BETA


2017/2148(DEC) 2016 discharge: European Foundation for the Improvement of Living and Working Conditions (Eurofound)

Progress: Procedure completed

RoleCommitteeRapporteurShadows
Lead CONT STAES Bart (icon: Verts/ALE Verts/ALE) SARVAMAA Petri (icon: PPE PPE), LIBERADZKI Bogusław (icon: S&D S&D), FITTO Raffaele (icon: ECR ECR), ALI Nedzhmi (icon: ALDE ALDE), VALLI Marco (icon: EFDD EFDD), KAPPEL Barbara (icon: ENF ENF)
Committee Opinion EMPL ROLIN Claude (icon: PPE PPE) Marian HARKIN (icon: ALDE ALDE), Jean LAMBERT (icon: Verts/ALE Verts/ALE), Paloma LÓPEZ BERMEJO (icon: GUE/NGL GUE/NGL), Siôn SIMON (icon: S&D S&D), Ulrike TREBESIUS (icon: ECR ECR)
Lead committee dossier:

Events

2018/10/03
   Final act published in Official Journal
Details

PURPOSE: to grant discharge to the European Foundation for the Improvement of Living and Working Conditions (Eurofound) for the financial year 2016.

NON-LEGISLATIVE ACT: Decision (EU) 2018/1418 of the European Parliament on discharge in respect of the implementation of the budget of the European Foundation for the Improvement of Living and Working Conditions for the financial year 2016.

CONTENT: the European Parliament decided to grant discharge to the Director of Eurofound for the implementation of the latter’s budget for the financial year 2016.

This decision is accompanied by a resolution of the European Parliament containing the observations which form an integral part of the discharge decision in respect of the implementation of the general budget of the European Union for the financial year 2016 ( please refer to the summary dated 18.4.2018 ).

In this resolution, Parliament welcomed the successful implementation of the Foundation's four-year work programme with a high level of organisational effectiveness, as evidenced by an overall improvement of the Foundation’s key performance indicators.

2018/04/18
   EP - Results of vote in Parliament
2018/04/18
   EP - Debate in Parliament
2018/04/18
   EP - Decision by Parliament
Details

The European Parliament decided to grant discharge to the Director of the European Foundation for the Improvement of Living and Working Conditions (Eurofound) in regard to the implementation of the Foundation’s budget for the 2016 financial year and to approve the closure of the accounts for the financial year in question.

Noting that the Court of Auditors has stated that it has obtained reasonable assurances that the Foundation’s annual accounts for the financial year 2016 are reliable and that the underlying transactions are legal and regular , Parliament adopted by 559 votes to 130 with 5 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 .

Foundation’s financial statements: the final budget of the European Foundation for the Improvement of Living and Working Conditions for the financial year 2016 was EUR 20 789 500, representing a decrease of 1.72 % compared to 2015. Budget and financial management: budget monitoring efforts during the financial year 2016 resulted in a budget implementation rate of 99.99 % and that the payment appropriations execution rate was 84.80 %, representing a decrease of 2.55 % compared to 2015. Members expressed concern about the negative budgetary impact of the growing Irish country coefficient which increasingly risks undermining the financial capability of the Foundation to deliver on its mandate. They expect action to be taken by the Institutions of the Union to offset the effects. Commitments and carry-overs: the level of committed appropriations carried forward to 2017 was high at EUR 2.8 million (43 %) for operational expenditure, compared to EUR 2.1 million (31 %) in 2015, mainly in relation to projects (studies and pilot schemes) going beyond the year end. The report recommended to the Foundation that it may consider introducing differentiated budget appropriations in order to better reflect the multiannual nature of operations and unavoidable delays between the signature of contracts, deliveries and payments. Carry-overs may often be justified and do not necessarily indicate weaknesses in budget planning and implementation.

Members also made a series of observations regarding the prevention and management of conflicts of interests, procurement and staff policy and internal controls and audits.

They recalled that staffing cuts have been implemented with great difficulty and reiterated their concern towards any further cuts which would limit the agencies' ability to carry out their mandate. They also emphasised the need to establish an independent body with sufficient budgetary resources to support whistleblowers wishing to disclose information on possible irregularities negatively impacting on the Union’s financial interests, while ensuring their confidentiality is protected.

With regard to internal audits , Members noted with satisfaction that the Foundation and the internal audit service (IAS) agreed on a plan to take corrective action against the weaknesses found in the Foundation’s management of projects, mainly in relation to governance arrangements, monitoring and reporting.

Lastly, Parliament welcomed the Foundation's high-quality analysis and policy input as regards living and working conditions, industrial relations and employment and labour market developments. It noted how strongly the Foundation has contributed to combating poverty and fraudulent contracting of work in several actions across the Union.

Documents
2018/04/18
   EP - End of procedure in Parliament
2018/03/23
   EP - Committee report tabled for plenary
Details

The Committee on Budgetary Control adopted the report by Bart STAES (Greens/EFA, BE) on discharge in respect of the implementation of the budget of the European Foundation for the Improvement of Living and Working Conditions (Eurofound) for the financial year 2016.

The committee called on the European Parliament to grant the Director of the Foundation discharge in respect of the implementation of the Foundation’s budget for the financial year 2016.

Noting that the Court of Auditors stated that it had obtained reasonable assurance that the annual accounts of the Foundation for the financial year 2016 were reliable and that the underlying transactions were legal and regular, Members called on Parliament to approve the closure of the Foundation’s accounts.

