PURPOSE: to grant discharge to the Translation Centre for the Bodies of the European Union in respect of the implementation of the Centre’s budget for the financial year 2010.

NON-LEGISLATIVE ACT: Decision 2012/562/EU of the European Parliament on discharge in respect of the implementation of the budget of the Translation Centre for the Bodies of the European Union (CdT) for the financial year 2010.

CONTENT: with the present decision, and in accordance with Article 319 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union, the European Parliament grants discharge to the Director of the Centre for the implementation of its budget for the financial year 2010.

This decision is in line with the European Parliament's resolution adopted on 10 May 2012 and comprises a series of observations that form an integral part of the discharge decision (please refer to the summary of the opinion of 10/05/2012).

A parallel decision, 2012/563/EU, adopted on the same day, approves the closure of the Centre's accounts for the 2010 financial year.

The European Parliament adopted by 520 votes to 86, with 19 abstentions, a decision to grant discharge to the Director of the Translation Centre for the Bodies of the European Union in respect of the implementation of the Centre's budget for the financial year 2010. This decision also approves the closure of the Agency’s accounts.

Noting that the Court of Auditors stated that it has obtained reasonable assurances that the annual accounts of the Centre for the financial year 2010 are reliable and that the underlying transactions are legal and regular, Parliament adopted, by 553 votes to 64, with 16 abstentions, a resolution containing a series 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 performance, financial management and control of EU agencies.

These recommendations may be summarised as follows:

Budgetary and financial management : Parliament acknowledges that due to the higher total number of pages translated in 2010, the revenue of the Centre rose to EUR 51.2 million in 2010, an increase of 13.71% compared to 2009. It notes that for the financial year 2010 the Centre's accumulated 2009 surplus amounted to EUR 24 million even though the Centre managed to reduce the aforementioned surplus to EUR 9.2 million. Members welcome the settlement of the long-lasting dispute between the Centre and the Commission on the question of the employer's contribution to the Union's pension scheme; Procurement procedures : Members call on the Centre to establish stronger controls in the process of procurement planning; Human resources (HR) : Parliament highlights new weaknesses in the recruitment procedures even if improvement have been made; Performance : Members welcome the Centre's increase of its services, in terms of volume of translation, to the Union institutions compared to 2009, and notably the increase by 20.1% of the number of translated documents, while its budget was reduced by 11.98% compared to the previous year. They acknowledge that during the financial year 2010 around 55% of the total volume of pages translated was outsourced . They call on the Centre to analyse the current data flow and tools used for budget planning and establish controls. Members also encourage the Centre to apply minimum requirements for forecasting information and enhance the cooperation and exchange on forecasting with selected clients, in order to avoid overestimate of expenditure and pricing;

Internal audit : Parliament notes that 12 "very important" recommendations from the IAS were still open as at 31 December 2010. It calls on the Centre to explain those delays to the discharge authority and to remedy the situation. It notes that the IAS final audit follow-up report revealed that 41 recommendations were made, 29 recommendations were still in progress. Members call for the optimisation of the organisational structure and related cost reduction; the coordination of the IT risk assessment exercise and the facilitation and advice for the Centre's annual risk management exercise.

The Committee on Budgetary Control adopted the report by Monica Luisa MACOVEI (EPP, RO) on discharge to be granted to the Director of the Translation Centre for the Bodies of the European Union in respect of the implementation of the Centre's budget for the financial year 2010.

Noting that the Court of Auditors has stated that it has obtained reasonable assurances that the annual accounts of the Translation Centre for the Bodies of the European Union for the financial year 2010 are reliable and that the underlying transactions are legal and regular, Members approve the closure of the Centre’s accounts for the financial year 2010. 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 performance, financial management and control of EU agencies:

Budgetary and financial management : Members acknowledge that due to the higher total number of pages translated in 2010, the revenue of the Centre rose to EUR 51.2 million in 2010, an increase of 13.71% compared to 2009. They note that for the financial year 2010 the Centre's accumulated 2009 surplus amounted to EUR 24 million even though the Centre managed to reduce the aforementioned surplus to EUR 9.2 million. Members welcome the settlement of the long-lasting dispute between the Centre and the Commission on the question of the employer's contribution to the Union's pension scheme; Procurement procedures : Members call on the Centre to establish stronger controls in the process of procurement planning; Human resources (HR) : Members highlight new weaknesses in the recruitment procedures even if improvement have been made; Performance : Members welcome the Centre's increase of its services, in terms of volume of translation, to the Union institutions compared to 2009, and notably the increase by 20.1% of the number of translated documents, while its budget was reduced by 11.98% compared to the previous year. They acknowledge that during the financial year 2010 around 55% of the total volume of pages translated was outsourced . They call on the Centre to analyse the current data flow and tools used for budget planning and establish controls. Members also encourage the Centre to apply minimum requirements for forecasting information and enhance the cooperation and exchange on forecasting with selected clients, in order to avoid overestimate of expenditure and pricing; Internal audit : Members note that 12 "very important" recommendations from the IAS were still open as at 31 December 2010. They call on the Centre to explain those delays to the discharge authority and to remedy the situation. They note that the IAS final audit follow-up report revealed that 41 recommendations were made, 29 recommendations were still in progress. They call for the optimisation of the organisational structure and related cost reduction; the coordination of the IT risk assessment exercise and the facilitation and advice for the Centre's annual risk management exercise.

