BETA

Procedure completed, awaiting publication in Official Journal



2014/2125(DEC) 2013 discharge: European Institute of Innovation and Technology (EIT)
RoleCommitteeRapporteurShadows
Lead CONT CZARNECKI Ryszard (ECR) ZDECHOVSKÝ Tomáš (EPP), VAUGHAN Derek (S&D), ALI Nedzhmi (ALDE), DE JONG Dennis (GUE/NGL), JÁVOR Benedek (Verts/ALE), VALLI Marco (EFD)
Lead CONT CZARNECKI Ryszard (ECR)
Opinion ITRE
Lead committee dossier: CONT/8/01592;CONT/8/03532

Activites

  • 2015/10/27 Results of vote in Parliament
    • Results of vote in Parliament
    • T8-0371/2015 summary
  • 2015/10/26 Debate in Parliament
  • 2015/10/02 Committee report tabled for plenary, single reading
    • A8-0282/2015 summary
  • 2015/09/22 Vote in committee, 1st reading/single reading
  • 2015/04/29 Decision by Parliament, 1st reading/single reading
    • T8-0146/2015 summary
  • 2015/04/28 Debate in Parliament
  • 2015/03/30 Committee report tabled for plenary, single reading
    • A8-0077/2015 summary
  • 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
    • DG {'url': 'http://ec.europa.eu/dgs/budget/', 'title': 'Budget'}, GEORGIEVA Kristalina

Documents

AmendmentsDossier
18 2014/2125(DEC)
2015/03/06 CONT 8 amendments...
source: 539.780
2015/09/04 CONT 10 amendments...
source: 565.168

History

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

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  • The European Parliament adopted by 557 to 110, with 24 abstentions, a decision to grant to the Director of the European Institute of Innovation and Technology (EIT) discharge in respect of the implementation of the budget of the EIT Undertaking for the financial year 2013.

    The vote on the discharge decision covers the closure of the Institute’s accounts.

    Legality and regularity of the underlying transactions: Parliament recalled that the Court of Auditors, in its report on the annual accounts of the EIT for the financial year 2013, found for the second consecutive year no reasonable assurance on the legality and regularity of the grant transactions. In the Court´s view the quality of the certificates was compromised as the certificates were issued by independent audit firms contracted by the grant beneficiaries, covering about 87% of the grant expenditure.

    The EIT stated that the improved instructions resulted in an improvement of the quality of the audit certificates received in respect to 2013 grant transactions for which the final payments were made in 2014. 

    Parliament recalled that the Institute introduced complementary ex post verifications for grant transactions as a second layer of assurance on the legality and regularity of grant transactions. It acknowledged that the Institute carried out “on the spot” audits covering around 40% of the grants paid under the 2013 Grant Agreements. It noted that these audits resulted in the recovery of EUR 263 239, out of the total audited amount of EUR 29 163 272 and that the detected error rate in the audited sample was 0.90 % and the residual error rate was 0.69%, which was below the materiality threshold of 2 %.

    Procurement procedures: Parliament noted from the Institute that it had improved its procurement procedures since 2013 and took a proactive approach after the detection of errors by the Court. Further to the consultancy assignment performed by the Institute’s Internal Audit Capability (IAC), the EIT implemented a series of measures to improve procedures.

    As the residual error rate in grant expenditure was 0.69%, the combined error rate for administrative and operational expenditure was around 0.5% of the total payments made in 2014.

    Staff management: Parliament noted the improvements in the vacancy management, the establishment of an appraisal and re-classification system, providing a better career perspective and strengthening middle management level. It took note that the four remaining vacant posts are to be gradually filled during 2015.

    KIC: Parliament ascertained that the Institute obtained the audit certificates on the costs of KIC complementary activities incurred in the period 2010-2014. It noted that the EIT carried out a review of the portfolio of KIC complementary activities to ensure that only the activities with a clear link to the KIC added value activities funded by the Institute were accepted.

    Budgetary and financial management: overall, Parliament noted that the Institute improved the planning and monitoring procedures related to the budget implementation. The EIT had significantly improved the absorption capacity of the first-wave KICs for the 2010-2014 period. It recalled that the low budget implementation rate for Title I (staff expenditure) was mainly related to the high turnover of staff and the outstanding adoption of the regulations on salary adjustments. 

