Activites

• 2014/04/03 Decision by Parliament, 1st reading/single reading
  • T7-0334/2014 summary

    The European Parliament adopted a decision concerning the discharge to be granted to the Executive Director of the Fuel Cells and Hydrogen (FCH) Joint Undertaking in respect of the implementation of the undertaking's budget for the financial year 2012. The vote on the discharge decision covers the closing of the accounts (in accordance with Annex VI, Article 5(1) of Parliament’s Rules of Procedure. Noting that the Court of Auditors stated that the 2012 annual accounts of the Joint Undertaking present fairly, in all material respects, its financial position as of 31 December 2012 and the results of its operations and its cash flows for the year then ended, Parliament adopted by 477 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: Budget and financial management: Parliament welcomed the fact that the Joint Undertaking received a clean opinion from the Court of Auditors on the legality and the regularity of the transactions underlying those accounts after having received a qualified opinion in 2011 on these aspects. Rate of utilisation and carryovers: Parliament noted that the utilisation rates for commitment and payment appropriations were 99.4 % and 83.1 % respectively. It pointed out that at the end of December 2012, cash and cash equivalents amounted to EUR 12.3 million, which was at odds with the budgetary principle of equilibrium. It urged the Joint Undertaking to implement, together with the Commission, all the necessary measures to minimise the cash balances held on account to the levels that are required within the limits provided in the financing agreements with the Commission. Parliament went on to make a series of observations on calls for proposals, internal control systems, internal audits, and horizontal aspects of European Research Joint Undertakings. It also invited the Court of Auditors to monitor the Joint Undertaking's policies as regards the management and prevention of conflicts of interests by drafting a Special Report on the matter by the next discharge procedure. In the meantime, Parliament invites the JU to make its policy and/or arrangements in this regard available on its website. JTI: Parliament invited the Court of Auditors to comprehensively analyse the Joint Technology Initiatives (JTIs) and the other joint undertakings in a separate report in light of the substantial amounts involved and the risks- notably reputational – presented. It noted that the Joint Undertakings’ total 2012 forecasted budgeted income amounted to some EUR 2.5 billion or about 1.8 % of the 2012 Union general budget while approximately EUR 618 million came from the general budget (cash contribution from the Commission) and approximately EUR 134 million came from the industrial partners and members of the Joint Undertakings. It also recalls that the total Union contribution deemed necessary for the Joint Undertakings for their period of existence amounts to EUR 11.5 billion. Parliament recalled that it had previously requested that the Court of Auditors draw up a special report on the capacity of the joint undertakings, together with their private partners, to ensure added value and efficient execution of Union research, technological development and demonstration programmes. It agreed with the Court of Auditors’ conclusion that the JTIs had been set up to support long-term industrial investment in particular research areas, but noted that it had taken, on average, two years to grant financial autonomy to a JTI, with the Commission usually remaining responsible for one third of the expected operational lifetime of the JTIs.

• 2014/04/02 Debate in Parliament
  • Debate in Parliament
• 2014/03/20 Committee report tabled for plenary, single reading
  • A7-0202/2014 summary

    The Committee on Budgetary Control adopted the report by Paul RÜBIG (EPP, AT) on discharge in respect of the implementation of the budget of the Fuel Cells and Hydrogen (FCH) Joint Undertaking for the financial year 2012 and called on the European Parliament to grant the Executive Director of the FCH Joint Undertaking discharge in respect of the implementation of the Office's budget for the financial year 2012. Noting that the Court of Auditors stated that it has obtained reasonable assurances that the annual accounts of the FCH JU for the financial year 2012 are reliable and that the underlying transactions are legal and regular, Members made 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: ·        Budget and financial management: Members welcomed the fact that the Joint Undertaking received a clean opinion from the Court of Auditors on the legality and the regularity of the transactions underlying those accounts after having received a qualified opinion in 2011 on these aspects. ·        Rate of utilisation and carryovers: the committee noted that the utilisation rates for commitment and payment appropriations were 99.4 % and 83.1 % respectively. It pointed out that at the end of December 2012, cash and cash equivalents amounted to EUR 12.3 million, which was at odds with the budgetary principle of equilibrium. It urged the Joint Undertaking to implement, together with the Commission, all the necessary measures to minimise the cash balances held on account to the levels that are required within the limits provided in the financing agreements with the Commission. Members went on to make a series of observations on calls for proposals, internal control systems, internal audits, and horizontal aspects of European Research Joint Undertakings. They invited the Court of Auditors to monitor the Joint Undertaking's policies as regards the management and prevention of conflicts of interests by drafting a Special Report on the matter by the next discharge procedure. JTI: the committee invited the Court of Auditors to comprehensively analyse the Joint Technology Initiatives (JTIs) and the other joint undertakings in a separate report in light of the substantial amounts involved and the risks- notably reputational – presented. It noted that the Joint Undertakings’ total 2012 forecasted budgeted income amounted to some EUR 2.5 billion or about 1.8 % of the 2012 Union general budget while approximately EUR 618 million came from the general budget (cash contribution from the Commission) and approximately EUR 134 million came from the industrial partners and members of the Joint Undertakings. Members recalled that Parliament had previously requested that the Court of Auditors draw up a special report on the capacity of the joint undertakings, together with their private partners, to ensure added value and efficient execution of Union research, technological development and demonstration programmes. They agreed with the Court of Auditors’ conclusion that the JTIs had been set up to support long-term industrial investment in particular research areas, but noted that it had taken on average two years to grant financial autonomy to a JTI, with the Commission usually remaining responsible for one third of the expected operational lifetime of the JTIs.

