Activites

• 2015/04/29 Vote in plenary scheduled
• 2015/04/28 Debate in plenary scheduled
• 2015/03/30 Committee report tabled for plenary, single reading
  • A8-0092/2015 summary

    The Committee on Budgetary Control adopted the report by Ryszard CZARNECKI (ECR, PL) on discharge in respect of the implementation of the budget of the European Foundation for the Improvement of Living and Working Conditions for the financial year 2013. The committee recommended that the European Parliament grant the Director of the Foundation discharge in respect of the implementation of the Foundation’s budget for the financial year 2013. Noting that the Court of Auditors stated that it has obtained reasonable assurances that the annual accounts of the Foundation for the financial year 2013 are reliable, and that the underlying transactions are legal and regular, Members called on the Parliament to approve the closure of the Foundation’s accounts. They made, however, a number of recommendations that needed 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. Foundation’s financial statements: Members noted that the final budget of the Foundation for the financial year 2013 was EUR20 624 300, representing an increase of 3.76% compared to 2012. Carryovers: Members noted that budget monitoring efforts during the financial year 2013 resulted in a budget implementation rate of 99.50 % and that the payment appropriations execution rate was 78.10 %. They remarked with concern that the level of committed appropriations carried over to 2014 was high at 35.60 % for administrative expenditure and 48.60 % for operating expenditure, which was high. They acknowledged that the carry-overs were mainly due to the procurement of equipment and works already contracted and planned for the beginning of 2014. Members also made a series of observations on the prevention and management of conflicts of interests, recruitment, procurement procedures and internal audits. Regarding the reliability of the accounts, the committee noted that the Foundation carried out a comprehensive physical inventory exercise at the end of 2013 and the beginning of 2014 and that the physical inventory report wasn’t finalised by February 2014 when the Court’s audit took place. It acknowledged from the Foundation that the physical inventory report was finalised and published after the Court’s audit took place and that the errors in relation to registration and barcoding were rectified. It also noted that the Foundation now registered the required documentation to ensure the proper tracing of the correct starting date for the calculation of the assets’ depreciation. It acknowledged that the weaknesses in the area of fixed assets registration and accounting were largely due to the transition period towards a new asset accounting system, and that the deficiencies identified were remedied. Lastly, the committee was concerned that although the Foundation became operational in 1975, a comprehensive headquarters agreement with the host Member State had not yet been signed. It noted that negotiations with the host Member State started in February 2014 and a draft agreement in which most of the previous contentious matters were resolved was presented to the Foundation. It called on the Foundation to inform the discharge authority on the outcome of those negotiations.

• 2015/03/23 Vote in committee, 1st reading/single reading
• 2014/10/20 Committee referral announced in Parliament, 1st reading/single reading
• 2014/07/30 Non-legislative basic document published
  • COM(2014)0510 summary

    PURPOSE: presentation by the Commission of the consolidated annual accounts of the European Union for the financial year 2013, as part of the 2013 discharge procedure. Analysis of the accounts of the European Foundation for the Improvement of Living and Working Conditions (EUROFOUND). CONTENT: this Commission document sets out the consolidated annual accounts of the European Union for the financial year 2013 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 Foundation for the Improvement of Living and Working Conditions (EUROFOUND). The document contains the figures on which the discharge procedure is based. Discharge procedure of the EU agencies: the EU Budget finances a wide range of policies and programmes throughout the EU. In accordance with the priorities set by the European Parliament and the Council in the multi-annual financial framework (MFF), the European Commission carries out specific programmes, activities and projects in the field with the technical support of some specialised agencies. The consolidated annual accounts of the EU provide information on the activities of the institutions, agencies and other bodies of the EU from a budgetary and accrual accounting perspective. The consolidated reports on the implementation of the general budget of the EU include the budget implementation of all Institutions. Agencies do not have a separate budget inside the EU budget; and they are partially financed by a Commission budget subsidy. Each agency is subject to its own discharge procedure. EUROFOUND: in 2013, the tasks and budget of this agency were as follows: description of the Foundation's tasks: the European Foundation for the Improvement of Living and Working Conditions, which is located in Dublin, was set up by Council Regulation (EEC) No 1365/75. Its aim is to contribute to the planning and establishment of better living and working conditions in the Union by increasing and disseminating knowledge which is relevant to this subject. In particular, it is required to consider the following areas: (i) man at work, (ii) organisation of work and particularly job design, (iii) specific problems to certain categories of workers, (iv) improvement of the work environment; the Foundation's budget for the 2013 financial year: the Foundation’s budget for 2013, as presented in the Commission document on the consolidated annual accounts of the European Union, gives the following figures: §         Commitment appropriations : - committed : EUR 21 million; - paid : EUR 21 million; - carried-over : 0. §         Payment appropriations : - committed : EUR 25 million; - paid : EUR 20 million; - carried-over : EUR 5 million. Please refer also to the final accounts of the Foundation.