They made, however, a number of recommendations that needed to be taken into account when the discharge is granted, in addition to the general recommendations that appear in the draft resolution on performance, financial management and control of EU agencies :

Foundation’s financial statements : the final budget of the European Foundation for the Improvement of Living and Working Conditions for the financial year 2016 was EUR 20 789 500, representing a decrease of 1.72 % compared to 2015. Budget and financial management : budget monitoring efforts during the financial year 2016 resulted in a budget implementation rate of 99.99 % and that the payment appropriations execution rate was 84.80 %, representing a decrease of 2.55 % compared to 2015. Members expressed concern about the negative budgetary impact of the growing Irish country coefficient which increasingly risks undermining the financial capability of the Foundation to deliver on its mandate. They expect action to be taken by the Institutions of the Union to offset the effects. Commitments and carry-overs : the level of committed appropriations carried forward to 2017 was high at EUR 2.8 million (43 %) for operational expenditure, compared to EUR 2.1 million (31 %) in 2015, mainly in relation to projects (studies and pilot schemes) going beyond the year end. The report recommended to the Foundation that it may consider introducing differentiated budget appropriations in order to better reflect the multiannual nature of operations and unavoidable delays between the signature of contracts, deliveries and payments. Carry-overs may often be justified and do not necessarily indicate weaknesses in budget planning and implementation.

Members also made a series of observations regarding the prevention and management of conflicts of interests, procurement and staff policy and internal controls and audits.

They recalled that staffing cuts have been implemented with great difficulty and reiterated their concern towards any further cuts which would limit the agencies' ability to carry out their mandate.

On internal audits , Members noted with satisfaction that the Foundation and the internal audit service (IAS) agreed on a plan to take corrective action against the weaknesses found in the Foundation’s management of projects, mainly in relation to governance arrangements, monitoring and reporting.

Members also noted how strongly the Foundation has contributed to combating poverty and fraudulent contracting of work in several actions across the Union.

Documents
2018/03/20
   EP - Vote in committee
2018/03/02
   EP - Amendments tabled in committee
Documents
2018/02/09
   CSL - Supplementary non-legislative basic document
Details

Having examined the revenue and expenditure accounts for the financial year 2016 and the balance sheet as at 31 December 2016 of the European Foundation for the Improvement of Living and Working Conditions (EUROFOUND), as well as the Court of Auditors' report on the annual accounts of the Foundation for the financial year 2016, accompanied by the Foundation's replies to the Court's observations, the Council recommended the European Parliament to give a discharge to the Director of the Foundation in respect of the implementation of the budget for the financial year 2016.

The Council welcomed the Court's opinion that, in all material respects, the Foundation's annual accounts present fairly its financial position as at 31 December 2016 and the results of its operations and its cash flows for the year then ended, in accordance with the provisions of the Foundation's Financial Regulation, and that the underlying transactions for 2016 are legal and regular in all material respects.

Nevertheless, the following observations were made:

carry-overs : the Council regretted that, in spite of its recommendations for 2015, an even higher level of commitment appropriations was carried over to 2017. The Council called on the Foundation to continue improving its financial programming and monitoring of the budget implementation, in order to reduce the level of commitments carried over to the following financial year to the minimum strictly necessary, in line with the budgetary principle of annuality; staff : the Council noted the Court's observation that the Foundation has not complied with certain of the Staff Regulations' provisions on remuneration and, while welcoming the Foundation's corrective actions, invited the Foundation to improve its payroll function.

Documents
2018/01/24
   EP - Committee opinion
Documents
2018/01/24
   EP - Committee draft report
Documents
2017/10/03
   EP - ROLIN Claude (PPE) appointed as rapporteur in EMPL
2017/09/14
   EP - STAES Bart (Verts/ALE) appointed as rapporteur in CONT
2017/09/13
   EP - Committee referral announced in Parliament
2017/09/12
   CofA - Court of Auditors: opinion, report
Details

PURPOSE: presentation of the EU Court of Auditors’ report on the annual accounts of the European Foundation for the Improvement of Living and Working Conditions (EUROFOUND) for the financial year 2016, together with the Foundation’s reply.

CONTENT: in accordance with the tasks conferred on the Court of Auditors by the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union, the Court presents to the European Parliament and to the Council, in the context of the discharge procedure, a Statement of Assurance as to the reliability of the annual accounts of each institution, body or agency of the EU, and the legality and regularity of the transactions underlying them, on the basis of an independent external audit.

This audit concerned, amongst others, the annual accounts of the European Foundation for the Improvement of Living and Working Conditions ( EUROFOUND ). In brief, the Foundation’s task is to contribute to the planning and establishment of better living and working conditions in the Union by increasing and disseminating knowledge which is relevant to this subject.

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 Foundation, which comprise the financial statements and the reports on the implementation of the budget for the financial year ended 31 December 2016; the legality and regularity of the transactions underlying those accounts.

Opinion on the reliability of the accounts : in the Court’s opinion, the Foundation’s annual accounts present fairly, in all material respects, its financial position as at 31 December 2016 and the results of its operations and its cash flows for the year then ended, in accordance with the provisions of its Financial Regulation and the accounting rules adopted by the Commission’s accounting officer.

Opinion on the legality and regularity of the transactions underlying the accounts : the Court considers that the transactions underlying the annual accounts for the year ended 31 December 2016 are legal and regular in all material respects.

