PURPOSE: to grant discharge to the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC) for the financial year 2013.

NON LEGISLATIVE ACT: Decision (EU) 2015/1649 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 2013.

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 the latter’s budget for the financial year 2013.

This decision is in line with the European Parliament's resolution adopted on 29 April 2015 and comprises a series of observations that form an integral part of the discharge decision (please refer to the summary of the opinion of 29 April 2015).

Amongst Parliament’s main observations, the latter noted with concern the comments from the Court of Auditors on the legality and regularity of transactions and asked the Centre to take action to remedy the shortcomings identified by the Court.

The European Parliament adopted by 560 votes to 113, with 20 abstentions, a decision to grant discharge to the Director of the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC) for the financial year 2013.

The vote on the discharge decision approved the closure of the accounts (in accordance with Annex VI, Article 5(1) of the Rules of Procedure of the European Parliament.

Noting that the Court of Auditors stated that it has obtained reasonable assurances that the annual accounts of the Centre for the financial year 2013 are reliable, and that the underlying transactions are legal and regular, Parliament adopted by 576 votes to 108, with 6 abstentions, a resolution containing a number of recommendations that form an integral part of the discharge decision and as well as the general recommendations that appear in the resolution on performance, financial management and control of EU agencies :

Centre’s financial statements : Parliament noted that the final budget of the Centre for the financial year 2013 was EUR 58 315 000, representing an increase of 0.2% compared to 2012. The overall contribution of the Union to the Centre's budget for 2013 amounted to EUR 56 727 000. Commitments and carry-overs : Parliament noted that budget monitoring efforts during the financial year 2013 resulted in a relatively low budget implementation rate of 92.96% and that the payment appropriations execution rate was 74.14%, with cancellations of appropriations appearing in all budget titles. Regarding administrative and operational expenditure, the levels of committed appropriations carried over to 2014 were 26% and 44% respectively. Parliament also identified weaknesses in respect of the budgetary planning and execution for operational meetings, mainly due to overestimated attendance levels and hotel and flight costs.

Parliament also made a series of observations on procurement and recruitment procedures, internal controls and internal audit.

It also noted that with regard to the legality and regularity of transactions and in particular for one procedure launched in 2013, there was conflicting information between the contract notice and the tender specifications. It acknowledged the Centre's initiative to strengthen the area of procurement by establishing the Procurement Section and the Legal Services Section.

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 Centre for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC) for the financial year 2013.

The committee recommended that the European Parliament postpone its decision on granting the Director of the Centre discharge in respect of the implementation of the joint undertaking’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 Centre 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 Centre’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.

Centre’s financial statements : Members noted that the final budget of the Centre for the financial year 2013 was EUR 58 315 000, representing an increase of 0.2 % compared to 2012. The overall contribution of the Union to the Centre's budget for 2013 amounted to EUR 56 727 000. Commitments and carry-overs : Members noted that budget monitoring efforts during the financial year 2013 resulted in a relatively low budget implementation rate of 92.96 % and that the payment appropriations execution rate was 74.14 %, with cancellations of appropriations appearing in all budget titles. Regarding administrative and operational expenditure, the levels of committed appropriations carried over to 2014 were 26% and 44% respectively. Members also identified weaknesses in respect of the budgetary planning and execution for operational meetings, mainly due to overestimated attendance levels and hotel and flight costs.

Members also made a series of observations on procurement and recruitment procedures, internal controls and internal audit.

With regard to the legality and regularity of transactions , the committee noted that for one procedure launched in 2013, there was conflicting information between the contract notice and the tender specifications which may have affected the competitive process and the outcome of the procedure. It acknowledged the Centre's initiative to strengthen the area of procurement by establishing the Procurement Section and the Legal Services Section.

Having examined the revenue and expenditure accounts for the financial year 2013 and the balance sheet at 31 December 2013 of the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control, as well as the Court of Auditors' report on the annual accounts of the Centre for the financial year 2013, 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 2013.

Overall, the Council welcomes the Court's opinion that, in all material respects, the Centre's annual accounts present fairly its financial position as at 31 December 2013 and the results of its operations and its cash flows for the year then ended, in accordance with the provisions of the Centre's Financial Regulation and the accounting rules adopted by the Commission's accounting officer, and that the underlying transactions for that financial year are legal and regular.

