BETA


2015/2199(DEC) 2014 discharge: Artemis Joint Undertaking to implement a Joint Technology Initiative in Embedded Computing Systems

Progress: Procedure completed

RoleCommitteeRapporteurShadows
Lead CONT MARINESCU Marian-Jean (icon: PPE PPE) FITTO Raffaele (icon: ECR ECR), GERBRANDY Gerben-Jan (icon: ALDE ALDE), ŠOLTES Igor (icon: Verts/ALE Verts/ALE), VALLI Marco (icon: EFDD EFDD), KAPPEL Barbara (icon: ENF ENF)
Lead committee dossier:

Events

2016/12/08
   Final act published in Official Journal
Details

PURPOSE: to grant discharge to the Artemis Joint Undertaking for the financial year 2014.

NON-LEGISLATIVE ACT: Decision (EU) 2016/2157 of the European Parliament on discharge in respect of the implementation of the budget of the Artemis Joint Undertaking for the financial year 2014.

CONTENT: with this Decision, the European Parliament granted the Executive Director of the ECSEL Joint Undertaking (formerly the Artemis Joint Undertaking and the ENIAC Joint Undertaking) discharge in respect of the implementation of the Artemis Joint Undertaking's budget for the financial year 2014.

This decision is in line with the European Parliament's resolution adopted on 27 October 2016 and comprises a series of observations that form an integral part of the discharge decision (please refer to the summary of the opinion of 27 October 2016).

Among Parliament’s main observations made in the resolution accompanying the discharge decision, it expressed concern that the Court of Auditors issued a qualified opinion regarding the regularity and legality of the underlying transactions regarding the audit of project cost claims.

Parliament noted, however, that the ECSEL JTI has corrected most of the irregularities noted above.

2016/10/27
   EP - Decision by Parliament
Details

The European Parliament decided to grant the Executive Director of the ECSEL Joint Undertaking (formerly the ENIAC Joint Undertaking and the ARTEMIS Joint Undertaking) discharge in respect of the implementation of the joint undertaking’s budget for the financial year 2014.

At the same time, Parliament approved the closure of ITER’s accounts.

Parliament also adopted by 498 votes to 108, with 18 abstentions, a resolution containing a number of recommendations that form an integral part of the discharge decision granted in plenary.

The principal observations made by Parliament may be summarised as follows:

Budgetary and financial management : Parliament noted the Joint Undertaking’s accounts for the period 1 January 2014 to 26 June 2014 present fairly, in all material respects, its financial position on 26 June 2014. It recalled that the Joint Undertaking and the ENIAC Joint Undertaking were merged to create the Electronic Components and Systems for European leadership Joint Technology Initiative (‘ECSEL JTI’), which started its activity in June 2014 and will run for 10 years. It was concerned that the Court of Auditors in its report on the annual accounts of the Joint Undertaking for the financial year 2014 issued a qualified opinion regarding the regularity and legality of the underlying transactions on the grounds that the administrative agreements signed with the national funding authorities regarding the audit of project cost claims do not include practical arrangements for ex-post audits. Members noted that ECSEL JTI carried out an extensive assessment of the effectiveness of the assurance systems for a sample of 10 ARTEMIS and ENIAC Member States and noted that the assessment demonstrated that the coverage rate is three times higher than the threshold of 20% above which the national systems are considered sufficient as per the ex-post audit strategy. Parliament further noted that the ECSEL JTI has invited NFAs to produce evidence that the implementation of the national procedures provide a reasonable assurance on the legality and regularity of transactions. It remarked that by the deadline of 30 June 2016, 76 % of the NFAs so invited submitted the documents required and confirmed that the implementation of the national procedures provides a reasonable assurance on the legality and regularity of transactions. Internal control : Parliament was concerned concern that the Joint Undertaking took no action regarding some internal control standards relating to information and financial reporting and that this was due to the impending merger. In the meantime, ECSEL JTI achieved substantial progress with regard to the implementation of the ICS and establishing internal audit capability.

Documents
2016/10/27
   EP - End of procedure in Parliament
2016/10/26
   EP - Debate in Parliament
2016/09/29
   EP - Committee report tabled for plenary
Details

The Committee on Budgetary Control adopted the second report by Marian-Jean MARINESCU (EPP, RO) on discharge in respect of the implementation of the budget of the ARTEMIS Joint Undertaking for the financial year 2014.

The committee called on the European Parliament to grant the Executive Director of the ECSEL Joint Undertaking (formerly the ARTEMIS Joint Undertaking and the ENIAC Joint Undertaking) discharge in respect of the implementation of the ARTEMIS Joint Undertaking’s budget for the financial year 2014 .

In parallel, Members called on the Parliament to close the accounts of the Joint Undertaking for 2014.

They made a series of specific recommendations which may be summarised as follows:

Budgetary and financial management : Members recalled that the Joint Undertaking and the ENIAC Joint Undertaking were merged to create the Electronic Components and Systems for European leadership Joint Technology Initiative (‘ECSEL JTI’), which started its activity in June 2014 and will run for 10 years. They are concerned that the Court of Auditors in its report on the annual accounts of the Joint Undertaking for the financial year 2014 issued a qualified opinion regarding the regularity and legality of the underlying transactions on the grounds that the administrative agreements signed with the national funding authorities regarding the audit of project cost claims do not include practical arrangements for ex-post audits. Members noted that ECSEL JTI carried out an extensive assessment of the effectiveness of the assurance systems for a sample of 10 ARTEMIS and ENIAC Member States and noted that the assessment demonstrated that the coverage rate is three times higher than the threshold of 20% above which the national systems are considered sufficient as per the ex-post audit strategy. Internal control : Members noted with concern that the Joint Undertaking took no action regarding some internal control standards relating to information and financial reporting and that this was due to the impending merger. In the meantime, ECSEL JTI achieved substantial progress with regard to the implementation of the ICS and establishing internal audit capability.

Documents
2016/09/26
   EP - Vote in committee
2016/09/07
   EP - Amendments tabled in committee
Documents
2016/07/05
   EP - Committee draft report
Documents
2016/05/25
   EP - MARINESCU Marian-Jean (PPE) appointed as rapporteur in CONT
2016/04/28
   EP - Results of vote in Parliament
2016/04/28
   EP - Decision by Parliament
Details

The European Parliament decided to postpone its decision to grant discharge to the Executive Director of the ECSEL Joint Undertaking in respect of the implementation of Atemis’s budget for the financial year 2014 .