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

Documents

• Non-legislative basic document published: COM(2014)0510
• Committee report tabled for plenary, single reading: A8-0092/2015

Amendments

Dossier

9

2014/2088(DEC) 2014/12/10 EMPL 4 amendments... Amendment 1 # Claude ROLIN Draft opinion Paragraph 2 2. Notes that 2013 was the first year within Eurofound’s four-year programme 2013- 2016; appreciates Eurofound’s activities in this context, providing high-quality, timely and policy-relevant knowledge in order to support policy making; further notes the improvement in most of the Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) in comparison with 2012; Amendment 2 # Claude ROLIN Draft opinion Paragraph 2 2. Notes that 2013 was the first year within Eurofound’s four-year programme 2013– 2016; appreciates Eurofound’s activities in this context, providing high-quality, timely and policy-relevant knowledge in order to support policy making which the International Labour Organisation can also refer to; further notes the improvement in most of the Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) in comparison with 2012; Amendment 3 # Marian HARKIN Draft opinion Paragraph 2 a (new) 2a. Welcomes the increased contributions of Eurofound to policy development, the greater use of its expertise in key EU policy documents and the growing recognition of the scientific value of Eurofound´s research; Amendment 4 # Marian HARKIN Draft opinion Paragraph 4 4. Notes Eurofound’s replies regarding the concerns raised by the Court of Auditors on the physical inventory and fixed assets registration; considerexpects that with the new assets accounting system, such errors will be avoided in the future; source: 544.283 2015/03/05 CONT 5 amendments... Amendment 1 # Tomáš ZDECHOVSKÝ Proposal for a decision 1 Paragraph 1 1. Grants the Director of the European Foundation for the Improvement of Living and Working Conditions discharge in respect of the implementation of the Foundation’s budget for the financial year 2013 / Postpones its decision on granting the Director of the European Foundation for the Improvement of Living and Working Conditions discharge in respect of the implementation of the Foundation’s budget for the financial year 2013; Amendment 2 # Richard ASHWORTH, Richard SULÍK, Beata GOSIEWSKA Proposal for a decision 1 Paragraph 1 1. Grants the Director of the European Foundation for the Improvement of Living and Working Conditions discharge in respect of the implementation of the Foundation’s budget for the financial year 2013 / Postpones its decision on granting the Director of the European Foundation for the Improvement of Living and Working Conditions discharge in respect of the implementation of the Foundation’s budget for the financial year 2013; Amendment 3 # Tomáš ZDECHOVSKÝ Proposal for a decision 2 Paragraph 2 2. Approves the closure of the accounts of the European Foundation for the Improvement of Living and Working Conditions for the financial year 2013 / Postpones the closure of the accounts of the European Foundation for the Improvement of Living and Working Conditions for the financial year 2013; Amendment 4 # Richard ASHWORTH, Richard SULÍK, Beata GOSIEWSKA Proposal for a decision 2 Paragraph 2 2. Approves the closure of the accounts of the European Foundation for the Improvement of Living and Working Conditions for the financial year 2013 / Postpones the closure of the accounts of the European Foundation for the Improvement of Living and Working Conditions for the financial year 2013; Amendment 5 # Zigmantas BALČYTIS Motion for a resolution Paragraph 13 13. Acknowledges from the Foundation that negotiations with the host Member State have started in February 2014; notes that a draft agreement in which most of the previous contentious matters were resolved was presented to the Foundation, and looks forward to the final round of negotiations and subsequent signing of an agreement which would promote transaprency in respect of the conditions under which the Foundation and its staff operate; calls on the Foundation to inform the discharge authority on the outcome of the negotiations; source: 539.761

History

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