• 2014/03/18 Vote in committee, 1st reading/single reading
• 2013/10/22 Committee referral announced in Parliament, 1st reading/single reading
• 2013/07/26 Non-legislative basic document published
  • COM(2013)0570 summary

    PURPOSE: presentation by the Commission of the consolidated annual accounts of the European Union for the financial year 2012, as part of the 2012 discharge procedure. Analysis of the accounts of the Fuel Cells and Hydrogen Fuel Cell Joint Undertaking (FCH JU). CONTENT: this Commission document sets out the consolidated annual accounts of the European Union for the financial year 2012 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 FCH Joint Undertaking. In 2012, the tasks and budget of the Joint Undertaking were as follows: description of the tasks of the Joint Undertaking: the FCH Joint Undertaking, located in Brussels, was set up in 2008 by Council Regulation (EC) No 521/2008 for the period up to 31 December 2017. The objectives of the FCH JU include supporting research, technological development and demonstration activities in the Member States and countries associated with the Seventh Framework Programme in a coordinated manner together with industry and research organisations in order to focus on developing market applications and hence facilitating additional industrial efforts towards a rapid deployment of fuel cells and hydrogen technologies; budget of the Joint Undertaking for the 2012 financial year: the maximum indicative contribution of the EU amounts to EUR 470 million to be paid from the budget of the Seventh Research Framework Programme up to 2017. At 31 December 2012, the Commission held 80.6% of the ownership participation in FCH. The cumulative unrecognised share of losses is EUR 12 million. Please also consult the final accounts of FCH Joint Undertaking.

  • DG {'url': 'http://ec.europa.eu/dgs/budget/', 'title': 'Budget'}, ŠEMETA Algirdas

Documents

• Non-legislative basic document published: COM(2013)0570
• Committee report tabled for plenary, single reading: A7-0202/2014
• Debate in Parliament: Debate in Parliament
• Decision by Parliament, 1st reading/single reading: T7-0334/2014

Amendments

Dossier

7

2013/2252(DEC) 2014/02/26 CONT 7 amendments... Amendment 1 # Ryszard CZARNECKI, Marta ANDREASEN, Andrea ČEŠKOVÁ, Derk Jan EPPINK, Philip BRADBOURN Proposal for a decision 1 Paragraph 1 1. GPostpones its decision on grantsing the Executive Director of the Fuel Cells and Hydrogen Joint Undertaking discharge in respect of the implementation of the Joint Undertaking's budget for the financial year 2012; Amendment 2 # Ryszard CZARNECKI, Marta ANDREASEN, Andrea ČEŠKOVÁ, Derk Jan EPPINK, Philip BRADBOURN Proposal for a decision 2 Paragraph 1 1. ApprovPostpones the closure of the accounts of the Fuel Cells and Hydrogen Joint Undertaking for the financial year 2012; Amendment 3 # Elena BĂSESCU Motion for a resolution Citation 12 a (new) - having regard to the previous discharge reports of the Parliament; Amendment 4 # Monica MACOVEI Motion for a resolution Subheading 2 a (new) Prevention and management of conflicts of interests and transparency Amendment 5 # Monica MACOVEI Motion for a resolution Paragraph 7 a (new) 7 a. Observes that the CVs and Declarations of Interests of the members of the Management Board, the Executive Director and senior management members are not publicly available; calls on the Joint Undertaking to remedy the situation as a matter of urgency; urges the Joint Undertaking to develop and adopt a comprehensive policy on the prevention and management of conflicts of interests; Amendment 6 # Monica MACOVEI Motion for a resolution Paragraph 19 a (new) 19a. Regrets that the declarations of interests and CVs of members of the management board, management staff and external and in-house experts of the Joint Undertaking are not publicly available; believes that a high level of transparency is a key element in order to mitigate the risks of conflicts of interests; calls, therefore, on the Joint Undertaking to make its policy and/or arrangements on the prevention and management of conflicts of interests and its implementing rules, as well as the list of the members of the management boards, management staff and external and in-house experts, together with their respective declarations of interests and CVs available on its website; Amendment 7 # Monica MACOVEI Motion for a resolution Paragraph 19 b (new) 19b. Invites the Court of Auditors to monitor the Joint Undertaking's policies as regards the management and prevention of conflicts of interests by drafting a Special Report on the matter by the next discharge procedure; source: PE-528.207

History

(these mark the time of scraping, not the official date of the change)