It postponed the closure of the accounts of the Artemis Joint Undertaking (in accordance with Annex V, Article 5 (1)(b) to Parliament’s Rules of Procedure.

Parliament adopted by 600 votes to 35, with 0 abstentions, a resolution containing a series of recommendations, which form an integral part of the decision on discharge and which add to the general recommendations set out in the resolution on performance, financial management and control of EU agencies:

General remark : Parliament recalled that the Joint Undertaking and the ENIAC Joint Undertaking (ENIAC) were merged to create the Electronic Components and Systems for European leadership Joint Technology Initiative (ECSEL JTI), which started its activity in June 2014 and will run for 10 years. Qualified opinion of the Court of Auditors : Parliament are concerned that the Court in its report on the annual accounts of the Joint Undertaking issued a qualified opinion regarding the regularity and legality of the underlying transactions on the grounds that the administrative agreements signed with the national funding authorities (‘NFAs’) regarding the audit of project cost claims do not include practical arrangements for ex-post audits. It noted that the Joint Undertaking did not assess the quality of the audit reports received from the NFAs concerning the costs relating to completed projects even though the ECSEL JTI confirmed that its extensive assessment of the national assurance systems concluded that they can provide reasonable protection of the financial interests of the Joint Undertaking’s members. Parliament invited the ECSEL initiative to further strengthen its controls and the Court to collect additional and necessary documents and information as an alternative way to justify its opinion. Parliament also called on the ECSEL JTI, following the assessment of the procedures applied by the NFAs , to invite the NFAs to produce evidence that the implementation of the national procedures provides a reasonable assurance on the legality and regularity of transactions. Budget and financial management : Parliament noted the Joint Undertaking's final budget for the financial year 2014 included commitment appropriations of EUR 2 554 510 and payment appropriations of EUR 30 330 178 (operational). It noted that the utilisation rate for administrative commitment appropriations was 38 % due to the merger of the Joint Undertaking and ENIAC in June 2014 and to the fact that the budget was adopted for the whole year.

Parliament noted the limited amount of information regarding in-kind and cash contribution. It called on the Court to include, in its reports to come, concrete provisions regarding the evaluation procedure and the level of in-kind and cash-paid contribution.

Lastly, Parliament issued a series of observations on internal audits, the undertakings legal framework, and on the issue of the management of conflicts of interest.

Documents
2016/04/28
   EP - Report referred back to committee
2016/04/27
   EP - Debate in Parliament
2016/04/07
   EP - Committee report tabled for plenary
Details

The Committee on Budgetary Control adopted the report by Marian-Jean MARINESCU (EPP, RO) on discharge in respect of the implementation of the budget of the Artemis Joint Undertaking for the financial year 2014.

The parliamentary committee calls on the European Parliament to postpone its decision to grant the Executive Director of the joint undertaking the discharge in respect of the implementation of the joint undertaking's budget for the financial year 2014 .

Accordingly, Members call on Parliament to delay the approval the closure of the joint undertaking’s accounts.

They made, however, a number of recommendations that need to be taken into account when the discharge is granted. They may be summarised as follows:

General remark: Members recall that the Joint Undertaking and the ENIAC Joint Undertaking (ENIAC) were merged to create the Electronic Components and Systems for European leadership Joint Technology Initiative (ECSEL JTI), which started its activity in June 2014 and will run for 10 years. Qualified opinion of the Court of Auditors: Members are concerned that the Court in its report on the annual accounts of the Joint Undertaking issued a qualified opinion regarding the regularity and legality of the underlying transactions on the grounds that the administrative agreements signed with the national funding authorities (‘NFAs’) regarding the audit of project cost claims do not include practical arrangements for ex-post audits. They note that the Joint Undertaking did not assess the quality of the audit reports received from the NFAs concerning the costs relating to completed projects even though the ECSEL JTI confirmed that its extensive assessment of the national assurance systems concluded that they can provide reasonable protection of the financial interests of the Joint Undertaking’s members. Members invite the ECSEL initiative to further strengthen its controls and the Court to collect additional and necessary documents and information as an alternative way to justify its opinion. Budget and financial management: Members note the Joint Undertaking's final budget for the financial year 2014 included commitment appropriations of EUR 2 554 510 and payment appropriations of EUR 30 330 178 (operational). They note that the utilisation rate for administrative commitment appropriations was 38 % due to the merger of the Joint Undertaking and ENIAC in June 2014 and to the fact that the budget was adopted for the whole year.

Members note the limited amount of information regarding in-kind and cash contribution. They call on the Court to include, in its reports to come, concrete provisions regarding the evaluation procedure and the level of in-kind and cash-paid contribution.

Lastly, Members issue a series of observations on internal audits, the undertakings legal framework, and on the issue of the management of conflicts of interest.

Documents
2016/04/04
   EP - Vote in committee
2016/03/04
   EP - Amendments tabled in committee
Documents
2016/02/03
   EP - Committee draft report
Documents
2016/01/27
   CSL - Supplementary non-legislative basic document
Details

Having examined the revenue and expenditure accounts for the period 1 January 2014 to 26 June 2014 and the balance sheet as at 26 June 2014 of the ARTEMIS Joint Undertaking, as well as the Court of Auditors' report on the annual accounts of the Joint Undertaking for the period 1 January 2014 to 26 June 2014, accompanied by the Joint Undertaking's replies to the Court's observations, the Council recommended the European Parliament to give a discharge to the Executive Director of the ECSEL Joint Undertaking in respect of the implementation of the budget of the Joint Undertaking for the period 1 January 2014 to 26 June 2014.

The Council recalled that the ECSEL Joint Undertaking has replaced and succeeded the ARTEMIS Joint Undertaking and that discharge should be given to the Executive Director of the ECSEL Joint Undertaking.

The Council welcomed the Court's opinion that, in all material respects, the Joint Undertaking's annual accounts present fairly its financial position as at 26 June 2014 and the results of its operations and its cash flows for the year then ended, in accordance with the provisions of the Joint Undertaking's Financial Rules, and that the underlying transactions for the period 1 January 2014 to 26 June 2014 are legal and regular in all material respects.