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

The Court’s observations :

budgetary management : the Court noted that the level of committed appropriations increased for operational expenditure at EUR 2.8 million, i.e. 43 % (2015: EUR 2.1 million, i.e. 31 %), mainly in relation to projects (studies and pilot schemes) going beyond the year end. The high level of carry-overs is in contradiction with the budgetary principle of annuality. The Foundation may consider introducing differentiated budget appropriations to better reflect the multi annual nature of operations and unavoidable delays between the signature of contracts, deliveries and payments.

The Foundation’s reply :

budgetary management : Eurofound acknowledged the observation of the Court as regards the high level of carry-overs. It stressed that it distinguishes between planned and unplanned carry-overs. It considers this distinction useful to better reflect the multi-annual nature of operations. However, it is carefully considering introducing differentiated budget appropriations.

Lastly, the Court of Auditors’ report contains a summary of the Foundation’s key figures in 2016 :

Budget : EUR 20.8 million (in payment appropriations). Staff : 104 including officials, temporary and contract staff and seconded national experts.

2017/06/26
   EC - Non-legislative basic document
Details

PURPOSE: presentation by the Commission of the consolidated annual accounts of the European Union for the financial year 2016, as part of the 2016 discharge procedure.

Analysis of the accounts of the European Foundation for the Improvement of Living and Working Conditions (Eurofound) .

CONTENT: the organisational governance of the EU consists of institutions, agencies and other EU bodies whose expenditure is included in the general budget of the Union.

This Commission document concerns the EU's consolidated accounts for the year 2016 and details how spending by the EU institutions and bodies was carried out. The consolidated annual accounts of the EU provide financial information on the activities of the institutions, agencies and other bodies of the EU from an accrual accounting and budgetary perspective.

It is the responsibility of the Commission's Accounting Officer to prepare the EU's consolidated annual accounts and ensure that they present fairly, in all material aspects, the financial position, the result of the operations and the cashflows of the EU institutions and bodies, including the European Foundation for the Improvement of Living and Working Conditions ( Eurofound ), with a view to granting discharge.

Discharge procedure : the final step of a budget lifecycle is the discharge of the budget for a given financial year. It represents the political aspect of the external control of budget implementation and is the decision by which the European Parliament, acting on a Council recommendation, " releases " the Commission (and other EU bodies) from its responsibility for management of a given budget by marking the end of that budget's existence. The European Parliament is the discharge authority within the EU.

The discharge procedure may produce three outcomes: (i) the granting; (ii) postponement or; (iii) the refusal of the discharge.

The final discharge report including specific recommendations to the Commission for action is adopted in plenary by the European Parliament and are subject to an annual follow up report in which the Commission outlines the concrete actions it has taken to implement the recommendations made.

Each agency is subject to its own discharge procedure, including Eurofound .

Eurofound : the Foundation, which is located in Dublin (IRL), was set up by Council Regulation (EEC) No 1365/75 aims to contribute to the planning and establishment of better living and working conditions in the Union by increasing and disseminating knowledge which is relevant to this subject.

As regards the Foundation’s accounts , these are presented in detail in the document on the consolidated annual accounts of the European Union for 2016:

Commitment appropriations :

available: EUR 21 million; made: EUR 21 million.

Payment appropriations :

available: EUR 24 million; made : EUR 20 million.

For further details on expenditure, please refer to Eurofound’s 2016 annual accounts .

2017/06/25
   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 2016, as part of the 2016 discharge procedure.

Analysis of the accounts of the European Foundation for the Improvement of Living and Working Conditions (Eurofound) .

CONTENT: the organisational governance of the EU consists of institutions, agencies and other EU bodies whose expenditure is included in the general budget of the Union.

This Commission document concerns the EU's consolidated accounts for the year 2016 and details how spending by the EU institutions and bodies was carried out. The consolidated annual accounts of the EU provide financial information on the activities of the institutions, agencies and other bodies of the EU from an accrual accounting and budgetary perspective.

It is the responsibility of the Commission's Accounting Officer to prepare the EU's consolidated annual accounts and ensure that they present fairly, in all material aspects, the financial position, the result of the operations and the cashflows of the EU institutions and bodies, including the European Foundation for the Improvement of Living and Working Conditions ( Eurofound ), with a view to granting discharge.

Discharge procedure : the final step of a budget lifecycle is the discharge of the budget for a given financial year. It represents the political aspect of the external control of budget implementation and is the decision by which the European Parliament, acting on a Council recommendation, " releases " the Commission (and other EU bodies) from its responsibility for management of a given budget by marking the end of that budget's existence. The European Parliament is the discharge authority within the EU.

The discharge procedure may produce three outcomes: (i) the granting; (ii) postponement or; (iii) the refusal of the discharge.

The final discharge report including specific recommendations to the Commission for action is adopted in plenary by the European Parliament and are subject to an annual follow up report in which the Commission outlines the concrete actions it has taken to implement the recommendations made.

Each agency is subject to its own discharge procedure, including Eurofound .

Eurofound : the Foundation, which is located in Dublin (IRL), was set up by Council Regulation (EEC) No 1365/75 aims to contribute to the planning and establishment of better living and working conditions in the Union by increasing and disseminating knowledge which is relevant to this subject.

As regards the Foundation’s accounts , these are presented in detail in the document on the consolidated annual accounts of the European Union for 2016:

Commitment appropriations :

available: EUR 21 million; made: EUR 21 million.

Payment appropriations :

available: EUR 24 million; made : EUR 20 million.

For further details on expenditure, please refer to Eurofound’s 2016 annual accounts .