Having examined the revenue and expenditure accounts for the financial year 2010 and the balance sheet at 31 December 2010 of the Translation Centre for the Bodies of the European Union, as well as the Court of Auditors' report on the annual accounts of the Centre for the financial year 2010, accompanied by the Centre's replies to the Court's observations, the Council recommends the European Parliament to give a discharge to the Director of the Centre in respect of the implementation of the budget for the financial year 2010.

However, the Council considers that observations made in the Court of Auditor's report call for a certain number of remarks:

the Council welcomes the Court's opinion that, in all material respects, the Centre's annual accounts fairly present the financial position as at 31 December 2010 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 the underlying transactions for that financial year are legal and regular; the Council notes with satisfaction that the Centre reduced its accumulated 2009 surplus from EUR 24 million to EUR 9.2 million notably by transfers of funds to the Union's Pension Scheme and by reimbursements to clients; the Council also welcomes the measures taken by the Centre intending to respect in the future the equilibrium between its revenue and its effectively incurred expenses and it invites the Centre to pursue this approach rigorously in the current and future years.

PURPOSE: presentation of the EU Court of Auditors’ report on the annual accounts of the Translation Centre for the Bodies of the European Union (CdT), for the financial year 2010, together with the Centre’s reply.

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

This audit concerned, amongst others, the annual accounts of the Translation Centre for the Bodies of the European Union (CdT).

In the Court’s opinion, the Centre’s Annual Accounts fairly present, in all material respects, its financial position as of 31 December 2010 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 considers that the transactions underlying the annual accounts of the Centre for the financial year ended 31 December 2010 are, in all material respects, legal and regular.

The report confirms that the Centre’s 2010 budget amounted to EUR 55.9 million. The number of staff employed by the Centre at the end of the year was 225.

The report also makes a series of observations on the budgetary and financial management of the Centre, accompanied by the latter’s response. The main observations may be summarised as follows:

The Court’s observations :

the Court states that during 2010, the Centre reduced its accumulated 2009 surplus of EUR 24 million to EUR 9.2 million euro principally by transferring funds to the Union's pension scheme and by reimbursing the Centre's clients.

The Centre’s response:

the Centre indicates that in the framework of its new pricing policy, intending to respect the equilibrium between its revenue and its effectively incurred expenses, the Centre has proposed to the Management Board the creation of a reserve of EUR 4.3 million o for investments into e-CDT program to be realised over the years 2012-2013 and a price stability fund of EUR 4.9 million euro to compensate for the potential decrease of its revenue due to the anticipated reduction of translation requests from its major client.

Lastly, the Court of Auditors’ report contains a summary of the Centre’s activities in 2010. This is focused on the Centre’s translation activities:

number of pages translated: 819 598 pages; number of pages by language: official EU languages: 813 907 pages ; other languages: 5 691 page; number of pages by client: bodies: 805 529 pages; institutions: 14 069; number of pages translated by free lancers: 448 160 pages.

PURPOSE: presentation by the Commission of the consolidated annual accounts of the European Union for the financial year 2010, as part of the 2010 discharge procedure.

Analysis of the accounts of the Translation Centre for the Bodies of the European Union (CdT) .

CONTENT: this Commission document sets out the consolidated annual accounts of the European Union for the financial year 2010 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 Translation Centre for the Bodies of the European Union (CdT).

In 2010, the tasks and budget of this agency were as follows:

description of the Centre's tasks : the Translation Centre for the Bodies of the European Union, which is located in Luxembourg, was established by Council Regulation (EC) No 2965/94 . The Centre's role is to provide any European Union Institutions and Bodies, which call upon its services with the translation services necessary for their activities; the centre's budget for the 2010 financial year : the Foundation's 2010 budget amounted to EUR 55.9 million, compared with EUR 62.6 million the previous year. The number of staff employed by the Centre at the end of the year was 225, as compared with 218 the previous year.

The complete version of the Centre's final accounts may be found at the following address: http://cdt.europa.eu/FR/documentation/Pages/Revenue-and-expenditure-account-and-balance-sheet.aspx

PURPOSE: presentation by the Commission of the consolidated annual accounts of the European Union for the financial year 2010, as part of the 2010 discharge procedure.

Analysis of the accounts of the Translation Centre for the Bodies of the European Union (CdT) .

CONTENT: this Commission document sets out the consolidated annual accounts of the European Union for the financial year 2010 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 Translation Centre for the Bodies of the European Union (CdT).

In 2010, the tasks and budget of this agency were as follows:

description of the Centre's tasks : the Translation Centre for the Bodies of the European Union, which is located in Luxembourg, was established by Council Regulation (EC) No 2965/94 . The Centre's role is to provide any European Union Institutions and Bodies, which call upon its services with the translation services necessary for their activities; the centre's budget for the 2010 financial year : the Foundation's 2010 budget amounted to EUR 55.9 million, compared with EUR 62.6 million the previous year. The number of staff employed by the Centre at the end of the year was 225, as compared with 218 the previous year.

The complete version of the Centre's final accounts may be found at the following address: http://cdt.europa.eu/FR/documentation/Pages/Revenue-and-expenditure-account-and-balance-sheet.aspx