Nevertheless, the Council made the following observations:

legality and regularity of transactions : the Council regretted that the Court gave a qualified opinion on the legality and regularity of transactions underlying the accounts of the Joint Undertaking. In the Court's assessment, the Joint Undertaking's ex-post audit strategy does not provide sufficient assurance that this key control tool is functioning effectively. Even though the National Funding Authorities (NFAs), are responsible for ex-post audits, the Joint Undertaking did not assess the quality of those audits nor was reliable information provided to enable the calculation of an error rate. The Council called on the ECSEL Joint Undertaking, as the successor Joint Undertaking, to ensure that the future audit strategies address these shortcomings; implementation rate : the Council took note of the Court's observation concerning the low implementation rate of the administrative commitment appropriations due to the merger with the ENIAC Joint Undertaking that took place in June 2014; financial regulation : the Council also noted that the new provisions of the Financial Regulation were implemented with a delay and that the Joint Undertaking's Financial Rules were not modified due to the merger that took place in June 2014.

Documents
2015/10/20
   CofA - Court of Auditors: opinion, report
Details

PURPOSE: presentation of the EU Court of Auditors’ report on the annual accounts of the Artemis Joint Undertaking for the financial year 2014, together with the Joint Undertaking’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 Artemis Joint Undertaking (Embedded Computing Systems).

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 ARTEMIS Joint Undertaking, which comprise the financial statements and the reports on the implementation of the budget for the financial year ended 31 December 2014; the legality and regularity of the transactions underlying those accounts.

Opinion on the reliability of the accounts : in the Court’s opinion, the Joint Undertaking’s annual accounts present fairly, in all material respects, its financial position as at 31 December 2014 and the results of its operations and its cash flows for the year then ended, in accordance with the provisions of its financial rules and the accounting rules adopted by the Commission’s accounting officer.

Basis for a qualified opinion on the legality and regularity of the transactions underlying the accounts : the Court noted that for this Joint Undertaking, the audit of project cost claims has been delegated to the national funding authorities of the Member States (NFAs). However, Artemis did not assess the quality of these audits. The Court performed an assessment of the audit strategies, including audit reports, of national funding authorities. It indicates that the methodologies used did not allow the Joint Undertaking to calculate a reliable weighted error rate nor a residual error rate. Therefore the Court feels that it is not possible to conclude whether ex-post audits are functioning effectively. Hence, it gave a qualified opinion. The audit also revealed the following points:

financial and budgetary management : the utilisation rate for administrative commitment appropriations was 38 % because the merger took place in June whereas the budget was adopted for the whole year; procurement: the Court notes that the amount of appropriations committed for the calls for proposals was 48 % of the total budget (as against 49% at 31 December 2013) to cover operational expenditure; internal control : the Joint Undertaking’s ex-post audit strategy is a key tool for assessing the legality and regularity of the underlying transactions. The administrative agreements do not include practical arrangements for ex-post audits, and the Court has given a qualified opinion on this point.

Cross-cutting remarks for all the Joint undertakings : the monitoring and reporting of research results is laid down in the Seventh Framework Programme (FP7). In the grant agreements signed with members and other beneficiaries, the Joint Undertakings have included specific provisions governing intellectual property rights and the dissemination of research activities and results. The implementation of these provisions is monitored by the Joint Undertakings at different stages of the funded projects and significant progress has been achieved in 2014. However, in order to meet the requirements of Horizon 2020 and to better contribute to the dissemination of FP7 research results, the Court considers that cooperation between the Joint Undertakings and the Commission must be developed as much as possible with special regard to the further integration of some of the Joint Undertakings’ data into the Commission’s systems.

The Court also indicates that there is room to improve procedures, in particular in the implementation of the ex-post audit strategy, and cooperation with the Commission as regards the integration of the research results.

Replies of the Joint Undertaking : the Joint Undertaking replies point by point to all the technical remarks made by the Court of Auditors. It indicates particularly, that the ECSEL Joint Undertaking undertook extensive assessments of the national assurance systems and concluded that the latter can provide a reasonable protection of the financial interests of the Joint Undertaking members. However, as indicated by the Court, the national methodologies do not allow the calculation of a weighted error rate nor a residual error rate for the projects launched under ARTEMIS and ENIAC Joint Undertakings.

With regard to the activities of the Joint Undertaking in 2014 , the report refers to the Joint Undertaking’s latest available annual activity report for 2013 available at the following address:

http://www.artemis-ju.eu/reference_documents

It should be noted that the budget for the Joint Undertaking was EUR 2 554 510 for commitments and EUR 30 330 178 for payments (operational).

Remark: the ARTEMIS and ENIAC Joint Undertakings were merged to create ECSEL (the Electronic Components and Systems for European Leadership Joint Undertaking.)

The latter combines not only the Artemis JU on embedded systems and ENIAC JU on nanoelectronics, but also integrates work on implementing a research agenda for the development of key technologies for embedded computing systems across different application areas. ECSEL JU started its activities on 27 June 2014 and will run for 10 years.

2015/10/05
   EP - Committee referral announced in Parliament
2015/07/23
   EC - Non-legislative basic document
Details

PURPOSE: presentation by the Commission of the consolidated annual accounts of the European Union for the financial year 2014, as part of the 2014 discharge procedure.

Analysis of the accounts of the Artemis Joint Undertaking .

CONTENT: this Commission document sets out the consolidated annual accounts of the European Union for the financial year 2014 as prepared on the basis of the information presented by the institutions, organisations and bodies of the EU, in accordance with Article 148 (2) of the Financial Regulation applicable to the EU's General Budget, including the Artemis Joint Undertaking.

The document contains the figures on which the discharge procedure is based.

On this basis, the Financial Controller of the European Commission ensures the certification of the consolidated accounts as declared by the institutions, agencies and joint undertakings of the European Union.

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.

This document sets out how the Joint Undertakings spent and implemented their budget in 2014. Each JU is subject to its own discharge procedure.

ARTEMIS : in 2014, the tasks and budget of the Joint Undertaking were as follows:

description of the tasks of the Joint Undertaking : the joint undertaking, which is located in Brussels (BE), was set up in 2007 by Council Regulation 74/2008/EC for a period of 10 years. The main objective of the Joint Undertaking is to implement a 'Research Agenda' for the development of key technologies for Embedded Computing Systems across different application areas; implementation of appropriations of the JU : as of 18 June 2014, the accounts of the ARTEMIS Joint Undertaking and ENIAC have been integrated in a new structure called ECSEL. At 31 December, 2014, the Commission held 95.47% ownership of the ECSEL joint undertaking. The accounts of Artemis were regularly audited for the period up to the integration of Artemis.