Documents

Votes

A8-0092/2018 - Bart Staes - résolution 18/04/2018 13:03:40.000 #

2018/04/18 Outcome: +: 559, -: 130, 0: 5
DE IT ES FR RO PT HU SE NL BG BE CZ AT FI HR LT IE EL SK LV SI CY PL MT LU EE DK ?? GB
Total
86
65
48
68
30
20
18
20
25
16
20
17
18
13
11
10
10
20
12
7
7
6
48
6
5
4
11
1
70
icon: PPE PPE
201

Lithuania PPE

2

Cyprus PPE

1

Luxembourg PPE

3

Estonia PPE

For (1)

1

Denmark PPE

For (1)

1

United Kingdom PPE

2
icon: S&D S&D
178

Netherlands S&D

3

Croatia S&D

2

Ireland S&D

For (1)

1

Latvia S&D

1

Slovenia S&D

For (1)

1

Cyprus S&D

2

Malta S&D

3

Luxembourg S&D

For (1)

1

Denmark S&D

1
icon: ALDE ALDE
66

Romania ALDE

2

Portugal ALDE

1

Austria ALDE

For (1)

1

Croatia ALDE

2

Ireland ALDE

For (1)

1

Latvia ALDE

1

Slovenia ALDE

For (1)

1

Luxembourg ALDE

For (1)

1

Estonia ALDE

3

United Kingdom ALDE

1
icon: Verts/ALE Verts/ALE
48

Italy Verts/ALE

For (1)

1

Hungary Verts/ALE

For (1)

1

Netherlands Verts/ALE

2

Belgium Verts/ALE

2

Austria Verts/ALE

3

Finland Verts/ALE

For (1)

1

Croatia Verts/ALE

For (1)

1

Lithuania Verts/ALE

For (1)

1

Latvia Verts/ALE

1

Slovenia Verts/ALE

For (1)

1

Denmark Verts/ALE

For (1)

1
icon: GUE/NGL GUE/NGL
46

Sweden GUE/NGL

For (1)

1

Netherlands GUE/NGL

3

Czechia GUE/NGL

1

Finland GUE/NGL

For (1)

1

Ireland GUE/NGL

Against (1)

4

Cyprus GUE/NGL

2

Denmark GUE/NGL

Abstain (1)

1

United Kingdom GUE/NGL

1
icon: NI NI
18

France NI

Against (1)

2

Hungary NI

Abstain (1)

3

Denmark NI

1

NI

For (1)

1

United Kingdom NI

3
icon: EFDD EFDD
39

Germany EFDD

Against (1)

1

France EFDD

3

Sweden EFDD

2

Czechia EFDD

Against (1)

1

Lithuania EFDD

For (1)

1

Poland EFDD

1
icon: ENF ENF
32

Germany ENF

Against (1)

1

Netherlands ENF

3

Belgium ENF

Against (1)

1

Poland ENF

2

United Kingdom ENF

Against (1)

1
icon: ECR ECR
64

Italy ECR

2

Romania ECR

For (1)

Against (1)

2

Netherlands ECR

2

Bulgaria ECR

2
3

Czechia ECR

2

Finland ECR

2

Croatia ECR

Against (1)

1

Lithuania ECR

Against (1)

1

Greece ECR

Against (1)

1

Slovakia ECR

2

Cyprus ECR

1
AmendmentsDossier
31 2017/2148(DEC)
2017/12/06 EMPL 17 amendments...
source: 613.589
2018/03/02 CONT 14 amendments...
source: 618.266