    Lastly, Parliament made a series of observations on internal audits.

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  • The Committee on Budgetary Control adopted the 2nd report by Ryszard CZARNECKI (ECR, PL) and called on the European Parliament to grant to the Director of the European Institute of Innovation and Technology (EIT) discharge in respect of the implementation of the budget of the EIT Undertaking for the financial year 2013.

    Members called on Parliament to approve the closure of the EIT’s accounts.

    Legality and regularity of the underlying transactions: Members recalled that the Court of Auditors, in its report on the annual accounts of the EIT for the financial year 2013, found for the second consecutive year no reasonable assurance on the legality and regularity of the grant transactions. In the Court´s view the quality of the certificates was compromised as the certificates were issued by independent audit firms contracted by the grant beneficiaries, covering about 87% of the grant expenditure.

    The EIT stated that the improved instructions resulted in an improvement of the quality of the audit certificates received in respect to 2013 grant transactions for which the final payments were made in 2014.  Members recalled that the Institute introduced complementary ex post verifications for grant transactions as a second layer of assurance on the legality and regularity of grant transactions. They acknowledged that the Institute carried out “on the spot” audits covering around 40% of the grants paid under the 2013 Grant Agreements. They noted that these audits resulted in the recovery of EUR 263 239, out of the total audited amount of EUR 29 163 272 and that the detected error rate in the audited sample was 0.90 % and the residual error rate was 0.69%, which was below the materiality threshold of 2 %.

    Procurement procedures: the committee noted from the Institute that it had improved its procurement procedures since 2013 and took a proactive approach after the detection of errors by the Court. Further to the consultancy assignment performed by the Institute’s Internal Audit Capability (IAC), the EIT implemented a series of measures to improve procedures.

    As the residual error rate in grant expenditure was 0.69%, the combined error rate for administrative and operational expenditure was around 0.5% of the total payments made in 2014.

    KIC: Members ascertained that the Institute obtained the audit certificates on the costs of KIC complementary activities incurred in the period 2010-2014. They noted that the EIT carried out a review of the portfolio of KIC complementary activities to ensure that only the activities with a clear link to the KIC added value activities funded by the Institute were accepted.

    Budgetary and financial management: the report noted that the Institute improved the planning and monitoring procedures related to the budget implementation. The EIT had significantly improved the absorption capacity of the first-wave KICs for the 2010-2014 period. Members recalled that the low budget implementation rate for Title I (staff expenditure) was mainly related to the high turnover of staff and the outstanding adoption of the regulations on salary adjustments. 

    Lastly, Members made a series of observations on internal audits.

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  • group: EPP name: ZDECHOVSKÝ Tomáš
  • group: S&D name: VAUGHAN Derek
  • group: ALDE name: ALI Nedzhmi
  • group: GUE/NGL name: DE JONG Dennis
  • group: Verts/ALE name: JÁVOR Benedek
  • group: EFD name: VALLI Marco
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  • group: S&D name: VAUGHAN Derek
  • group: ALDE name: ALI Nedzhmi
  • group: GUE/NGL name: DE JONG Dennis
  • group: Verts/ALE name: JÁVOR Benedek
  • group: EFD name: VALLI Marco
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  • group: ALDE name: ALI Nedzhmi
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  • group: Verts/ALE name: JÁVOR Benedek
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  • group: GUE/NGL name: DE JONG Dennis
  • group: Verts/ALE name: JÁVOR Benedek
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  • The European Parliament decided by 633 votes to 25, with 7 abstentions, to postpone its decision to grant discharge to the Director of the Institute of Innovation and Technology (EIT) for the financial year 2013.

    Parliament postponed the closure of the Institute’s accounts for the financial year 2013.

    It pointed out the basis for a qualified opinion on the legality and regularity of the underlying transactions for the second consecutive year. It noted that about 87% of grant expenditure claimed by the beneficiaries is covered by certificates issued by independent audit firms, which are contracted by the beneficiaries themselves and their partners. It regretted that although the Institute continued to make efforts to implement effective ex ante verifications and give better guidance to the independent audit firms, the Court found their quality as insufficient. Members called on the Institute to address this issue and to inform the discharge authority about the steps taken by 1 September 2015.

