The European Parliament decided to grant the Executive Director of the Clean Sky 2 Joint Undertaking discharge in respect of the implementation of the joint undertaking’s budget for the financial year 2017 and to approve the closure of the joint undertaking’s accounts.

Noting that the Court of Auditors considered that the annual accounts of the Joint Undertaking for the financial year 2017 accurately reflected the financial position of the Joint Undertaking as at 31 December 2017, as well as the results of its operations, Parliament adopted by 499 votes to 108, with 26 abstentions, a resolution containing a series of observations which form an integral part of the discharge decision.

General

The maximum contribution from the Union to the Joint Undertaking second phase of activities is EUR 1 755 000 000 to be paid from the budget of Horizon 2020.

Budgetary and financial management

The Joint Undertaking’s final budget for 2017 included commitment appropriations of EUR 313 429 392 and payment appropriations of EUR 243 503 223. The commitment appropriations utilisation rate was 99.6 % and the rate of payment appropriations was 98.5 %.

Other observations

The resolution also contained a series of observations on calls for proposals, performance and internal audits. It noted in particular:

- the successful closure of the Clean Sky programme with the delivery in 2017 of a total of 28 significant demonstrators (ground and flight tested) together with having selected all its Core Partners and having achieved the addition of the Partners to the programme, bringing the total to 497 participants;

- that the Internal Audit Service (IAS) finalised an audit on the performance management of the joint activities. It noted that the audit identified two 'very important' issues, in the area of measuring the achievement of the strategic objectives and the impact of the Joint Undertaking activities;

- the setup of a working group in 2017 on synergies between national and regional programmes and the Joint Undertaking, aiming at identifying areas of cooperation and contribute to the Joint Undertaking action plan and activities on synergies with the European Structural and Investment Funds and cooperation with Member States and Regions.

The Committee on Budgetary Control adopted the report by Martina DLABAJOVÁ (ALDE, CZ) on discharge in respect of the implementation of the budget of the Clean Sky 2 Joint Undertaking for the financial year 2017.

The committee called on the European Parliament to grant the joint undertaking’s Executive Director discharge in respect of the implementation of the Joint Undertaking’s budget for the financial year 2017.

Noting that the Court of Auditors issued a statement of assurance as to the reliability of the accounts and the legality and regularity of the underlying transactions for the financial year 2017, Members called on Parliament to approve 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:

Budgetary and financial management

The Joint Undertaking’s final budget for 2017 included commitment appropriations of EUR 313 429 392 and payment appropriations of EUR 243 503 223. The commitment appropriations utilisation rate was 99.6 % and the rate of payment appropriations was 98.5 %.

Other observations

The report also contained a series of observations on calls for proposals, performance and internal audits. It noted in particular:

- the successful closure of the Clean Sky programme with the delivery in 2017 of a total of 28 significant demonstrators (ground and flight tested) together with having selected all its Core Partners and having achieved the addition of the Partners to the programme, bringing the total to 497 participants;

- that the Internal Audit Service (IAS) finalised an audit on the performance management of the joint activities. It noted that the audit identified two 'very important' issues, in the area of measuring the achievement of the strategic objectives and the impact of the Joint Undertaking activities;

- the setup of a working group in 2017 on synergies between national and regional programmes and the Joint Undertaking, aiming at identifying areas of cooperation and contribute to the Joint Undertaking action plan and activities on synergies with the European Structural and Investment Funds and cooperation with Member States and Regions.

Having examined the revenue and expenditure accounts for the financial year 2017 and the balance sheet as at 31 December 2017 of the Clean Sky 2 Joint Undertaking, as well as the Court of Auditors' report on the annual accounts of the Joint Undertaking for the financial year 2017, 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 Joint Undertaking in respect of the implementation of the budget for the financial year 2017.

The Council welcomed the fact that the observations in the Court of Auditors' report in relation to the financial year 2017 did not call for any comments.