History

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

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docs
  • date: 2017-09-12T00:00:00 docs: url: https://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/TXT/?uri=OJ:C:2017:417:TOC title: OJ C 417 06.12.2017, p. 0212 title: N8-0038/2018 summary: PURPOSE: presentation of the EU Court of Auditors’ report on the annual accounts of the European Foundation for the Improvement of Living and Working Conditions (EUROFOUND) for the financial year 2016, together with the Foundation’s reply. CONTENT: in accordance with the tasks conferred on the Court of Auditors by the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union, the Court presents to the European Parliament and to the Council, in the context of the discharge procedure, a Statement of Assurance as to the reliability of the annual accounts of each institution, body or agency of the EU, and the legality and regularity of the transactions underlying them, on the basis of an independent external audit. This audit concerned, amongst others, the annual accounts of the European Foundation for the Improvement of Living and Working Conditions ( EUROFOUND ). In brief, the Foundation’s task is to contribute to the planning and establishment of better living and working conditions in the Union by increasing and disseminating knowledge which is relevant to this subject. 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 Foundation, which comprise the financial statements and the reports on the implementation of the budget for the financial year ended 31 December 2016; the legality and regularity of the transactions underlying those accounts. Opinion on the reliability of the accounts : in the Court’s opinion, the Foundation’s annual accounts present fairly, in all material respects, its financial position as at 31 December 2016 and the results of its operations and its cash flows for the year then ended, in accordance with the provisions of its Financial Regulation and the accounting rules adopted by the Commission’s accounting officer. Opinion on the legality and regularity of the transactions underlying the accounts : the Court considers that the transactions underlying the annual accounts for the year ended 31 December 2016 are legal and regular in all material respects. The report also makes a series of observations on the budgetary and financial management of the Foundation, accompanied by the latter’s response. The main observations may be summarised as follows: The Court’s observations : budgetary management : the Court noted that the level of committed appropriations increased for operational expenditure at EUR 2.8 million, i.e. 43 % (2015: EUR 2.1 million, i.e. 31 %), mainly in relation to projects (studies and pilot schemes) going beyond the year end. The high level of carry-overs is in contradiction with the budgetary principle of annuality. The Foundation may consider introducing differentiated budget appropriations to better reflect the multi annual nature of operations and unavoidable delays between the signature of contracts, deliveries and payments. The Foundation’s reply : budgetary management : Eurofound acknowledged the observation of the Court as regards the high level of carry-overs. It stressed that it distinguishes between planned and unplanned carry-overs. It considers this distinction useful to better reflect the multi-annual nature of operations. However, it is carefully considering introducing differentiated budget appropriations. Lastly, the Court of Auditors’ report contains a summary of the Foundation’s key figures in 2016 : Budget : EUR 20.8 million (in payment appropriations). Staff : 104 including officials, temporary and contract staff and seconded national experts. type: Court of Auditors: opinion, report body: CofA
  • date: 2018-01-24T00:00:00 docs: url: http://www.europarl.europa.eu/sides/getDoc.do?type=COMPARL&mode=XML&language=EN&reference=PE612.088&secondRef=02 title: PE612.088 committee: EMPL type: Committee opinion body: EP
  • date: 2018-01-24T00:00:00 docs: url: http://www.europarl.europa.eu/sides/getDoc.do?type=COMPARL&mode=XML&language=EN&reference=PE613.446 title: PE613.446 type: Committee draft report body: EP
  • date: 2018-02-09T00:00:00 docs: url: http://register.consilium.europa.eu/content/out?lang=EN&typ=SET&i=ADV&RESULTSET=1&DOC_ID=5941%2F18&DOC_LANCD=EN&ROWSPP=25&NRROWS=500&ORDERBY=DOC_DATE+DESC title: 05941/2018 summary: Having examined the revenue and expenditure accounts for the financial year 2016 and the balance sheet as at 31 December 2016 of the European Foundation for the Improvement of Living and Working Conditions (EUROFOUND), as well as the Court of Auditors' report on the annual accounts of the Foundation for the financial year 2016, accompanied by the Foundation's replies to the Court's observations, the Council recommended the European Parliament to give a discharge to the Director of the Foundation in respect of the implementation of the budget for the financial year 2016. The Council welcomed the Court's opinion that, in all material respects, the Foundation's annual accounts present fairly its financial position as at 31 December 2016 and the results of its operations and its cash flows for the year then ended, in accordance with the provisions of the Foundation's Financial Regulation, and that the underlying transactions for 2016 are legal and regular in all material respects. Nevertheless, the following observations were made: carry-overs : the Council regretted that, in spite of its recommendations for 2015, an even higher level of commitment appropriations was carried over to 2017. The Council called on the Foundation to continue improving its financial programming and monitoring of the budget implementation, in order to reduce the level of commitments carried over to the following financial year to the minimum strictly necessary, in line with the budgetary principle of annuality; staff : the Council noted the Court's observation that the Foundation has not complied with certain of the Staff Regulations' provisions on remuneration and, while welcoming the Foundation's corrective actions, invited the Foundation to improve its payroll function. type: Supplementary non-legislative basic document body: CSL
  • date: 2018-03-02T00:00:00 docs: url: http://www.europarl.europa.eu/sides/getDoc.do?type=COMPARL&mode=XML&language=EN&reference=PE618.266 title: PE618.266 type: Amendments tabled in committee body: EP
events
  • date: 2017-06-26T00:00:00 type: Non-legislative basic document published body: EC docs: url: http://www.europarl.europa.eu/RegData/docs_autres_institutions/commission_europeenne/com/2017/0365/COM_COM(2017)0365_EN.pdf title: COM(2017)0365 url: https://eur-lex.europa.eu/smartapi/cgi/sga_doc?smartapi!celexplus!prod!DocNumber&lg=EN&type_doc=COMfinal&an_doc=2017&nu_doc=0365 title: EUR-Lex summary: PURPOSE: presentation by the Commission of the consolidated annual accounts of the European Union for the financial year 2016, as part of the 2016 discharge procedure. Analysis of the accounts of the European Foundation for the Improvement of Living and Working Conditions (Eurofound) . CONTENT: the organisational governance of the EU consists of institutions, agencies and other EU bodies whose expenditure is included in the general budget of the Union. This Commission document concerns the EU's consolidated accounts for the year 2016 and details how spending by the EU institutions and bodies was carried out. The consolidated annual accounts of the EU provide financial information on the activities of the institutions, agencies and other bodies of the EU from an accrual accounting and budgetary perspective. It is the responsibility of the Commission's Accounting Officer to prepare the EU's consolidated annual accounts and ensure that they present fairly, in all material aspects, the financial position, the result of the operations and the cashflows of the EU institutions and bodies, including the European Foundation for the Improvement of Living and Working Conditions ( Eurofound ), with a view to granting discharge. Discharge procedure : the final step of a budget lifecycle is the discharge of the budget for a given financial year. It represents the political aspect of the external control of budget implementation and is the decision by which the European Parliament, acting on a Council recommendation, " releases " the Commission (and other EU bodies) from its responsibility for management of a given budget by marking the end of that budget's existence. The European Parliament is the discharge authority within the EU. The discharge procedure may produce three outcomes: (i) the granting; (ii) postponement or; (iii) the refusal of the discharge. The final discharge report including specific recommendations to the Commission for action is adopted in plenary by the European Parliament and are subject to an annual follow up report in which the Commission outlines the concrete actions it has taken to implement the recommendations made. Each agency is subject to its own discharge procedure, including Eurofound . Eurofound : the Foundation, which is located in Dublin (IRL), was set up by Council Regulation (EEC) No 1365/75 aims to contribute to the planning and establishment of better living and working conditions in the Union by increasing and disseminating knowledge which is relevant to this subject. As regards the Foundation’s accounts , these are presented in detail in the document on the consolidated annual accounts of the European Union for 2016: Commitment appropriations : available: EUR 21 million; made: EUR 21 million. Payment appropriations : available: EUR 24 million; made : EUR 20 million. For further details on expenditure, please refer to Eurofound’s 2016 annual accounts .