    It pointed out that payments in respect of two framework contracts concluded in 2010 and 2012 using a negotiated procedure and amounting to EUR 770 000 were found as irregular as according to the audit, the use of a negotiated procedure was not justified. The combined error rate related to grant issues and framework contract payments is between 2% and 3% of the Institute’s total 2013 expenditure.

    Parliament regretted that according to the Court’s report, the complementary activities of the KICs as beneficiaries of the Institute’s grants will not be audited before 2015. It called on the Institute to inform the discharge authority on the state of play regarding the abovementioned audit by 1 September 2015.

    Parliament made a series of general recommendations that appear in the resolution on performance, financial management and control of EU agencies:

    • Institute’s financial statement: Parliament noted that the final budget of the Institute for the financial year 2013 was EUR 142 197 740 for commitment appropriations, representing an increase of 47.05% compared to 2012. The overall contribution of the Union to the Institute's budget for 2013 amounted to EUR 93 462 181, representing an increase of 36.05% compared to 2012.
    • Commitments and carry-overs: Parliament noted from the Institute’s final accounts that its budget monitoring efforts during the financial year 2013 resulted in a budget implementation rate of 96.97% and that the execution rate of payments against payment appropriations was 96.86%. It noted with concern that the budget implementation rate for staff expenditure was low at 74% as well as administrative expenditure. It acknowledged that these carry-overs mainly concerned invoices not yet received and ongoing IT projects. The execution rate was relatively low at 82% due to KICs not fully absorbing the available funding for 2012 activities.

    Lastly, Parliament also made a series of observations on internal audits and called on the Institute to provide the discharge authority with a detailed report on the implementation of the IAS’ recommendations.

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  • 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 Institute of Innovation and Technology (EIT) for the financial year 2013.

    It called on the European Parliament to postpone its decision on granting the Director of the EIT discharge in respect of the implementation of the Institute’s budget for the financial year 2013.

    Members also called on the Parliament to postpone the closure of the Institute’s accounts for the financial year 2013.

    They pointed out the basis for a qualified opinion on the legality and regularity of the underlying transactions for the second consecutive year. They noted that about 87% of grant expenditure claimed by the beneficiaries is covered by certificates issued by independent audit firms, which are contracted by the beneficiaries themselves and their partners. They regretted that although the Institute continued to make efforts to implement effective ex ante verifications and give better guidance to the independent audit firms, the Court found their quality as insufficient. They called on the Institute to address this issue and to inform the discharge authority about the steps taken by 1 September 2015.

    Members pointed out that payments in respect of two framework contracts concluded in 2010 and 2012 using a negotiated procedure and amounting to EUR 770 000 were found as irregular as according to the audit, the use of a negotiated procedure was not justified. The combined error rate related to grant issues and framework contract payments is between 2% and 3% of the Institute’s total 2013 expenditure.

    They regretted that according to the Court’s report, the complementary activities of the KICs as beneficiaries of the Institute’s grants will not be audited before 2015. They called on the Institute to inform the discharge authority on the state of play regarding the abovementioned audit by 1 September 2015.

    Members made a number of general recommendations that appear in the draft resolution on performance, financial management and control of EU agencies.

    Institute’s financial statement: Members noted that the final budget of the Institute for the financial year 2013 was EUR 142 197 740 for commitment appropriations, representing an increase of 47.05% compared to 2012. The overall contribution of the Union to the Institute's budget for 2013 amounted to EUR 93 462 181, representing an increase of 36.05% compared to 2012.

    Commitments and carry-overs: Members noted from the Institute’s final accounts that its budget monitoring efforts during the financial year 2013 resulted in a budget implementation rate of 96.97% and that the execution rate of payments against payment appropriations was 96.86%. They noted with concern that the budget implementation rate for staff expenditure was low at 74% as well as administrative expenditure. They acknowledged that these carry-overs mainly concerned invoices not yet received and ongoing IT projects. The execution rate was relatively low at 82% due to KICs not fully absorbing the available funding for 2012 activities.