Please also consult Artemis Joint Undertaking’s final accounts.

2015/07/22
   EC - Non-legislative basic document published
Details

PURPOSE: presentation by the Commission of the consolidated annual accounts of the European Union for the financial year 2014, as part of the 2014 discharge procedure.

Analysis of the accounts of the Artemis Joint Undertaking .

CONTENT: this Commission document sets out the consolidated annual accounts of the European Union for the financial year 2014 as prepared on the basis of the information presented by the institutions, organisations and bodies of the EU, in accordance with Article 148 (2) of the Financial Regulation applicable to the EU's General Budget, including the Artemis Joint Undertaking.

The document contains the figures on which the discharge procedure is based.

On this basis, the Financial Controller of the European Commission ensures the certification of the consolidated accounts as declared by the institutions, agencies and joint undertakings of the European Union.

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.

This document sets out how the Joint Undertakings spent and implemented their budget in 2014. Each JU is subject to its own discharge procedure.

ARTEMIS : in 2014, the tasks and budget of the Joint Undertaking were as follows:

description of the tasks of the Joint Undertaking : the joint undertaking, which is located in Brussels (BE), was set up in 2007 by Council Regulation 74/2008/EC for a period of 10 years. The main objective of the Joint Undertaking is to implement a 'Research Agenda' for the development of key technologies for Embedded Computing Systems across different application areas; implementation of appropriations of the JU : as of 18 June 2014, the accounts of the ARTEMIS Joint Undertaking and ENIAC have been integrated in a new structure called ECSEL. At 31 December, 2014, the Commission held 95.47% ownership of the ECSEL joint undertaking. The accounts of Artemis were regularly audited for the period up to the integration of Artemis.

Please also consult Artemis Joint Undertaking’s final accounts.

Documents

Activities

Votes

A8-0092/2016 - Marian-Jean Marinescu - Résolution #

2016/04/28 Outcome: +: 600, -: 35
DE FR IT ES PL RO HU BE NL AT GB BG PT CZ EL SK SE DK IE HR FI LV LT EE SI MT CY LU
Total
78
66
62
42
45
25
19
20
26
18
54
16
16
21
17
13
14
11
10
10
9
8
8
6
6
6
5
4
icon: PPE PPE
191

Finland PPE

2
2

Estonia PPE

For (1)

1

Cyprus PPE

1

Luxembourg PPE

2
icon: S&D S&D
158

Netherlands S&D

3
3

Ireland S&D

For (1)

1

Croatia S&D

2

Finland S&D

1

Latvia S&D

1

Estonia S&D

For (1)

1

Malta S&D

3

Cyprus S&D

2

Luxembourg S&D

For (1)

1
icon: ALDE ALDE
58

Romania ALDE

2

Austria ALDE

For (1)

1

Sweden ALDE

1

Ireland ALDE

For (1)

1

Croatia ALDE

2

Finland ALDE

2

Latvia ALDE

1

Lithuania ALDE

2

Estonia ALDE

3

Luxembourg ALDE

For (1)

1
icon: ECR ECR
58

Italy ECR

For (1)

1

Romania ECR

For (1)

1

Netherlands ECR

2

Bulgaria ECR

2

Czechia ECR

2

Greece ECR

For (1)

1

Croatia ECR

For (1)

1
2

Latvia ECR

For (1)

1
icon: Verts/ALE Verts/ALE
42

Hungary Verts/ALE

For (1)

1

Belgium Verts/ALE

2

Netherlands Verts/ALE

2

Austria Verts/ALE

3

United Kingdom Verts/ALE

5

Sweden Verts/ALE

3

Croatia Verts/ALE

For (1)

1

Finland Verts/ALE

For (1)

1

Latvia Verts/ALE

1

Lithuania Verts/ALE

For (1)

1

Estonia Verts/ALE

For (1)

1

Slovenia Verts/ALE

For (1)

1
icon: GUE/NGL GUE/NGL
42

France GUE/NGL

Against (1)

3

Netherlands GUE/NGL

3

United Kingdom GUE/NGL

1

Portugal GUE/NGL

3

Sweden GUE/NGL

For (1)

1

Denmark GUE/NGL

For (1)

1

Finland GUE/NGL

For (1)

1

Cyprus GUE/NGL

2
icon: ENF ENF
38

Germany ENF

For (1)

1

Poland ENF

For (1)

1

Romania ENF

1

Belgium ENF

Against (1)

1

Netherlands ENF

4

United Kingdom ENF

Against (1)

1
icon: NI NI
11

Germany NI

Against (1)

1

France NI

2

Poland NI

1

Hungary NI

2

United Kingdom NI

For (1)

1
icon: EFDD EFDD
37

Germany EFDD

Against (1)

1

Poland EFDD

1

Czechia EFDD

Against (1)

1

Sweden EFDD

Against (1)

1

Lithuania EFDD

For (1)

1

A8-0276/2016 - Marian-Jean Marinescu - Résolution #

2016/10/27 Outcome: +: 498, -: 108, 0: 18
DE IT ES RO FR PT HU SE NL CZ BE AT IE BG EL PL HR SI LT MT SK EE DK LU FI CY LV GB
Total
80
63
46
25
60
20
18
19
24
15
20
16
9
12
18
42
9
7
8
6
12
5
10
4
8
6
5
56
icon: PPE PPE
176

Lithuania PPE

For (1)

1

Estonia PPE

For (1)

1

Denmark PPE

For (1)

1

Luxembourg PPE

2

Finland PPE

2

Cyprus PPE

1
icon: S&D S&D
167

Netherlands S&D

2

Czechia S&D

3

Ireland S&D

For (1)

1

Croatia S&D

2

Slovenia S&D

For (1)

1

Malta S&D

3
3

Estonia S&D

For (1)

1

Luxembourg S&D

For (1)

1

Finland S&D

1

Cyprus S&D

2
icon: ALDE ALDE
58

Romania ALDE

2

Ireland ALDE

For (1)

1

Croatia ALDE

2

Slovenia ALDE

For (1)

