PURPOSE: to grant discharge to the ARTEMIS Joint Undertaking in respect of the implementation of the Agency's budget for the financial year 2009.

NON-LEGISLATIVE ACT: Decision 2011/610/EU of the European Parliament on discharge in respect of the implementation of the budget of the ARTEMIS Joint Undertaking for the financial year 2009.

CONTENT: with the present decision, the European Parliament grants discharge to the Executive Director of the ARTEMIS Joint Undertaking 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 532 votes to 83, with 33 abstentions, a decision on discharge to be granted to the Executive Director of the ARTEMIS Joint Undertaking in respect of the implementation of the Undertaking’s budget for the financial year 2009.

Noting that the Joint Undertaking’s annual accounts for the financial year 2009 are reliable, and the underlying transactions are legal and regular, Parliament approves the closure of its accounts. However, it makes a number of recommendations that need to be taken into account when the discharge is granted:

implementation of the budget: Parliament notes that the utilisation rate of payment appropriations was low even though ARTEMIS is still in a start-up period; internal control systems: Parliament urges ARTEMIS to complete the implementation of its internal controls and financial information system. It invites it to include in its Financial Rules a specific reference to the powers of the Internal Audit Service of the Commission as its internal auditor. It considers that the role of the Commission as internal auditor should be to advise ARTEMIS on dealing with risks, by issuing independent opinions on the quality of management and control systems and by issuing recommendations for improving the conditions of implementation of operations and promoting sound financial management. In view of the size of its budget and the complexity of its tasks, ARTEMIS should consider establishing an audit committee, reporting directly to the Administrative Board;

lack of host agreement: Parliament urges ARTEMIS to rapidly conclude a host agreement with Belgium.

The Committee on Budgetary Control adopted the report by Georgios STAVRAKAKIS (S&D, EL) on discharge to be granted to the Executive Director of the ARTEMIS Joint Undertaking in respect of the implementation of the Undertaking’s budget for the financial year 2009.

Noting that the ARTEMIS’s annual accounts for the financial year 2009 are reliable, and the underlying transactions are legal and regular, MEPs approve the closure of ARTEMIS’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 ):

implementation of the budget: Members note that ARTEMIS’s final 2009 budget included commitment appropriations of EUR 46 million and payment appropriations of EUR 8 million and that the utilisation rates for commitment and payment appropriations were 81% and 20% respectively. Although ARTEMIS is still in a start-up period, Members consider that the utilisation rate for payment appropriations is low; Members’ contributions: Members call on ARTEMIS to harmonise the presentation of members' contributions in the Accounts under the guidance of the Commission; internal control systems: Members urge ARTEMIS to complete the implementation of its internal controls and financial information system. They invite it to include in its Financial Rules a specific reference to the powers of the Internal Audit Service of the Commission as its internal auditor. They consider that the role of the Commission as internal auditor should be to advise ARTEMIS on dealing with risks, by issuing independent opinions on the quality of management and control systems and by issuing recommendations for improving the conditions of implementation of operations and promoting sound financial management. They also consider it essential that ARTEMIS submit to the discharge authority a report drawn up by its director summarising the number and the type of internal audits conducted by the internal auditor. In view of the size of its budget and the complexity of its tasks, ARTEMIS should consider establishing an audit committee, reporting directly to the Administrative Board; lack of host agreement: Members urge ARTEMIS to rapidly conclude a host agreement with Belgium.

Having examined the revenue and expenditure accounts for the financial year 2009 and the balance sheet at 31 December 2009 of the ARTEMIS Joint Undertaking, and the report by the Court of Auditors on the annual accounts of the Joint Undertaking for the financial year 2009, accompanied by the Joint Undertaking's replies to the Court's observations, the Council recommends the European Parliament to give a discharge to the Executive Director of the Joint Undertaking in respect of the implementation of the budget for the financial year 2009.