  • date: 2017-09-13T00:00:00 type: Committee referral announced in Parliament, 1st reading/single reading body: EP
  • date: 2018-03-20T00:00:00 type: Vote in committee, 1st reading/single reading body: EP
  • date: 2018-03-23T00:00:00 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=A8-2018-0092&language=EN title: A8-0092/2018 summary: The Committee on Budgetary Control adopted the report by Bart STAES (Greens/EFA, BE) on discharge in respect of the implementation of the budget of the European Foundation for the Improvement of Living and Working Conditions (Eurofound) for the financial year 2016. The committee called on the European Parliament to grant the Director of the Foundation discharge in respect of the implementation of the Foundation’s budget for the financial year 2016. Noting that the Court of Auditors stated that it had obtained reasonable assurance that the annual accounts of the Foundation for the financial year 2016 were reliable and that the underlying transactions were legal and regular, Members called on Parliament to approve the closure of the Foundation’s accounts. They made, however, a number of recommendations that needed to be taken into account when the discharge is granted, in addition to the general recommendations that appear in the draft resolution on performance, financial management and control of EU agencies : Foundation’s financial statements : the final budget of the European Foundation for the Improvement of Living and Working Conditions for the financial year 2016 was EUR 20 789 500, representing a decrease of 1.72 % compared to 2015. Budget and financial management : budget monitoring efforts during the financial year 2016 resulted in a budget implementation rate of 99.99 % and that the payment appropriations execution rate was 84.80 %, representing a decrease of 2.55 % compared to 2015. Members expressed concern about the negative budgetary impact of the growing Irish country coefficient which increasingly risks undermining the financial capability of the Foundation to deliver on its mandate. They expect action to be taken by the Institutions of the Union to offset the effects. Commitments and carry-overs : the level of committed appropriations carried forward to 2017 was high at EUR 2.8 million (43 %) for operational expenditure, compared to EUR 2.1 million (31 %) in 2015, mainly in relation to projects (studies and pilot schemes) going beyond the year end. The report recommended to the Foundation that it may consider introducing differentiated budget appropriations in order to better reflect the multiannual nature of operations and unavoidable delays between the signature of contracts, deliveries and payments. Carry-overs may often be justified and do not necessarily indicate weaknesses in budget planning and implementation. Members also made a series of observations regarding the prevention and management of conflicts of interests, procurement and staff policy and internal controls and audits. They recalled that staffing cuts have been implemented with great difficulty and reiterated their concern towards any further cuts which would limit the agencies' ability to carry out their mandate. On internal audits , Members noted with satisfaction that the Foundation and the internal audit service (IAS) agreed on a plan to take corrective action against the weaknesses found in the Foundation’s management of projects, mainly in relation to governance arrangements, monitoring and reporting. Members also noted how strongly the Foundation has contributed to combating poverty and fraudulent contracting of work in several actions across the Union.
  • date: 2018-04-18T00:00:00 type: Results of vote in Parliament body: EP docs: url: https://oeil.secure.europarl.europa.eu/oeil/popups/sda.do?id=30948&l=en title: Results of vote in Parliament
  • date: 2018-04-18T00:00:00 type: Debate in Parliament body: EP docs: url: http://www.europarl.europa.eu/sides/getDoc.do?secondRef=TOC&language=EN&reference=20180418&type=CRE title: Debate in Parliament
  • date: 2018-04-18T00:00:00 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-2018-0160 title: T8-0160/2018 summary: The European Parliament decided to grant discharge to the Director of the European Foundation for the Improvement of Living and Working Conditions (Eurofound) in regard to the implementation of the Foundation’s budget for the 2016 financial year and to approve the closure of the accounts for the financial year in question. Noting that the Court of Auditors has stated that it has obtained reasonable assurances that the Foundation’s annual accounts for the financial year 2016 are reliable and that the underlying transactions are legal and regular , Parliament adopted by 559 votes to 130 with 5 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 . Foundation’s financial statements: the final budget of the European Foundation for the Improvement of Living and Working Conditions for the financial year 2016 was EUR 20 789 500, representing a decrease of 1.72 % compared to 2015. Budget and financial management: budget monitoring efforts during the financial year 2016 resulted in a budget implementation rate of 99.99 % and that the payment appropriations execution rate was 84.80 %, representing a decrease of 2.55 % compared to 2015. Members expressed concern about the negative budgetary impact of the growing Irish country coefficient which increasingly risks undermining the financial capability of the Foundation to deliver on its mandate. They expect action to be taken by the Institutions of the Union to offset the effects. Commitments and carry-overs: the level of committed appropriations carried forward to 2017 was high at EUR 2.8 million (43 %) for operational expenditure, compared to EUR 2.1 million (31 %) in 2015, mainly in relation to projects (studies and pilot schemes) going beyond the year end. The report recommended to the Foundation that it may consider introducing differentiated budget appropriations in order to better reflect the multiannual nature of operations and unavoidable delays between the signature of contracts, deliveries and payments. Carry-overs may often be justified and do not necessarily indicate weaknesses in budget planning and implementation. Members also made a series of observations regarding the prevention and management of conflicts of interests, procurement and staff policy and internal controls and audits. They recalled that staffing cuts have been implemented with great difficulty and reiterated their concern towards any further cuts which would limit the agencies' ability to carry out their mandate. They also emphasised the need to establish an independent body with sufficient budgetary resources to support whistleblowers wishing to disclose information on possible irregularities negatively impacting on the Union’s financial interests, while ensuring their confidentiality is protected. With regard to internal audits , Members noted with satisfaction that the Foundation and the internal audit service (IAS) agreed on a plan to take corrective action against the weaknesses found in the Foundation’s management of projects, mainly in relation to governance arrangements, monitoring and reporting. Lastly, Parliament welcomed the Foundation's high-quality analysis and policy input as regards living and working conditions, industrial relations and employment and labour market developments. It noted how strongly the Foundation has contributed to combating poverty and fraudulent contracting of work in several actions across the Union.
  • date: 2018-04-18T00:00:00 type: End of procedure in Parliament body: EP
  • date: 2018-10-03T00:00:00 type: Final act published in Official Journal summary: PURPOSE: to grant discharge to the European Foundation for the Improvement of Living and Working Conditions (Eurofound) for the financial year 2016. NON-LEGISLATIVE ACT: Decision (EU) 2018/1418 of the European Parliament on discharge in respect of the implementation of the budget of the European Foundation for the Improvement of Living and Working Conditions for the financial year 2016. CONTENT: the European Parliament decided to grant discharge to the Director of Eurofound for the implementation of the latter’s budget for the financial year 2016. This decision is accompanied by a resolution of the European Parliament containing the observations which form an integral part of the discharge decision in respect of the implementation of the general budget of the European Union for the financial year 2016 ( please refer to the summary dated 18.4.2018 ). In this resolution, Parliament welcomed the successful implementation of the Foundation's four-year work programme with a high level of organisational effectiveness, as evidenced by an overall improvement of the Foundation’s key performance indicators.
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  • The European Parliament decided to grant discharge to the Director of the European Foundation for the Improvement of Living and Working Conditions (Eurofound) in regard to the implementation of the Foundation’s budget for the 2016 financial year and to approve the closure of the accounts for the financial year in question.

