Activites

• 2015/04/29 Decision by Parliament, 1st reading/single reading
  • T8-0166/2015 summary

    The European Parliament decided by 559 votes to 126, with 3 abstentions, to grant discharge to the Executive Director of the Fuel Cells and Hydrogen Joint Undertaking (FCH2) 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 FCH2 Joint Undertaking for the financial year 2013 are reliable, and that the underlying transactions are legal and regular, Parliament adopted by 575 votes to 99, with 9 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: Budgetary and financial management: Parliament noted that the Joint Undertaking's final budget for the financial year 2013 included commitment appropriations of EUR 74.5 million and payment appropriations of EUR 69.7 million. It observed moreover, that the utilisation rates for commitment and payment appropriations were 98.9% and 56.7% respectively. The level of payment appropriations is lower than the previous year was due to the postponement of funding of three projects. Conflicts of interests: other than the weaknesses noted by the Court, Parliament remarked that FCH2 had put in place specific measures in order to prevent conflicts of interest in respect of its three key stakeholders - Governing Board members, experts and employees - such as a clear definition of conflict of interest with a database of all related information and process for managing them. It noted that the written procedure regarding the specific measures was submitted to the Governing Board in November 2014. Other observations: Parliament also made a series of observations on the legal framework of the Joint Undertaking, and the current call for proposals. It took note that the Joint Undertaking, along with ARTEMIS, Clean Sky, Eniac and IMI Joint Undertakings, was the subject of an IT risk assessment of the common IT infrastructure performed by the Commission’s Internal Audit Service. Members observed that FCH 2 had introduced a new IT tool which helped with the analysis and synthesis of the results of finished projects and reporting the first public foreground deliverables arising from complex projects. They called on the Joint Undertaking to submit a report to the discharge authority on the social-economic benefits of the projects already completed and called for this report to be accompanied by an assessment carried out by the Commission. Parliament acknowledged the Joint Undertaking’s efforts to examine the possibility of using the Commission’s IT system for monitoring purposes related to the protection, dissemination and transfer of research results as well as to develop its reporting on results. Lastly, it recalled that the discharge authority had previously requested the Court to 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.

• 2015/04/28 Debate in Parliament
  • Debate in Parliament
• 2015/03/31 Committee report tabled for plenary, single reading
  • A8-0112/2015 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 Fuel Cells and Hydrogen Joint Undertaking for the financial year 2013. It called on the European Parliament to grant the Executive Director of the Fuel Cells and Hydrogen 2 (FCH 2) Joint Undertaking 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 FCH 2 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 FCH 2’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. ·        Budgetary and financial management: Members noted that the Joint Undertaking's final budget for the financial year 2013 included commitment appropriations of EUR 74.5 million and payment appropriations of EUR 69.7 million. They observed moreover, that the utilisation rates for commitment and payment appropriations were 98.9 % and 56.7 % respectively. the level of payment appropriations is lower than the previous year was due to the postponement of funding of three projects. ·        Conflicts of interests: other than the weaknesses noted by the Court, Members remarked that FCH2 had put in place specific measures in order to prevent conflicts of interest in respect of its three key stakeholders - Governing Board members, experts and employees - such as a clear definition of conflict of interest with a database of all related information and process for managing them. They noted that the written procedure regarding the specific measures was submitted to the Governing Board in November 2014. Other observations: the committee also made a series of observations on the legal framework of the Joint Undertaking, and the current call for proposals. It took note that the Joint Undertaking, along with ARTEMIS, Clean Sky, Eniac and IMI Joint Undertakings, was the subject of an IT risk assessment of the common IT infrastructure performed by the Commission’s Internal Audit Service. Members observed that FCH 2 had introduced a new IT tool which helped with the analysis and synthesis of the results of finished projects and reporting the first public foreground deliverables arising from complex projects. They called on the Joint Undertaking to submit a report to the discharge authority on the social-economic benefits of the projects already completed. They acknowledged the Joint Undertaking’s efforts to examine the possibility of using the Commission’s IT system for monitoring purposes related to the protection, dissemination and transfer of research results as well as to develop its reporting on results. Lastly, Members recalled that the discharge authority had previously requested the Court to 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.

