PURPOSE: to grant discharge to the European Training Foundation in respect of the implementation of the Agency's budget for the financial year 2009.

NON-LEGISLATIVE ACT: Decision 2011/592/EU of the European Parliament on discharge in respect of the implementation of the budget of the European Training Foundation for the financial year 2009.

CONTENT: with the present decision, the European Parliament grants discharge to the Director of the European Training Foundation for the implementation of its budget for the financial year 2009.

This decision is in line with the European Parliament's resolution adopted on 10 May 2011 and comprises a series of observations that form an integral part of the discharge decision (please refer to the summary of the opinion of 10/05/2011).

A parallel decision, adopted on the same day, approves the closure of this Agency's accounts.

The European Parliament adopted by 530 votes to 83, with 27 abstentions a decision to grant discharge to the Director of the European Training Foundation for implementation of the Foundation's budget for the financial year 2009.

Noting that the Foundation’s annual accounts for the financial year 2009 are reliable, and the underlying transactions are legal and regular, Parliament approves the closure of the Foundation’s accounts. However, it makes a number of recommendations that need to be taken into account when the discharge is granted (in addition to the general recommendations that appear in the resolution on financial management and control of EU agencies - see DEC/2010/2271 ):

performance: Parliament welcomes the Foundation's intention to improve the performance of Vocational Education and Training (VET) systems in the Foundation partner countries and to develop a common methodology with International Organisations and Bilateral Donors to improve its role; cooperation with CEDEFOP: Parliament notes that, each year, the Foundation and CEDEFOP draft a joint work programme and welcomes the Foundation’s intention to devote further space to reporting on the implementation of this joint work programme in future Annual Activity Reports; budgetary management: Parliament urges the Foundation to draw up budgetary procedures more rigorously in order to avoid the considerable number of budgetary transfers. It also calls on it to obtain the authorisation of its Governing Board when transfers are required (because this is required by the Foundation's Financial Regulation). It also calls on the Foundation to closely follow the provisions of the basic regulation, especially where financial transfers between titles are concerned; human resources: Parliament welcomes the Foundation's initiative of undertaking a thorough review of its recruitment procedures in response to the findings of the Internal Audit Service (IAS) and to the recommendations made by the Parliament.

The Committee on Budgetary Control adopted the report by Georgios STAVRAKAKIS (S&D, EL) on discharge to be granted to the Director of the European Training Foundation for implementation of the Foundation's budget for the financial year 200 9.

Noting that the Foundation’s annual accounts for the financial year 2009 are reliable, and the underlying transactions are legal and regular, MEPs approve the closure of the Foundation’s accounts. However, they make a number of recommendations that need to be taken into account when the discharge is granted, in addition to the general recommendations that appear in the draft resolution on financial management and control of EU agencies (see DEC/2010/2271 ):

performance: Members welcome the Foundation's intention to improve the performance of Vocational Education and Training (VET) systems in the Foundation partner countries ("Torino Process") and to develop a common methodology with International Organisations and Bilateral Donors to improve its role. They call again on the Foundation to set out a comparison of the operations that were carried out during the year for which discharge is to be granted and during the previous financial year so as to enable the discharge authority to assess its performance more effectively from one year to the next; cooperation with CEDEFOP: Members note that, each year, the Foundation and CEDEFOP draft a joint work programme and welcome the Foundation’s intention to devote further space to reporting on the implementation of this joint work programme in future Annual Activity Reports; budgetary management : Members urge the Foundation to draw up budgetary procedures more rigorously in order to avoid the considerable number of budgetary transfers. They also call on it to obtain the authorisation of its Governing Board when transfers are required (because this is required by the Foundation's Financial Regulation). They also call on the Foundation to closely follow the provisions of the basic regulation, especially where financial transfers between titles are concerned. They take the view, however, that activity-based budgeting is difficult in a system that separates staff and administrative expenditure from operational expenditure, especially for an agency of which the main activities are providing policy analyses, disseminating and exchanging information and experience and supporting partner-country capacity building; human resources: Members welcome the Foundation's initiative of undertaking a thorough review of its recruitment procedures in response to the findings of the Internal Audit Service (IAS) and to the recommendations made by the Parliament; internal audit : Members welcome the initiative of providing the discharge authority with the IAS Annual Internal Audit Report concerning the Foundation. They call on the Foundation to implement the IAS recommendations rapidly, particularly those regarding the Director’s Declaration of Assurance, the internal control system, on a better description of risk management, the introduction of ex-post controls on financial transactions and on the definition of target values for corporate indicators.

Based on the observations contained in the revenue and expenditure account and the balance sheet of the European Training Foundation for the financial year 2009, as well as on the Court of Auditor’s report and the Foundation’s replies to the Court’s observations, the Council recommends that the Parliament grant the Director of the Foundation discharge in respect of the implementation of the budget for the financial year 2009.

The Council welcomes the Court's opinion that, on the one hand, the Foundation's annual accounts present fairly, in all material aspects, the financial position as at 31 December 2009 and the results of operations and cash-flows for the year then ended, in accordance with the provisions of the Foundation's Financial Regulation, and that, on the other hand, the underlying transactions for the financial year ended on 31 December 2009 are, in all material respects, legal and regular.

