the Court of Auditor’s report and the Centre’s replies to the Court’s observations, the Council recommends that the Parliament grant the Director of the Centre discharge in respect of the implementation of the budget for the financial year 2007.

In doing so, the Council confirms that EUR 5.8 million (81.6%) of the appropriations carried over from 2006 to 2007 (EUR 7.1 million) were used, that the appropriations carried over from 2007 to 2008 amount to EUR 12.1 million and that a total of EUR 0.6 million was cancelled.

Recalling that the Court of Auditors was able to obtain reasonable assurance that the Centre’s annual accounts were, in all material aspects, reliable, the Council believes that there is a certain number of observations that must be taken into consideration when granting discharge in respect of the implementation of the 2007 budget, particularly regarding the following points:

Carry-overs : while acknowledging that the Centre is still in a growth phase, the Council notes with concern that the carry-over rate and the number of transfers remain high. Therefore, it calls on the Centre to intensify its efforts to improve the planning and implementation of the budget, thus complying strictly with the budgetary principles of annuality and specification; Inventory of assets : regarding the Court's observations on the deficiencies in registering the Centre's asset inventories, the Council encourages the Agency to act thereupon as early as possible; Procurement : the Council notes with concern the Court's findings on the lack of specifications regarding the nature and conditions of various renovation works on the building rented for the Centre's premises and calls on the Centre to remedy these deficiencies as soon as possible.

PURPOSE: to present the report of the Court of Auditors on the 2007 accounts of the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC).

CONTENT: the Court of Auditor’s report includes a detailed section on the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control’s expenditure and an analysis of the expenditure, as well as the Centre’s replies.

Analysis of the accounts by the Court : in its report, the Court makes a number of observations, particularly with regard to the implementation of the Centre’s budget. The budget increase is mainly due to the development of the Centre’s activities in 2007. However, EUR 12 million of the commitment appropriations were carried over as a result of difficulties in implementing the 2007 activities. Moreover, the level of budget amendments reveals weaknesses in the monitoring of the implementation of the budget. The Court notes that his situation was at odds with the principles of annuality and specification. The Court also notes that no exhaustive physical inventory of fixed assets has been made since the Centre was set up. Lastly, the Court notes that the Centre disbursed EUR 500 000 on various renovation works on the building rented for its premises. As in 2006, these works were decided by direct agreement between the Centre and the owner without specifying the nature of the works to be done as well as deadlines and payment conditions. The Court considers that this situation did not comply with the Financial Regulation and was at odds with the principle of economy; The Agency’s replies : the Centre notes that it is still in a growth phase, which makes it more challenging to have high payment execution rates. Nevertheless, the management has already increased the payment execution, and has put forward as an objective to approach 70% of payment execution by 2010. Moreover, the Centre notes that it is committed to further improving its monitoring on the basis of acquired experience in order to reduce further the volume of transfers. The Centre also points out that a new asset inventory system has been developed and is expected to be functional at the end of 2008. Lastly, the Centre is currently concluding a framework agreement specifying the conditions for specific works that are to be carried out.

PURPOSE: to present the final accounts of the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC) for the financial year 2007.

CONTENT: this document sets out a detailed account of the implementation of the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control’s budget for the financial year 2007. It notes that the final budget amounted to EUR 28.9 million (compared tot EUR 17.1 million in 2006) including a Community subsidy of 98% and 2% of EFTA (European Free Trade Association) funds.

As regards the staffing policy, the Centre, which is based in Stockholm (Sweden), officially set out 90 posts in its establishment plan. 80 posts are currently occupied + 42 other posts, totalling 122 posts assigned to operational and administrative duties.

In 2007, the Centre concentrated on the development of its activities in terms of monitoring diseases, namely:

· a communicable disease threat database (Threat Tracking Tool, TTT) was developed and implemented;

· ECDC completed the transfer of the EWRS operations and initiated the development of standard operating procedures for outbreak investigation and response;

· two simulation exercises were conducted: (i) test of internal procedures and equipment and (ii) test of procedures regarding risk assessment and Member States support for contact tracing activities;

· launch of the European Surveillance System, collecting data for the dedicated surveillance networks migrating to ECDC;

· publication of the First European Epidemiological Report and of the EU Zoonoses Report in close collaboration with Members States and EFSA (European Food Safety Authority);

· integration of the scientific journal Eurosurveillance into ECDC;

· organisation of five training sessions on outbreak investigation in partnership with the Association of Schools of Public Health in the European Region (ASPHER). Additionally, a module on management of public health crises was organised, gathering senior epidemiologists from all Member States. A training manual on applied epidemiology was further developed;

· influenza Pandemic Preparedness Self-Assessment visits to all thirty EU/EEA Member States were completed. In the area of HIV and STI surveillance and prevention, the Centre prepared the ground for taking responsibility for the surveillance of HIV/AIDS in Europe, performed two country visits to review programmes for prevention, control and surveillance, and carried out EU-wide studies to evaluate prevention interventions. In the context of the TB disease specific activities, an Action Plan to fight TB in the EU was developed;

· a Scientific Consultation Group of EU-wide Learned Societies was created;

· the first European Scientific Conference on Applied Infectious Disease Epidemiology (ESCAIDE) was organised and hosted by the Centre.

The complete version of the final accounts may be found at the following address: http://ecdc.europa.eu/en/About_us/Key_documents/

PURPOSE: to present the final accounts of the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC) for the financial year 2007.

CONTENT: this document sets out a detailed account of the implementation of the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control’s budget for the financial year 2007. It notes that the final budget amounted to EUR 28.9 million (compared tot EUR 17.1 million in 2006) including a Community subsidy of 98% and 2% of EFTA (European Free Trade Association) funds.

As regards the staffing policy, the Centre, which is based in Stockholm (Sweden), officially set out 90 posts in its establishment plan. 80 posts are currently occupied + 42 other posts, totalling 122 posts assigned to operational and administrative duties.

In 2007, the Centre concentrated on the development of its activities in terms of monitoring diseases, namely:

· a communicable disease threat database (Threat Tracking Tool, TTT) was developed and implemented;

· ECDC completed the transfer of the EWRS operations and initiated the development of standard operating procedures for outbreak investigation and response;

· two simulation exercises were conducted: (i) test of internal procedures and equipment and (ii) test of procedures regarding risk assessment and Member States support for contact tracing activities;

· launch of the European Surveillance System, collecting data for the dedicated surveillance networks migrating to ECDC;

· publication of the First European Epidemiological Report and of the EU Zoonoses Report in close collaboration with Members States and EFSA (European Food Safety Authority);

· integration of the scientific journal Eurosurveillance into ECDC;

· organisation of five training sessions on outbreak investigation in partnership with the Association of Schools of Public Health in the European Region (ASPHER). Additionally, a module on management of public health crises was organised, gathering senior epidemiologists from all Member States. A training manual on applied epidemiology was further developed;

· influenza Pandemic Preparedness Self-Assessment visits to all thirty EU/EEA Member States were completed. In the area of HIV and STI surveillance and prevention, the Centre prepared the ground for taking responsibility for the surveillance of HIV/AIDS in Europe, performed two country visits to review programmes for prevention, control and surveillance, and carried out EU-wide studies to evaluate prevention interventions. In the context of the TB disease specific activities, an Action Plan to fight TB in the EU was developed;

· a Scientific Consultation Group of EU-wide Learned Societies was created;

· the first European Scientific Conference on Applied Infectious Disease Epidemiology (ESCAIDE) was organised and hosted by the Centre.

The complete version of the final accounts may be found at the following address: http://ecdc.europa.eu/en/About_us/Key_documents/