1
2

Estonia ALDE

2

Denmark ALDE

2

Luxembourg ALDE

For (1)

1

Finland ALDE

2

United Kingdom ALDE

1
icon: Verts/ALE Verts/ALE
38

France Verts/ALE

3

Hungary Verts/ALE

2

Netherlands Verts/ALE

2

Belgium Verts/ALE

2

Austria Verts/ALE

3

Croatia Verts/ALE

For (1)

1

Lithuania Verts/ALE

For (1)

1

Estonia Verts/ALE

For (1)

1

Denmark Verts/ALE

For (1)

1

Latvia Verts/ALE

1

United Kingdom Verts/ALE

4
icon: GUE/NGL GUE/NGL
45

Portugal GUE/NGL

For (1)

4

Sweden GUE/NGL

For (1)

1

Netherlands GUE/NGL

3

Czechia GUE/NGL

1

Ireland GUE/NGL

3

Finland GUE/NGL

For (1)

1

Cyprus GUE/NGL

2

United Kingdom GUE/NGL

1
icon: EFDD EFDD
36

Germany EFDD

Against (1)

1

France EFDD

Against (1)

1

Sweden EFDD

2

Czechia EFDD

Against (1)

1

Poland EFDD

1

Lithuania EFDD

For (1)

1
icon: NI NI
12

Germany NI

For (1)

1

Italy NI

For (1)

1

France NI

1

Hungary NI

2

Poland NI

Abstain (1)

1

United Kingdom NI

Against (1)

1
icon: ENF ENF
31

Germany ENF

Against (1)

1

Netherlands ENF

3

Belgium ENF

Against (1)

1

Austria ENF

3

Poland ENF

2

United Kingdom ENF

Against (1)

1
icon: ECR ECR
60

Italy ECR

Against (1)

1

Romania ECR

For (1)

1

Netherlands ECR

2

Czechia ECR

2

Bulgaria ECR

2

Greece ECR

Against (1)

1

Croatia ECR

Against (1)

1

Lithuania ECR

Against (1)

1

Denmark ECR

Abstain (1)

3

Finland ECR

2

Cyprus ECR

Against (1)

1

Latvia ECR

Against (1)

1
AmendmentsDossier
19 2015/2199(DEC)
2016/03/04 CONT 8 amendments...
source: 576.931
2016/09/06 CONT 11 amendments...
source: 589.129