The Council welcomes the Court's opinion that, in all material respects, the Joint Undertaking's annual accounts present fairly 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 Joint Undertaking's Financial Rules, and that the underlying transactions for that financial year are 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:

budget presentation : while taking into account that the Joint Undertaking was recently established and that it started to work autonomously on 26 October 2009, the Council recalls that realistic budgeting is essential to ensure full implementation of resources; internal control : the Council takes note that all internal control standards have been adopted during 2010 and expects that, as soon as it will have a definitive location, it will introduce the necessary changes in its IT infrastructure as indicated by the Court. In this context, it stresses the importance of concluding a host agreement without delay. The Council takes note of the Joint Undertaking's intention to put in place an internal auditing function and encourages it to clarify roles and tasks within its internal control system. Members’ contributions : lastly, the Council calls on the Commission to provide clear guidance to the Joint Undertaking on harmonising the presentation of members' contributions in the accounts.

PURPOSE: presentation by the Court of Auditors of its report on the annual accounts of the Artemis Joint Undertaking together with the Joint Undertaking’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 Artemis Joint Undertaking.

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

The report again confirmed that maximum EU contribution to the Artemis Joint Undertaking to cover running costs and research activities is EUR 420 million to be paid from the budget of the Seventh Research Framework Programme. The Artemis IA association is to make a maximum contribution of EUR 30 million. Artemis Member States are to make in-kind contributions to the running costs and provide financial contributions of at least 1.8 times the EU contribution. In-kind contributions are also to be provided by research organisations participating in projects. The final budget included commitment appropriations of EUR 46 million and payment appropriations of EUR 8 million.

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

The Court’s comments :

low utilisation rates for the budget (the rate of execution show commitment and payment appropriations were 81 % and 20 % respectively); deficiencies in the implementation of internal controls and financial information system (at the end of 2009 the underlying business processes had not yet been formalised and had not been validated by the Accounting Officer as required by the Financial Rules of the Joint Undertaking; lack of host State agreement concerning office accommodation, privileges and immunities and other support to be provided by Belgium (official seat) to the Joint Undertaking; internal audit function not established.

The Joint Undertaking’s replies:

rate of budgetary execution low in 2009 reflecting the start-up phase of the Joint Undertaking;

the internal control standards will be implemented in two phases from March to September 2010; the Joint Undertaking awaits the outcome of the next steps of the procedure to have an agreement signed; an internal auditing function will be put in place during 2010.

Lastly, the Court of Auditor’s report contained a summary of the Joint Undertaking’s activities in 2009. The main task in 2009 for this new Agency consisted of :

· the preparatory actions necessary for the autonomy of the IMI JU granted on 26 October 2009;

· launch of 2 nd call for proposals;

· start of R & D projects for the 2 nd call for proposals;

monitoring and review of 1 st call for proposals; signature of the General Financing Agreement with the Commission.

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 Artemis Joint Undertaking.

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 Artemis Joint Undertaking.

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

description of the Agency’s tasks: the joint undertaking, which is located in Brussels, was set up in 2007 by Council Regulation 74/2008/EC for a period of 10 years. The main objective of the Joint Undertaking is to implement a ‘Research Agenda’ for the development of key technologies for Embedded Computing Systems across different application areas in order to strengthen European competitiveness and sustainability, and allow the emergence of new markets and societal applications. budget of the Joint Undertaking for the 2009 financial year: the maximum EU contribution to the Artemis Joint Undertaking to cover running costs and research activities is EUR 420 million to be paid from the budget of the Seventh Research Framework Programme. In 2009, the EU contribution amounted to EUR 7.97 million in payment appropriations.

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

http://www.artemis-ju.eu/governing_board

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 Artemis Joint Undertaking.

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 Artemis Joint Undertaking.

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

description of the Agency’s tasks: the joint undertaking, which is located in Brussels, was set up in 2007 by Council Regulation 74/2008/EC for a period of 10 years. The main objective of the Joint Undertaking is to implement a ‘Research Agenda’ for the development of key technologies for Embedded Computing Systems across different application areas in order to strengthen European competitiveness and sustainability, and allow the emergence of new markets and societal applications. budget of the Joint Undertaking for the 2009 financial year: the maximum EU contribution to the Artemis Joint Undertaking to cover running costs and research activities is EUR 420 million to be paid from the budget of the Seventh Research Framework Programme. In 2009, the EU contribution amounted to EUR 7.97 million in payment appropriations.

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

http://www.artemis-ju.eu/governing_board