PURPOSE: presentation of the EU Court of Auditors’ report on the annual accounts of the Clean Sky 2 Joint Undertaking for the financial year 2017, together with the Joint Undertaking’s reply.

CONTENT: the Court of Auditors carried out the audit on the annual accounts of the Clean Sky Joint Undertaking.

In brief, the main objectives of the Clean Sky Joint Undertaking are to improve significantly the environmental impact of aeronautical technologies and to enhance the competitiveness of European aviation.

Statement of assurance and reliability of the accounts

The Court considered that:

- the Undertaking’s annual accounts present fairly, in all material respects, its financial position as at 31 December 2017 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;

- the transactions underlying the annual accounts for the year ended 31 December 2017 are legal and regular in all material respects.

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

The Court’s observations

Financial management

The final 2017 budget available for the Clean Sky 1 and Clean Sky 2 programme implementation included commitment appropriations of EUR 313.4 million and payment appropriations of EUR 243.5 million.

The implementation rates for commitment and payment appropriations were high with 99.6 % and 98.5 %, respectively.

Out of the EUR 800 million of FP7 funds allocated to the Clean Sky Joint Undertaking for the implementation of Clean Sky 1, by the end of 2017, the EU had contributed in cash a total amount of EUR 800 million.

Internal control

The Clean Sky Joint Undertaking has set up ex-ante control procedures based on financial and operational desk reviews. For FP7 interim and final payments, the Joint Undertaking performs ex-post audits at the beneficiaries whilst for Horizon 2020 project cost claims the Commission’s Common Audit Service (CAS) is responsible for the ex-post audits. The residual error rates for the ex-post audits reported by the Joint Undertaking at the end of 2017 were 1.40 % for FP7 projects and 1.6 % for Horizon 2020 projects.

Based on an assessment of the Joint Undertaking’s internal control system and substantive testing of revenue, payment, grant and procurement operations and a review of a sample of finalised ex-post audits including recoveries arising from the errors detected, the audit results provided us with reasonable assurance that the overall residual error rate for the Joint Undertaking is below materiality.

Leverage of contributions

One of the main objectives of the Joint Undertaking is to leverage contributions from industry members in the area of its activities. The minimum leverage factor for both, operational and additional activities amounts to 1.25.

Joint Undertaking’s reply

The Joint Undertaking has taken note of the Court’s report.

PURPOSE: presentation by the Commission of the consolidated annual accounts of the European Union for the financial year 2017, as part of the 2017 discharge procedure.

Analysis of the accounts of the Clean Sky 2 Joint Undertaking .

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 2017 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 cash flows of the EU institutions and bodies with a view to granting discharge.

Discharge procedure : the final step of a budget lifecycle is the discharge . It is the decision by which the European Parliament ‘ releases ’ the Commission from its responsibility for management of a given budget by marking the end of that budget's existence. It is granted by the European Parliament on the recommendation of the Council.

The decision is based in particular on the European Court of Auditors reports, in particular its annual report, in which the Court provides a Statement of Assurance (DAS) on the legality and regularity of transactions (payments and commitments).

The procedure results in the granting, postponement or refusal of 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.

All EU institutions and other agencies, bodies and joint undertakings are subject to their own discharge procedures.

Clean Sky 2 JU : the Clean Sky 2 Joint Undertaking, which is located in Brussels (BE), was set up Council Regulation (EU) No 558/2014 for the period up to 31 December 2024. The Clean Sky 2 Joint Undertaking replaced and succeeded the Clean Sky Joint Undertaking and aims to contribute to improving the environmental impact of aeronautical technologies, including those relating to small aviation, as well as to developing a strong and globally competitive aeronautical industry and supply chain in Europe. The Clean Sky 2 programme will continue this work in decreasing the environmental footprint of the aeronautical industry and falls under the societal challenge pillar in H2020, namely Smart, Green and Integrated transport.

As regards the JU’s accounts , these are presented in detail in the document published by the Joint Undertaking (please refer to the final accounts of the Clean Sky 2 JU ).