However, the Council considers that observations made in the Court of Auditor’s report call for a certain number of observations to be taken into account when granting discharge, particularly on the following points:

transfer of appropriations : the Council notes that a considerable number of transfers of appropriations showed insufficient rigour in the procedures for drawing up the budget and led to an increase of the amount carried over to the next financial year. The Council supports the measures taken by the Foundation to limit the number of transfers and enhance the budget planning and forecast. Moreover, the Council stresses the need for its Governing Board to approve transfers as required by the rules in force; budget presentation : the Council welcomes the Foundation's corrective measures in terms of budget presentation in accordance with the Foundation's Financial Regulation.

PURPOSE: presentation by the Court of Auditors of its report on the annual accounts of the European Training Foundation (EFT), together with the Foundation’s replies.

CONTENT: in accordance with the tasks and objectives conferred on it by the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union (TFEU), the Court of Auditors, in the context of the discharge procedure, addresses to the European Parliament and the Council a Statement of Assurance on the reliability of the annual accounts, as well as of the legality and regularity of the transactions underlying them of each EU institution, body or agency, on the basis of an external, independent audit.

This audit also covered the annual accounts of the European Training Foundation (EFT).

In the Court’s opinion, the Foundation’s annual accounts presented “fairly, in all material respects”, its financial position as of 31 December 2009 and the results of its operations and its cash flows for the year then ended, in accordance with the provisions of its Financial Regulation.

The Court also stated that the transactions underlying the annual accounts of the Agency for the financial year ended 31 December 2009 were, “in all material respects, legal and regular ”.

The report again confirmed that the Foundation’s 2009 final budget amounted to EUR 19.1 million, of which EUR 18.8 million funded by a Commission subsidy and EUR 300 000 funded by other bodies as assigned revenue. The number of staff employed by the Foundation at the end of the year was 123.

The report also included comments on the Foundation’s budgetary and financial management, together with the Agency’s replies. The main comments are as follows:

The Court’s comments :

· the procedures for drawing up the budget were not sufficiently rigorous and led to a considerable number of budgetary transfers.

The Foundation’s replies :

· tighter monitoring and control of budget transfers have been put in place to limit the number of transfers and prepares measures to further enhance budget planning and forecasting.

Lastly, the Court of Auditor’s report contained a summary of the Foundation’s activities in 2009 in the following areas:

· assistance provided by the Foundation covers a large range of technical fields including: (i) initial vocational training; (ii) lifelong learning; (iii) continuing (adult) education; (iv) human resources development in companies; (v) employment policies; (vi) training of the unemployed; (vii) poverty alleviation; (viii) social inclusion; (ix) training to encourage local development;

· support measures to the Commission concerning programmes with third countries (IPA, ENPI, DCI);

· other various outputs: capacity building actions; support to the programme cycle; action learning research.

PURPOSE: presentation by the Commission of the consolidated annual accounts of the European Union for the financial year 2009, as part of the 2009 discharge procedure.

Analysis of the accounts of the European Training Foundation (EFT) .

CONTENT: this Commission document sets out the consolidated annual accounts of the European Union for the financial year 2009 as prepared on the basis of the information presented by the institutions, organisations and bodies of the EU, in accordance with Article 129 (2) of the Financial Regulation applicable to the EU’s General Budget, including the European Training Foundation (EFT).

In 2009, the tasks and budget of this agency were as follows:

· description of the Foundation’s tasks : the European Training Foundation, which is located in Turin, was created by Council Regulation (EEC) No 1360/90 . The Foundation's purpose is to support the reform of vocational training in the European Union's partner countries. As such, it assists the Commission in the implementation of various programmes (Phare, Tacis, CARDS and MEDA).

· the Foundation’s budget for the financial year 2009 : the Foundation’s 2009 budget amounted to EUR 19.1 million, compared with EUR 19.2 million the previous year. The number of staff employed by the Foundation at the end of the year was 123, compared with 124 the previous year.

The complete version of EFT’s final accounts may be found at the following address: http://www.etf.europa.eu/Archive

PURPOSE: presentation by the Commission of the consolidated annual accounts of the European Union for the financial year 2009, as part of the 2009 discharge procedure.

Analysis of the accounts of the European Training Foundation (EFT) .

CONTENT: this Commission document sets out the consolidated annual accounts of the European Union for the financial year 2009 as prepared on the basis of the information presented by the institutions, organisations and bodies of the EU, in accordance with Article 129 (2) of the Financial Regulation applicable to the EU’s General Budget, including the European Training Foundation (EFT).

In 2009, the tasks and budget of this agency were as follows:

· description of the Foundation’s tasks : the European Training Foundation, which is located in Turin, was created by Council Regulation (EEC) No 1360/90 . The Foundation's purpose is to support the reform of vocational training in the European Union's partner countries. As such, it assists the Commission in the implementation of various programmes (Phare, Tacis, CARDS and MEDA).

· the Foundation’s budget for the financial year 2009 : the Foundation’s 2009 budget amounted to EUR 19.1 million, compared with EUR 19.2 million the previous year. The number of staff employed by the Foundation at the end of the year was 123, compared with 124 the previous year.

The complete version of EFT’s final accounts may be found at the following address: http://www.etf.europa.eu/Archive