    Members also made a series of observations on internal audits.

activities/5
date
2015-04-29T00:00:00
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EP
type
Vote in plenary scheduled
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Old
Indicative plenary sitting date, 1st reading/single reading
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Debate in plenary scheduled
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  • url: http://www.europarl.europa.eu/sides/getDoc.do?type=REPORT&mode=XML&reference=A8-2015-0077&language=EN type: Committee report tabled for plenary, single reading title: A8-0077/2015
activities/3
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2015-03-30T00:00:00
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EP
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Old
Awaiting committee decision
New
Awaiting Parliament 1st reading / single reading / budget 1st stage
activities/2
date
2015-03-23T00:00:00
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EP
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2014-07-30T00:00:00
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DG: url: http://ec.europa.eu/dgs/budget/ title: Budget Commissioner: GEORGIEVA Kristalina
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EC
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  • DG: url: http://ec.europa.eu/dgs/budget/ title: Budget Commissioner: GEORGIEVA Kristalina
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  • url: http://www.europarl.europa.eu/registre/docs_autres_institutions/commission_europeenne/com/2014/0510/COM_COM(2014)0510_FR.pdf title: COM(2014)0510 type: Non-legislative basic document published celexid: CELEX:52014DC0510:EN
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2015-03-23T00:00:00
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DG
Commissioner
GEORGIEVA Kristalina
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GEORGIEVA Kristalina
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545fbdc8d1d1c57505000000
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activities/0/docs/0/text
  • 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 Institute of Innovation and Technology (EIT).

    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 Institute of Innovation and Technology (EIT).

    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.

    EIT: in 2013, the tasks and budget of this agency were as follows:

    • description of the EIT's tasks: the EIT, which is located in Budapest, was set up by Regulation (EC) No 294/2008 of the European Parliament and of the Council. The Institute’s objective is to contribute to sustainable European economic growth and competitiveness by reinforcing the innovation capacity of the Member States and the European Union. The Institute shall: (i) raise awareness among potential partner organisations and encourage their participation in its activities; (ii) select and designate Knowledge and Innovation Communities (KICs) in the priority fields; (iii) mobilise funds from public and private sources to encourage the innovation process; (iv) encourage the recognition in the Member States of degrees and diplomas which are awarded by higher education institutions that are partner organisations,…
    • EIT's budget for the 2013 financial year: the EIT’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 142 million;

    - paid : EUR 138 million;

    - carried-over : EUR 1 million.

    §         Payment appropriations :

    - committed : EUR 106 million;

    - paid : EUR 102 million;

    - carried-over : EUR 2 million.

    Please refer also to the final accounts of the EIT.

activities/1/committees/0/shadows
  • group: EPP name: ZDECHOVSKÝ Tomáš
  • group: S&D name: VAUGHAN Derek
  • group: GUE/NGL name: DE JONG Dennis
  • group: EFD name: VALLI Marco
  • group: NI name: ALIOT Louis
committees/0/shadows
  • group: EPP name: ZDECHOVSKÝ Tomáš
  • group: S&D name: VAUGHAN Derek
  • group: GUE/NGL name: DE JONG Dennis
  • group: EFD name: VALLI Marco
  • group: NI name: ALIOT Louis
activities
  • date: 2014-07-30T00:00:00 docs: url: http://www.europarl.europa.eu/registre/docs_autres_institutions/commission_europeenne/com/2014/0510/COM_COM(2014)0510_FR.pdf celexid: CELEX:52014DC0510:EN type: Non-legislative basic document published title: COM(2014)0510 type: Non-legislative basic document published body: EC commission:
  • date: 2014-10-20T00:00:00 body: EP type: Committee referral announced in Parliament, 1st reading/single reading committees: body: EP responsible: True committee: CONT date: 2014-10-09T00:00:00 committee_full: Budgetary Control rapporteur: group: ECR name: CZARNECKI Ryszard body: EP responsible: False committee_full: Industry, Research and Energy committee: ITRE
  • date: 2015-03-24T00:00:00 body: EP type: Vote scheduled in committee, 1st reading/single reading
  • date: 2015-04-28T00:00:00 body: EP type: Indicative plenary sitting date, 1st reading/single reading
committees
  • body: EP responsible: True committee: CONT date: 2014-10-09T00:00:00 committee_full: Budgetary Control rapporteur: group: ECR name: CZARNECKI Ryszard
  • body: EP responsible: False committee_full: Industry, Research and Energy committee: ITRE
links
other
    procedure
    dossier_of_the_committee
    CONT/8/01592
    reference
    2014/2125(DEC)
    title
    2013 discharge: European Institute of Innovation and Technology (EIT)
    stage_reached
    Awaiting committee decision
    type
    DEC - Discharge procedure
    subject
    8.70.03.03 2013 discharge