History

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

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  • body: EC dg: Budget commissioner: GEORGIEVA Kristalina
committees
  • type: Responsible Committee body: EP committee_full: Budgetary Control committee: CONT associated: False date: 2016-05-25T00:00:00 rapporteur: name: MARINESCU Marian-Jean group: European People's Party (Christian Democrats) abbr: PPE shadows: name: FITTO Raffaele group: European Conservatives and Reformists abbr: ECR name: GERBRANDY Gerben-Jan group: Alliance of Liberals and Democrats for Europe abbr: ALDE name: DE JONG Dennis group: European United Left - Nordic Green Left abbr: GUE/NGL name: ŠOLTES Igor group: Greens/European Free Alliance abbr: Verts/ALE name: VALLI Marco group: Europe of Freedom and Direct Democracy abbr: EFDD name: KAPPEL Barbara group: Europe of Nations and Freedom abbr: ENF
docs
  • date: 2015-10-20T00:00:00 docs: url: https://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/TXT/?uri=OJ:C:2015:422:TOC title: OJ C 422 17.12.2015, p. 0009 title: N8-0001/2016 summary: PURPOSE: presentation of the EU Court of Auditors’ report on the annual accounts of the Artemis Joint Undertaking for the financial year 2014, together with the Joint Undertaking’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 Artemis Joint Undertaking (Embedded Computing Systems). 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 ARTEMIS Joint Undertaking, which comprise the financial statements and the reports on the implementation of the budget for the financial year ended 31 December 2014; the legality and regularity of the transactions underlying those accounts. Opinion on the reliability of the accounts : in the Court’s opinion, the Joint Undertaking’s annual accounts present fairly, in all material respects, its financial position as at 31 December 2014 and the results of its operations and its cash flows for the year then ended, in accordance with the provisions of its financial rules and the accounting rules adopted by the Commission’s accounting officer. Basis for a qualified opinion on the legality and regularity of the transactions underlying the accounts : the Court noted that for this Joint Undertaking, the audit of project cost claims has been delegated to the national funding authorities of the Member States (NFAs). However, Artemis did not assess the quality of these audits. The Court performed an assessment of the audit strategies, including audit reports, of national funding authorities. It indicates that the methodologies used did not allow the Joint Undertaking to calculate a reliable weighted error rate nor a residual error rate. Therefore the Court feels that it is not possible to conclude whether ex-post audits are functioning effectively. Hence, it gave a qualified opinion. The audit also revealed the following points: financial and budgetary management : the utilisation rate for administrative commitment appropriations was 38 % because the merger took place in June whereas the budget was adopted for the whole year; procurement: the Court notes that the amount of appropriations committed for the calls for proposals was 48 % of the total budget (as against 49% at 31 December 2013) to cover operational expenditure; internal control : the Joint Undertaking’s ex-post audit strategy is a key tool for assessing the legality and regularity of the underlying transactions. The administrative agreements do not include practical arrangements for ex-post audits, and the Court has given a qualified opinion on this point. Cross-cutting remarks for all the Joint undertakings : the monitoring and reporting of research results is laid down in the Seventh Framework Programme (FP7). In the grant agreements signed with members and other beneficiaries, the Joint Undertakings have included specific provisions governing intellectual property rights and the dissemination of research activities and results. The implementation of these provisions is monitored by the Joint Undertakings at different stages of the funded projects and significant progress has been achieved in 2014. However, in order to meet the requirements of Horizon 2020 and to better contribute to the dissemination of FP7 research results, the Court considers that cooperation between the Joint Undertakings and the Commission must be developed as much as possible with special regard to the further integration of some of the Joint Undertakings’ data into the Commission’s systems. The Court also indicates that there is room to improve procedures, in particular in the implementation of the ex-post audit strategy, and cooperation with the Commission as regards the integration of the research results. Replies of the Joint Undertaking : the Joint Undertaking replies point by point to all the technical remarks made by the Court of Auditors. It indicates particularly, that the ECSEL Joint Undertaking undertook extensive assessments of the national assurance systems and concluded that the latter can provide a reasonable protection of the financial interests of the Joint Undertaking members. However, as indicated by the Court, the national methodologies do not allow the calculation of a weighted error rate nor a residual error rate for the projects launched under ARTEMIS and ENIAC Joint Undertakings. With regard to the activities of the Joint Undertaking in 2014 , the report refers to the Joint Undertaking’s latest available annual activity report for 2013 available at the following address: http://www.artemis-ju.eu/reference_documents It should be noted that the budget for the Joint Undertaking was EUR 2 554 510 for commitments and EUR 30 330 178 for payments (operational). Remark: the ARTEMIS and ENIAC Joint Undertakings were merged to create ECSEL (the Electronic Components and Systems for European Leadership Joint Undertaking.) The latter combines not only the Artemis JU on embedded systems and ENIAC JU on nanoelectronics, but also integrates work on implementing a research agenda for the development of key technologies for embedded computing systems across different application areas. ECSEL JU started its activities on 27 June 2014 and will run for 10 years. type: Court of Auditors: opinion, report body: CofA
  • date: 2016-01-27T00:00:00 docs: url: http://register.consilium.europa.eu/content/out?lang=EN&typ=SET&i=ADV&RESULTSET=1&DOC_ID=5587%2F16&DOC_LANCD=EN&ROWSPP=25&NRROWS=500&ORDERBY=DOC_DATE+DESC title: 05587/2016 summary: Having examined the revenue and expenditure accounts for the period 1 January 2014 to 26 June 2014 and the balance sheet as at 26 June 2014 of the ARTEMIS Joint Undertaking, as well as the Court of Auditors' report on the annual accounts of the Joint Undertaking for the period 1 January 2014 to 26 June 2014, accompanied by the Joint Undertaking's replies to the Court's observations, the Council recommended the European Parliament to give a discharge to the Executive Director of the ECSEL Joint Undertaking in respect of the implementation of the budget of the Joint Undertaking for the period 1 January 2014 to 26 June 2014. The Council recalled that the ECSEL Joint Undertaking has replaced and succeeded the ARTEMIS Joint Undertaking and that discharge should be given to the Executive Director of the ECSEL Joint Undertaking. The Council welcomed the Court's opinion that, in all material respects, the Joint Undertaking's annual accounts present fairly its financial position as at 26 June 2014 and the results of its operations and its cash flows for the year then ended, in accordance with the provisions of the Joint Undertaking's Financial Rules, and that the underlying transactions for the period 1 January 2014 to 26 June 2014 are legal and regular in all material respects. Nevertheless, the Council made the following observations: legality and regularity of transactions : the Council regretted that the Court gave a qualified opinion on the legality and regularity of transactions underlying the accounts of the Joint Undertaking. In the Court's assessment, the Joint Undertaking's ex-post audit strategy does not provide sufficient assurance that this key control tool is functioning effectively. Even though the National Funding Authorities (NFAs), are responsible for ex-post audits, the Joint Undertaking did not assess the quality of those audits nor was reliable information provided to enable the calculation of an error rate. The Council called on the ECSEL Joint Undertaking, as the successor Joint Undertaking, to ensure that the future audit strategies address these shortcomings; implementation rate : the Council took note of the Court's observation concerning the low implementation rate of the administrative commitment appropriations due to the merger with the ENIAC Joint Undertaking that took place in June 2014; financial regulation : the Council also noted that the new provisions of the Financial Regulation were implemented with a delay and that the Joint Undertaking's Financial Rules were not modified due to the merger that took place in June 2014. type: Supplementary non-legislative basic document body: CSL