• 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 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 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 FCH Joint Undertaking. The document contains the figures on which the discharge procedure is based. Discharge procedure of the EU Joint Undertakings: 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 and Joint Undertakings (JUs) do not have a separate budget inside the EU budget; and they are partially financed by a Commission budget subsidy. Each JU is subject to its own discharge procedure. FCH JU: in 2013, 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 objective of the FCH Joint Undertaking is to combine resources from the public and private sectors to strengthen research activities with a view to increasing the overall efficiency of European research efforts and accelerate the development and deployment of fuel cell and hydrogen technologies; accounts of the JU: the maximum indicative contribution of the EU amounts to EUR 470 million up to 31 December 2017, At 31 December 2013, the Commission held 74.2% of the ownership participation in FCH. The cumulative unrecognised share of losses is EUR 67 million. Please also consult the final accounts of FCH Joint Undertaking.

  • 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: A8-0112/2015
• Debate in Parliament: Debate in Parliament
• Decision by Parliament, 1st reading/single reading: T8-0166/2015

Amendments

Dossier

8

2014/2134(DEC) 2015/03/05 CONT 8 amendments... Amendment 1 # Richard SULÍK, Richard ASHWORTH, Beata GOSIEWSKA Proposal for a decision 1 Paragraph 1 1. Grants the Executive Director of the Fuel Cells and Hydrogen 2 Joint Undertaking discharge in respect of the implementation of the Fuel Cells and Hydrogen Joint Undertaking’s budget for the financial year 2013 / Postpones its decision on granting the Executive Director of the Fuel Cells and Hydrogen 2 Joint Undertaking discharge in respect of the implementation of the Fuel Cells and Hydrogen Joint Undertaking’s budget for the financial year 2013; Amendment 2 # Richard SULÍK, Richard ASHWORTH, Beata GOSIEWSKA Proposal for a decision 2 Paragraph 1 1. Approves the closure of the accounts of the Fuel Cells and Hydrogen Joint Undertaking for the financial year 2013 / Postpones the closure of the accounts of the Fuel Cells and Hydrogen Joint Undertaking for the financial year 2013; Amendment 3 # Marian-Jean MARINESCU Motion for a resolution Paragraph 4 a (new) 4 a. Calls on the Joint Undertaking to submit a report to the European Parliament concerning the contributions of all members other than the Commission, including the application of the methodology for assessing, together with an assessment by the Commission; Amendment 4 # Marian-Jean MARINESCU Motion for a resolution Paragraph 5 a (new) 5 a. Notes the Joint Statement by the European Parliament, the Council and the Commission and the subsequent political agreement reached on the separate discharge for Joint Undertakings under Article 209 of the Financial Regulation Amendment 5 # Marian-Jean MARINESCU Motion for a resolution Paragraph 5 b (new) 5 b. Calls on the Court of Auditors to present a complete and appropriate financial assessments of rights and obligations of Joint Undertaking for the period up to the date of Fuel Cells and Hydrogen 2 Joint Undertaking starting activity. Amendment 6 # Zigmantas BALČYTIS Motion for a resolution Paragraph 10 10. Points out that between November 2012 and May 2013, the Commission's second interim evaluation of the Joint Undertaking was carried out; notes that the report contains several recommendations, such as assigning of more resources to operations through the sharing of administrative functions with other Joint Undertakings and/or returning them to the Commission's services as well as a sharper focus on the research strategy for the continuation of the Joint Undertaking in Horizon 2020 in accordance with the three main principles (alignment with EU policies; areas where Europe has or can achieve leadership; adaptation to the changing needs of the sector) and strengthening of the capacity for change; acknowledges that an action plan is being revised by the Joint Undertaking in order to address these aspects; Amendment 7 # Marian-Jean MARINESCU Motion for a resolution Paragraph 11 a (new) 11 a. Calls on the Joint Undertaking to submit a report to the discharge authority on the social-economic benefits of the already completed projects; calls for that report to be submitted to the discharge authority together with an assessment by the Commission; Amendment 8 # Marian-Jean MARINESCU Motion for a resolution Paragraph 12 a (new) 12 a. Recalls that the discharge authority has 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 source: 549.354

History

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