    Noting that the Court of Auditors has stated that it has obtained reasonable assurances that the Foundation’s annual accounts for the financial year 2016 are reliable and that the underlying transactions are legal and regular, Parliament adopted by 559 votes to 130 with 5 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.

    • Foundation’s financial statements: the final budget of the European Foundation for the Improvement of Living and Working Conditions for the financial year 2016 was EUR 20 789 500, representing a decrease of 1.72 % compared to 2015.
    • Budget and financial management: budget monitoring efforts during the financial year 2016 resulted in a budget implementation rate of 99.99 % and that the payment appropriations execution rate was 84.80 %, representing a decrease of 2.55 % compared to 2015.
    • Members expressed concern about the negative budgetary impact of the growing Irish country coefficient which increasingly risks undermining the financial capability of the Foundation to deliver on its mandate. They expect action to be taken by the Institutions of the Union to offset the effects.
    • Commitments and carry-overs: the level of committed appropriations carried forward to 2017 was high at EUR 2.8 million (43 %) for operational expenditure, compared to EUR 2.1 million (31 %) in 2015, mainly in relation to projects (studies and pilot schemes) going beyond the year end. The report recommended to the Foundation that it may consider introducing differentiated budget appropriations in order to better reflect the multiannual nature of operations and unavoidable delays between the signature of contracts, deliveries and payments. Carry-overs may often be justified and do not necessarily indicate weaknesses in budget planning and implementation.

    Members also made a series of observations regarding the prevention and management of conflicts of interests, procurement and staff policy and internal controls and audits.

    They recalled that staffing cuts have been implemented with great difficulty and reiterated their concern towards any further cuts which would limit the agencies' ability to carry out their mandate.  They also emphasised the need to establish an independent body with sufficient budgetary resources to support whistleblowers wishing to disclose information on possible irregularities negatively impacting on the Union’s financial interests, while ensuring their confidentiality is protected.

    With regard to internal audits, Members noted with satisfaction that the Foundation and the internal audit service (IAS) agreed on a plan to take corrective action against the weaknesses found in the Foundation’s management of projects, mainly in relation to governance arrangements, monitoring and reporting.

    Lastly, Parliament welcomed the Foundation's high-quality analysis and policy input as regards living and working conditions, industrial relations and employment and labour market developments. It noted how strongly the Foundation has contributed to combating poverty and fraudulent contracting of work in several actions across the Union.

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  • The Committee on Budgetary Control adopted the report by Bart STAES (Greens/EFA, BE) on discharge in respect of the implementation of the budget of the European Foundation for the Improvement of Living and Working Conditions (Eurofound) for the financial year 2016.

    The committee called on the European Parliament to grant the Director of the Foundation discharge in respect of the implementation of the Foundation’s budget for the financial year 2016.

    Noting that the Court of Auditors stated that it had obtained reasonable assurance that the annual accounts of the Foundation for the financial year 2016 were reliable and that the underlying transactions were legal and regular, Members called on Parliament to approve the closure of the Foundation’s accounts.