  • date: 2016-02-03T00:00:00 docs: url: http://www.europarl.europa.eu/sides/getDoc.do?type=COMPARL&mode=XML&language=EN&reference=PE571.618 title: PE571.618 type: Committee draft report body: EP
  • date: 2016-03-04T00:00:00 docs: url: http://www.europarl.europa.eu/sides/getDoc.do?type=COMPARL&mode=XML&language=EN&reference=PE576.931 title: PE576.931 type: Amendments tabled in committee body: EP
  • date: 2016-07-05T00:00:00 docs: url: http://www.europarl.europa.eu/sides/getDoc.do?type=COMPARL&mode=XML&language=EN&reference=PE584.108 title: PE584.108 type: Committee draft report body: EP
  • date: 2016-09-07T00:00:00 docs: url: http://www.europarl.europa.eu/sides/getDoc.do?type=COMPARL&mode=XML&language=EN&reference=PE589.129 title: PE589.129 type: Amendments tabled in committee body: EP
events
  • date: 2015-07-23T00:00:00 type: Non-legislative basic document published body: EC docs: url: http://www.europarl.europa.eu/RegData/docs_autres_institutions/commission_europeenne/com/2015/0377/COM_COM(2015)0377_EN.pdf title: COM(2015)0377 url: https://eur-lex.europa.eu/smartapi/cgi/sga_doc?smartapi!celexplus!prod!DocNumber&lg=EN&type_doc=COMfinal&an_doc=2015&nu_doc=0377 title: EUR-Lex summary: PURPOSE: presentation by the Commission of the consolidated annual accounts of the European Union for the financial year 2014, as part of the 2014 discharge procedure. Analysis of the accounts of the Artemis Joint Undertaking . CONTENT: this Commission document sets out the consolidated annual accounts of the European Union for the financial year 2014 as prepared on the basis of the information presented by the institutions, organisations and bodies of the EU, in accordance with Article 148 (2) of the Financial Regulation applicable to the EU's General Budget, including the Artemis Joint Undertaking. The document contains the figures on which the discharge procedure is based. On this basis, the Financial Controller of the European Commission ensures the certification of the consolidated accounts as declared by the institutions, agencies and joint undertakings of the European Union. 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. This document sets out how the Joint Undertakings spent and implemented their budget in 2014. Each JU is subject to its own discharge procedure. ARTEMIS : in 2014, the tasks and budget of the Joint Undertaking were as follows: description of the tasks of the Joint Undertaking : the joint undertaking, which is located in Brussels (BE), was set up in 2007 by Council Regulation 74/2008/EC for a period of 10 years. The main objective of the Joint Undertaking is to implement a 'Research Agenda' for the development of key technologies for Embedded Computing Systems across different application areas; implementation of appropriations of the JU : as of 18 June 2014, the accounts of the ARTEMIS Joint Undertaking and ENIAC have been integrated in a new structure called ECSEL. At 31 December, 2014, the Commission held 95.47% ownership of the ECSEL joint undertaking. The accounts of Artemis were regularly audited for the period up to the integration of Artemis. Please also consult Artemis Joint Undertaking’s final accounts.
  • date: 2015-10-05T00:00:00 type: Committee referral announced in Parliament, 1st reading/single reading body: EP
  • date: 2016-04-04T00:00:00 type: Vote in committee, 1st reading/single reading body: EP
  • date: 2016-04-07T00:00:00 type: Committee report tabled for plenary, single reading body: EP docs: url: http://www.europarl.europa.eu/sides/getDoc.do?type=REPORT&mode=XML&reference=A8-2016-0092&language=EN title: A8-0092/2016 summary: The Committee on Budgetary Control adopted the report by Marian-Jean MARINESCU (EPP, RO) on discharge in respect of the implementation of the budget of the Artemis Joint Undertaking for the financial year 2014. The parliamentary committee calls on the European Parliament to postpone its decision to grant the Executive Director of the joint undertaking the discharge in respect of the implementation of the joint undertaking's budget for the financial year 2014 . Accordingly, Members call on Parliament to delay the approval the closure of the joint undertaking’s accounts. They made, however, a number of recommendations that need to be taken into account when the discharge is granted. They may be summarised as follows: General remark: Members recall that the Joint Undertaking and the ENIAC Joint Undertaking (ENIAC) were merged to create the Electronic Components and Systems for European leadership Joint Technology Initiative (ECSEL JTI), which started its activity in June 2014 and will run for 10 years. Qualified opinion of the Court of Auditors: Members are concerned that the Court in its report on the annual accounts of the Joint Undertaking issued a qualified opinion regarding the regularity and legality of the underlying transactions on the grounds that the administrative agreements signed with the national funding authorities (‘NFAs’) regarding the audit of project cost claims do not include practical arrangements for ex-post audits. They note that the Joint Undertaking did not assess the quality of the audit reports received from the NFAs concerning the costs relating to completed projects even though the ECSEL JTI confirmed that its extensive assessment of the national assurance systems concluded that they can provide reasonable protection of the financial interests of the Joint Undertaking’s members. Members invite the ECSEL initiative to further strengthen its controls and the Court to collect additional and necessary documents and information as an alternative way to justify its opinion. Budget and financial management: Members note the Joint Undertaking's final budget for the financial year 2014 included commitment appropriations of EUR 2 554 510 and payment appropriations of EUR 30 330 178 (operational). They note that the utilisation rate for administrative commitment appropriations was 38 % due to the merger of the Joint Undertaking and ENIAC in June 2014 and to the fact that the budget was adopted for the whole year. Members note the limited amount of information regarding in-kind and cash contribution. They call on the Court to include, in its reports to come, concrete provisions regarding the evaluation procedure and the level of in-kind and cash-paid contribution. Lastly, Members issue a series of observations on internal audits, the undertakings legal framework, and on the issue of the management of conflicts of interest.
  • date: 2016-04-27T00:00:00 type: Debate in Parliament body: EP docs: url: http://www.europarl.europa.eu/sides/getDoc.do?secondRef=TOC&language=EN&reference=20160427&type=CRE title: Debate in Parliament
  • date: 2016-04-28T00:00:00 type: Results of vote in Parliament body: EP docs: url: https://oeil.secure.europarl.europa.eu/oeil/popups/sda.do?id=27011&l=en title: Results of vote in Parliament
  • date: 2016-04-28T00:00:00 type: Decision by Parliament, 1st reading/single reading body: EP docs: url: http://www.europarl.europa.eu/sides/getDoc.do?type=TA&language=EN&reference=P8-TA-2016-0192 title: T8-0192/2016 summary: The European Parliament decided to postpone its decision to grant discharge to the Executive Director of the ECSEL Joint Undertaking in respect of the implementation of Atemis’s budget for the financial year 2014 . It postponed the closure of the accounts of the Artemis Joint Undertaking (in accordance with Annex V, Article 5 (1)(b) to Parliament’s Rules of Procedure. Parliament adopted by 600 votes to 35, with 0 abstentions, a resolution containing a series of recommendations, which form an integral part of the decision on discharge and which add to the general recommendations set out in the resolution on performance, financial management and control of EU agencies: General remark : Parliament recalled that the Joint Undertaking and the ENIAC Joint Undertaking (ENIAC) were merged to create the Electronic Components and Systems for European leadership Joint Technology Initiative (ECSEL JTI), which started its activity in June 2014 and will run for 10 years. Qualified opinion of the Court of Auditors : Parliament are concerned that the Court in its report on the annual accounts of the Joint Undertaking issued a qualified opinion regarding the regularity and legality of the underlying transactions on the grounds that the administrative agreements signed with the national funding authorities (‘NFAs’) regarding the audit of project cost claims do not include practical arrangements for ex-post audits. It noted that the Joint Undertaking did not assess the quality of the audit reports received from the NFAs concerning the costs relating to completed projects even though the ECSEL