Nevertheless, some observations have been made by the Council. They are summarised as follows:

public procurement : the Council calls on the Centre to further improve its management of procurement procedures in order to ensure clarity and the highest possible competition in the tendering processes; carry-overs : the Council also asks the Centre to continue to improve its financial programming and monitoring of the budget implementation, in order to reduce the level of commitments carried over and the amounts cancelled at the end of the following year to the strict minimum, in line with the budgetary principle of annuality.

PURPOSE: presentation of the EU Court of Auditors’ report on the annual accounts of the e European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC) for the year 2013, 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 European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control.

Statement of assurance : pursuant to the provisions of Article 287 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union (TFEU), the Court has audited:

the annual accounts of the Centre, which comprise the financial statements and the reports on the implementation of the budget for the financial year ended 31 December 2013; the legality and regularity of the transactions underlying those accounts.

Opinion on the reliability of the accounts : in the Court’s opinion, the Centre’s annual accounts present fairly, in all material respects, its financial position as at 31 December 2013 and the results of its operations and its cash flows for the year then ended, in accordance with the provisions of its Financial Regulation and the accounting rules adopted by the Commission’s accounting officer.

Opinion on the legality and regularity of the transactions underlying the accounts : in the Court’s opinion, the transactions underlying the annual accounts for the year ended 31 December 2013 are legal and regular in all material respects.

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

The Court’s observations :

legality and regularity : the Court noted that the Centre has improved its management of procurement procedures, for one procedure launched in 2013 there was conflicting information between the contract notice and the tender specifications which may have affected the competitive process and the outcome of the procedure; budgetary management : the overall budget execution rate was relatively low (92%). Cancellations of 2013 appropriations appeared in all budget titles as well as committed appropriations carried over mainly concerning multiannual projects and IT items to support operational activities; headquarters : the Centre became operational in 1994 and has, to date, worked on the basis of correspondence and exchanges with the host Member State. However, there is no comprehensive headquarters agreement between the Centre and the Member State.

The Centre’s replies :

legality and regularity : the ECDC has taken immediate corrective action to communicate the situation to the contractors and cancel the contract. The Centre’s procurement section was reorganised in March 2014; budgetary management : the Centre had reserved funds from the 2013 budget in order to meet its obligations towards staff related to the salary adjustments of 2011, 2012 and 2013. The funds reserved amounted to EUR 3.3 million. As the European Court of Justice ruled in the final quarter of the year, the Centre was unable to use these funds for other purposes. These funds had been earmarked from all budget titles, consequently these cancellations affected all budget titles. The Centre will more closely monitor the operational meeting expenses to avoid unnecessary carry-overs or cancellations.

Lastly, the Court of Auditors’ report contains a summary of the Centre’s activities in 2013 . This is focused on the following:

Budget : EUR 58.3 million.

Activities :

health threats identified and monitored using the Threat Tracking Tool (TTT) and weekly threat reports on communicable diseases ; provision of support to epidemic intelligence for large mass-gathering events ; events of an exceptional nature or of exceptional public importance were also monitored; simulation exercise conducted for testing and improving preparedness and response to communicable diseases; implementation of the European Programme for Intervention Epidemiology Training (EPIET) and the European Public Health Microbiology Training (EUPHEM); 112 public health experts from 30 EU-EEA countries participated in the Centre’s short training modules; 945 000 visitors to the Centre’s web portal; 216 scientific publications published; Sixth European Antibiotic Awareness Day organised, with the participation of over 40 countries; Organisation of the seventh European Scientific Conference on Applied Infectious Disease Epidemiology (ESCAIDE) on 5—7 November 2013 in Stockholm, with 550 participants; Weekly publication of the Eurosurveillance scientific journal, with 11 600 online subscribers. In Eurosurveillance was awarded an impact factor for the second year, which was with 5.49 a bit lower than 2012. This places Eurosurveillance at rank 6 among the top 70 journals worldwide in the ‘Infectious Diseases’ category.

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 Centre for Disease Prevention and Control .

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 Centre for Disease Prevention and Control.

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.

ECDC : in 2013, 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 . Its main tasks are to : (i) collect and disseminate data on the prevention and control of human diseases; (ii) provide scientific opinions on this subject; the Centre's budget for the 2013 financial year : the Centre’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 59 million;

- paid : EUR 54 million;

- carried-over : 0.

§ Payment appropriations :

- committed : EUR 70 million;

- paid : EUR 53 million;

- carried-over : EUR 11 million.

Please refer also to the final accounts of the ECDC .