    They made, however, a number of recommendations that needed to be taken into account when the discharge is granted, in addition to the general recommendations that appear in the draft resolution on performance, financial management and control of EU agencies:

    • Foundation’s financial statements: the final budget of the European Foundation for the Improvement of Living and Working Conditions for the financial year 2016 was EUR 20 789 500, representing a decrease of 1.72 % compared to 2015.
    • Budget and financial management: budget monitoring efforts during the financial year 2016 resulted in a budget implementation rate of 99.99 % and that the payment appropriations execution rate was 84.80 %, representing a decrease of 2.55 % compared to 2015.
    • Members expressed concern about the negative budgetary impact of the growing Irish country coefficient which increasingly risks undermining the financial capability of the Foundation to deliver on its mandate. They expect action to be taken by the Institutions of the Union to offset the effects.
    • Commitments and carry-overs: the level of committed appropriations carried forward to 2017 was high at EUR 2.8 million (43 %) for operational expenditure, compared to EUR 2.1 million (31 %) in 2015, mainly in relation to projects (studies and pilot schemes) going beyond the year end. The report recommended to the Foundation that it may consider introducing differentiated budget appropriations in order to better reflect the multiannual nature of operations and unavoidable delays between the signature of contracts, deliveries and payments. Carry-overs may often be justified and do not necessarily indicate weaknesses in budget planning and implementation.

    Members also made a series of observations regarding the prevention and management of conflicts of interests, procurement and staff policy and internal controls and audits.

    They recalled that staffing cuts have been implemented with great difficulty and reiterated their concern towards any further cuts which would limit the agencies' ability to carry out their mandate.

    On internal audits, Members noted with satisfaction that the Foundation and the internal audit service (IAS) agreed on a plan to take corrective action against the weaknesses found in the Foundation’s management of projects, mainly in relation to governance arrangements, monitoring and reporting.

    Members also noted how strongly the Foundation has contributed to combating poverty and fraudulent contracting of work in several actions across the Union.

activities/3/docs
  • url: http://www.europarl.europa.eu/sides/getDoc.do?type=REPORT&mode=XML&reference=A8-2018-0092&language=EN type: Committee report tabled for plenary, single reading title: A8-0092/2018
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  • PURPOSE: presentation by the Commission of the consolidated annual accounts of the European Union for the financial year 2016, as part of the 2016 discharge procedure.

    Analysis of the accounts of the European Foundation for the Improvement of Living and Working Conditions (Eurofound).

    CONTENT: the organisational governance of the EU consists of institutions, agencies and other EU bodies whose expenditure is included in the general budget of the Union.

    This Commission document concerns the EU's consolidated accounts for the year 2016 and details how spending by the EU institutions and bodies was carried out. The consolidated annual accounts of the EU provide financial information on the activities of the institutions, agencies and other bodies of the EU from an accrual accounting and budgetary perspective.

    It is the responsibility of the Commission's Accounting Officer to prepare the EU's consolidated annual accounts and ensure that they present fairly, in all material aspects, the financial position, the result of the operations and the cashflows of the EU institutions and bodies, including the European Foundation for the Improvement of Living and Working Conditions (Eurofound), with a view to granting discharge.

    Discharge procedure: the final step of a budget lifecycle is the discharge of the budget for a given financial year. It represents the political aspect of the external control of budget implementation and is the decision by which the European Parliament, acting on a Council recommendation, "releases" the Commission (and other EU bodies) from its responsibility for management of a given budget by marking the end of that budget's existence. The European Parliament is the discharge authority within the EU.

    The discharge procedure may produce three outcomes: (i) the granting; (ii) postponement or; (iii) the refusal of the discharge.

    The final discharge report including specific recommendations to the Commission for action is adopted in plenary by the European Parliament and are subject to an annual follow up report in which the Commission outlines the concrete actions it has taken to implement the recommendations made.

    Each agency is subject to its own discharge procedure, including Eurofound.

    Eurofound: the Foundation, which is located in Dublin (IRL), was set up by Council Regulation (EEC) No 1365/75 aims to contribute to the planning and establishment of better living and working conditions in the Union by increasing and disseminating knowledge which is relevant to this subject.

    As regards the Foundation’s accounts, these are presented in detail in the document on the consolidated annual accounts of the European Union for 2016:

    Commitment appropriations:

    • available: EUR 21 million;
    • made: EUR 21 million.

    Payment appropriations:

    • available: EUR 24 million;
    • made: EUR 20 million.

    For further details on expenditure, please refer to Eurofound’s 2016 annual accounts.

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ENF
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KAPPEL Barbara
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2017-10-03T00:00:00
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  • group: EPP name: ROLIN Claude
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KAPPEL Barbara
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2017-10-03T00:00:00
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  • group: EPP name: ROLIN Claude
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OETTINGER Günther
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  • group: Verts/ALE name: STAES Bart
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  • group: EPP name: SARVAMAA Petri
  • group: S&D name: LIBERADZKI Bogusław
  • group: ALDE name: ALI Nedzhmi
  • group: GUE/NGL name: DE JONG Dennis
  • group: EFD name: VALLI Marco
activities
  • date: 2017-06-26T00:00:00 docs: url: http://www.europarl.europa.eu/RegData/docs_autres_institutions/commission_europeenne/com/2017/0365/COM_COM(2017)0365_EN.pdf celexid: CELEX:52017DC0365:EN type: Non-legislative basic document published title: COM(2017)0365 body: EC type: Non-legislative basic document published commission:
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  • body: EP responsible: True committee_full: Budgetary Control committee: CONT
  • body: EP responsible: False committee_full: Employment and Social Affairs committee: EMPL
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    procedure
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    DEC - Discharge procedure
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    2016 discharge: European Foundation for the Improvement of Living and Working Conditions (Eurofound)
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    8.70.03.06 2016 discharge