JTI confirmed that its extensive assessment of the national assurance systems concluded that they can provide reasonable protection of the financial interests of the Joint Undertaking’s members. Parliament invited the ECSEL initiative to further strengthen its controls and the Court to collect additional and necessary documents and information as an alternative way to justify its opinion. Parliament also called on the ECSEL JTI, following the assessment of the procedures applied by the NFAs , to invite the NFAs to produce evidence that the implementation of the national procedures provides a reasonable assurance on the legality and regularity of transactions. Budget and financial management : Parliament noted the Joint Undertaking's final budget for the financial year 2014 included commitment appropriations of EUR 2 554 510 and payment appropriations of EUR 30 330 178 (operational). It noted that the utilisation rate for administrative commitment appropriations was 38 % due to the merger of the Joint Undertaking and ENIAC in June 2014 and to the fact that the budget was adopted for the whole year. Parliament noted the limited amount of information regarding in-kind and cash contribution. It called on the Court to include, in its reports to come, concrete provisions regarding the evaluation procedure and the level of in-kind and cash-paid contribution. Lastly, Parliament issued a series of observations on internal audits, the undertakings legal framework, and on the issue of the management of conflicts of interest.
  • date: 2016-04-28T00:00:00 type: Report referred back to committee body: EP
  • date: 2016-09-26T00:00:00 type: Vote in committee, 1st reading/single reading body: EP
  • date: 2016-09-29T00:00:00 type: Committee report tabled for plenary, single reading body: EP docs: url: http://www.europarl.europa.eu/sides/getDoc.do?type=REPORT&mode=XML&reference=A8-2016-0276&language=EN title: A8-0276/2016 summary: The Committee on Budgetary Control adopted the second report by Marian-Jean MARINESCU (EPP, RO) on discharge in respect of the implementation of the budget of the ARTEMIS Joint Undertaking for the financial year 2014. The committee called on the European Parliament to grant the Executive Director of the ECSEL Joint Undertaking (formerly the ARTEMIS Joint Undertaking and the ENIAC Joint Undertaking) discharge in respect of the implementation of the ARTEMIS Joint Undertaking’s budget for the financial year 2014 . In parallel, Members called on the Parliament to close the accounts of the Joint Undertaking for 2014. They made a series of specific recommendations which may be summarised as follows: Budgetary and financial management : Members recalled that the Joint Undertaking and the ENIAC Joint Undertaking were merged to create the Electronic Components and Systems for European leadership Joint Technology Initiative (‘ECSEL JTI’), which started its activity in June 2014 and will run for 10 years. They are concerned that the Court of Auditors in its report on the annual accounts of the Joint Undertaking for the financial year 2014 issued a qualified opinion regarding the regularity and legality of the underlying transactions on the grounds that the administrative agreements signed with the national funding authorities regarding the audit of project cost claims do not include practical arrangements for ex-post audits. Members noted that ECSEL JTI carried out an extensive assessment of the effectiveness of the assurance systems for a sample of 10 ARTEMIS and ENIAC Member States and noted that the assessment demonstrated that the coverage rate is three times higher than the threshold of 20% above which the national systems are considered sufficient as per the ex-post audit strategy. Internal control : Members noted with concern that the Joint Undertaking took no action regarding some internal control standards relating to information and financial reporting and that this was due to the impending merger. In the meantime, ECSEL JTI achieved substantial progress with regard to the implementation of the ICS and establishing internal audit capability.
  • date: 2016-10-26T00:00:00 type: Debate in Parliament body: EP docs: url: http://www.europarl.europa.eu/sides/getDoc.do?secondRef=TOC&language=EN&reference=20161026&type=CRE title: Debate in Parliament
  • date: 2016-10-27T00:00:00 type: Decision by Parliament, 1st reading/single reading body: EP docs: url: http://www.europarl.europa.eu/sides/getDoc.do?type=TA&language=EN&reference=P8-TA-2016-0420 title: T8-0420/2016 summary: The European Parliament decided to grant the Executive Director of the ECSEL Joint Undertaking (formerly the ENIAC Joint Undertaking and the ARTEMIS Joint Undertaking) discharge in respect of the implementation of the joint undertaking’s budget for the financial year 2014. At the same time, Parliament approved the closure of ITER’s accounts. Parliament also adopted by 498 votes to 108, with 18 abstentions, a resolution containing a number of recommendations that form an integral part of the discharge decision granted in plenary. The principal observations made by Parliament may be summarised as follows: Budgetary and financial management : Parliament noted the Joint Undertaking’s accounts for the period 1 January 2014 to 26 June 2014 present fairly, in all material respects, its financial position on 26 June 2014. It recalled that the Joint Undertaking and the ENIAC Joint Undertaking were merged to create the Electronic Components and Systems for European leadership Joint Technology Initiative (‘ECSEL JTI’), which started its activity in June 2014 and will run for 10 years. It was concerned that the Court of Auditors in its report on the annual accounts of the Joint Undertaking for the financial year 2014 issued a qualified opinion regarding the regularity and legality of the underlying transactions on the grounds that the administrative agreements signed with the national funding authorities regarding the audit of project cost claims do not include practical arrangements for ex-post audits. Members noted that ECSEL JTI carried out an extensive assessment of the effectiveness of the assurance systems for a sample of 10 ARTEMIS and ENIAC Member States and noted that the assessment demonstrated that the coverage rate is three times higher than the threshold of 20% above which the national systems are considered sufficient as per the ex-post audit strategy. Parliament further noted that the ECSEL JTI has invited NFAs to produce evidence that the implementation of the national procedures provide a reasonable assurance on the legality and regularity of transactions. It remarked that by the deadline of 30 June 2016, 76 % of the NFAs so invited submitted the documents required and confirmed that the implementation of the national procedures provides a reasonable assurance on the legality and regularity of transactions. Internal control : Parliament was concerned concern that the Joint Undertaking took no action regarding some internal control standards relating to information and financial reporting and that this was due to the impending merger. In the meantime, ECSEL JTI achieved substantial progress with regard to the implementation of the ICS and establishing internal audit capability.
  • date: 2016-10-27T00:00:00 type: End of procedure in Parliament body: EP
  • date: 2016-12-08T00:00:00 type: Final act published in Official Journal summary: PURPOSE: to grant discharge to the Artemis Joint Undertaking for the financial year 2014. NON-LEGISLATIVE ACT: Decision (EU) 2016/2157 of the European Parliament on discharge in respect of the implementation of the budget of the Artemis Joint Undertaking for the financial year 2014. CONTENT: with this Decision, the European Parliament granted the Executive Director of the ECSEL Joint Undertaking (formerly the Artemis Joint Undertaking and the ENIAC Joint Undertaking) discharge in respect of the implementation of the Artemis Joint Undertaking's budget for the financial year 2014. This decision is in line with the European Parliament's resolution adopted on 27 October 2016 and comprises a series of observations that form an integral part of the discharge decision (please refer to the summary of the opinion of 27 October 2016). Among Parliament’s main observations made in the resolution accompanying the discharge decision, it expressed concern that the Court of Auditors issued a qualified opinion regarding the regularity and legality of the underlying transactions regarding the audit of project cost claims. Parliament noted, however, that the ECSEL JTI has corrected most of the irregularities noted above.
procedure
reference
2015/2199(DEC)
title
2014 discharge: Artemis Joint Undertaking to implement a Joint Technology Initiative in Embedded Computing Systems
subject
type
DEC - Discharge procedure
stage_reached
Procedure completed
dossier_of_the_committee
CONT/8/06503
final