PURPOSE: to grant discharge to the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control in respect of the implementation of the Agency's budget for the financial year 2009.

NON-LEGISLATIVE ACT: Decision 2011/574/EU of the European Parliament on discharge in respect of the implementation of the budget of the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control for the financial year 2009.

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 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 505 votes to 74, with 37 abstentions a decision on discharge to be granted to the Director of the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control in respect of the implementation of its budget for the financial year 2009.

Noting that the Centre’s annual accounts for the financial year 2009 are reliable, and the underlying transactions are legal and regular, Parliament approves the closure of the Centre’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 underlines the importance of the Centre and welcomes its contribution to measures combating the H1N1 virus pandemic in 2009. Its responsibilities should be strengthened so that the Union has its own capacity to assess the seriousness of risk of infection. Parliament also observes that, in 2009, the Centre developed a large number of products and services in the areas of the epidemiology, surveillance, prevention and control of contagious diseases;

· carryover of appropriations: Parliament is concerned that, already in 2006, the Court of Auditors reported a high level of carryovers for the Centre and that the appropriations carried forward from 2008, amounting to EUR 2.2 million, had to be cancelled. It also notes that, in 2009, appropriations carried forward represented 42 % of Title II – Administrative expenditure and 63 % of Title III – Operational expenditure. It calls therefore on the Centre to inform the discharge authority of the measures taken to redress this deficiency;

· the Centre’s seat: Parliament welcomes the fact that, finally, a Seat Agreement was signed by the Chair's Management Board and the Swedish Minister for Public Health and Elderly Care, as well as an accompanying change in the law to enable the Centre's staff and their families to be included in Sweden's population register.

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 Centre for Disease Prevention and Control for implementation of the Centre's budget for the financial year 200 9.

Noting that the Centre’s annual accounts for the financial year 2009 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 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, once more, call on the Centre to set out a comparison of operations carried out during the year for which discharge is to be granted and in the previous financial year, so as to enable the discharge authority to assess more effectively the Centre's performance from one year to the next. Overall, Members underline the importance of the Centre and welcome its contribution to measures combating the H1N1 virus pandemic in 2009. Its responsibilities should be strengthened so that the Union has its own capacity to assess the seriousness of risk of infection. Members observe in passing that, in 2009, the Centre developed a large number of products and services in the areas of the epidemiology, surveillance, prevention and control of contagious diseases; carryover of appropriations: Members are concerned that already in 2006 the Court of Auditors reported a high level of carryovers for the Centre and that the appropriations carried forward from 2008, amounting to EUR 2.2 million, had to be cancelled. They also note that, in 2009, appropriations carried forward represented 42 % of Title II – Administrative expenditure and 63 % of Title III – Operational expenditure. They call therefore on the Centre to inform the discharge authority of the measures taken to redress this deficiency; the Centre’s seat: Members welcome the fact that, in the end, a Seat Agreement was signed by the Chair's Management Board and the Swedish Minister for Public Health and Elderly Care, as well as an accompanying change in the law to enable the Centre's staff and their families to be included in Sweden's population register; internal audit: lastly, Members are concerned about the fact that, again, the Centre has not comprehensively fulfilled its obligation to send to the discharge authority a report drawn up by its Director summarising the content of the Internal Audit Service (IAS) recommendation. They urge, therefore, the Director of the Centre to provide information to the audit service and call on it to follow the recommendations concerning the need to update and reinforce financial procedures for commitments and payments.

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 2009, 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 2009.

The Council welcomes the Court's opinion that, on the one hand, the Centre's annual accounts present fairly, in all material aspects, the financial position as at 31 December 2008 and the results of operations and cash-flows for the year then ended, in accordance with the provisions of the Centre'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:

carry-overs : the Council notes with serious concern that, as in previous years, the level of carry-overs still remains high and calls on the Centre to intensify its efforts to improve budgetary planning and implementation of the budget, thus complying strictly with the budgetary principle of annuality.

PURPOSE: presentation by the Court of Auditors of its report on the annual accounts of the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC) for the financial year 2009, together with the Centre’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 Centre for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC).

In the Court’s opinion, the Centre’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 Centre for the financial year ended 31 December 2009 were, “in all material respects, legal and regular ”.

The report again confirmed that the Centre’s 2009 final budget amounted to EUR 51 million and that it employed 199 agents during the financial year.

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

The Court’s comments :

a large amount of appropriations were carried forward: in 2009, EUR 2.2 million carried over from 2008 had to be cancelled. Appropriations carried forward represented 42% of administrative expenditure and 63% of operational expenditure, which may compromise the 2010 budget implementation and is at odds with the principle of annuality.

The Centre’s replies:

measures to improve budget implementation in particular through improved estimates and enhanced planning are under consideration.

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

H1N1 pandemic; risk assessment and support for Member States; weekly threat reports on communicable diseases; conduct of simulation exercises; launch of the new ECDC web portal; scientific publications published and organisation of various awareness exercises.

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 Centre for Disease Prevention and Control.

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 Centre for Disease Prevention and Control.

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

· description of the Centre’s tasks: the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control, which is located in Stockholm, was set up by Regulation (EC) No 851/2004 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 21 April 2004 . Its main tasks are to collect and disseminate data on the prevention and control of human diseases and to provide scientific opinions on this subject. It is also required to coordinate the European network of bodies operating in this field ;

· the Centre’s budget for the 2009 financial year: the Centre’s 2009 budget amounted to EUR 51 million, compared with EUR 40.6 million the previous year. The number of staff employed by the Centre at the end of the year was 199, as compared with 154 the previous year.

The complete version of the Centre’s final accounts may be found at the following address: http://ecdc.europa.eu/en/aboutus/key_documents/Pages/key_documents.aspx

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 Centre for Disease Prevention and Control.

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 Centre for Disease Prevention and Control.

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

· description of the Centre’s tasks: the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control, which is located in Stockholm, was set up by Regulation (EC) No 851/2004 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 21 April 2004 . Its main tasks are to collect and disseminate data on the prevention and control of human diseases and to provide scientific opinions on this subject. It is also required to coordinate the European network of bodies operating in this field ;

· the Centre’s budget for the 2009 financial year: the Centre’s 2009 budget amounted to EUR 51 million, compared with EUR 40.6 million the previous year. The number of staff employed by the Centre at the end of the year was 199, as compared with 154 the previous year.

The complete version of the Centre’s final accounts may be found at the following address: http://ecdc.europa.eu/en/aboutus/key_documents/Pages/key_documents.aspx