BETA


2021/2148(DEC) 2020 discharge: Bio-Based Industries Joint Undertaking (BBI JU)

Progress: Procedure completed

RoleCommitteeRapporteurShadows
Lead CONT BRUDZIŃSKI Joachim Stanisław (icon: ECR ECR) MARINESCU Marian-Jean (icon: EPP EPP), CREȚU Corina (icon: S&D S&D), WIEZIK Michal (icon: Renew Renew), RIVASI Michèle (icon: Verts/ALE Verts/ALE), KUHS Joachim (icon: ID ID), OMARJEE Younous (icon: GUE/NGL GUE/NGL)
Committee Opinion ITRE
Committee Opinion REGI
Lead committee dossier:

Events

2022/10/05
   Final act published in Official Journal
2022/05/04
   EP - Debate in Parliament
2022/05/04
   EP - Decision by Parliament
Details

The European Parliament decided to grant discharge to the Executive Director of the Bio-based Industries Joint Undertaking (now the Circular Bio-based Europe Joint Undertaking) in respect of the implementation of the budget of the Joint Undertaking for the financial year 2020 and approve the closure of the Joint Undertaking’s accounts.

Noting that the Court of Auditors was of the opinion that the annual accounts of the Joint Undertaking for the financial year 2020 present fairly the financial situation of the Joint Undertaking on 31 December 2020, as well as the results of its operations, Parliament adopted, by 569 votes to 67 with 5 abstention, a resolution containing a series of observations which form an integral part of the discharge decision.

General comments

The maximum EU contribution to the Joint Undertaking operations, under Horizon 2020, is EUR 975 000 000. Members of the Joint Undertaking other than the Union are expected to make a total contribution of at least EUR 2 730 000 000 over the 10-year period of the duration of the Joint Undertaking, of which EUR 182 500 000 is the minimum financial contribution to operational costs. In-kind contributions of at least EUR 1 755 000 000 are to be made by the members other than the Union or their constituent entities consisting of the costs incurred by them in implementing additional activities outside the Joint Undertaking’s annual work plan and contributing to its objectives.

Budgetary and financial management

The final available 2020 budget for implementation including re-entered unused appropriations of previous years, assigned revenues and reallocations to the following year includes commitment appropriations of EUR 111 733 166, of which EUR 67 604 259 from the Union budget, and payment appropriations of EUR 196 631 962, of which EUR 184 010 322 from the Union budget.

As regards the Joint Undertaking’s 2020 budget available for Horizon 2020 projects, the implementations rates for commitment and payment appropriations were 100 % and 85 % respectively. Members noted that the administrative budget included a relatively high surplus from unused appropriations carried over from previous years.

The industry members total in-kind contributions to additional activities only achieved 53 % of the minimum amount of EUR 1 755 000 000. Parliament is concerned that there is a high risk that, by the end of the Horizon 2020 programme, the Joint Undertaking will not achieve the expected targets for its industry members’ in-kind contributions and adopted annual work plans.

Once again, Parliament called for a harmonisation of the calculation of in-kind contributions to the Joint Undertaking.

Other observations

The resolution also contains a series of observations on performance, recruitment, internal audit and fraud prevention.

In particular, it noted the following:

- the Joint Undertaking project portfolio consists of 124 projects resulting from the 2014–2019 calls and 18 projects from the 2020 call are expected to the Joint Undertaking’s project portfolio;

- the Joint Undertaking’s efficient performance in core operations was confirmed, continuing the positive trends observed in previous years;

- by the end of 2020, the Joint Undertaking had 23 staff members from 10 Member States (26 % men and 74 % women);

- the Joint Undertaking has set up reliable ex ante control procedures and in February 2020, the IAS finalised its Strategic Internal Audit Plan covering the period 2021-2023;

- the European Anti-Fraud Office (OLAF) closed an investigation in the first half of 2020 that found evidence of irregularities and fraud in the activities of two beneficiaries involved in Horizon 2020 projects, including projects co-financed by the Joint Undertaking;

- the CVs of the members of its Governing Board should be published according to Parliament;

- permanent and robust training scheme should be set up for its employees, especially those working directly with calls for proposals and grants, in order to strengthen ethical standards and minimise the risk of unethical behaviour occurring, having a negative impact on sound financial management.

Documents
2022/03/29
   EP - Committee report tabled for plenary, single reading
Documents
2022/03/29
   EP - Committee report tabled for plenary
Documents
2022/02/28
   EP - Vote in committee
2022/02/16
   CSL - Supplementary non-legislative basic document
Documents
2022/02/02
   EP - Amendments tabled in committee
Documents
2021/12/17
   EP - Committee draft report
Documents
2021/11/12
   CofA - Court of Auditors: opinion, report
2021/09/14
   EP - Committee referral announced in Parliament
2021/07/28
   EP - BRUDZIŃSKI Joachim Stanisław (ECR) appointed as rapporteur in CONT
2021/06/30
   EC - Non-legislative basic document
2021/06/30
   EC - Non-legislative basic document published

Documents

Votes

Décharge 2020: entreprise commune Bio-industries - Discharge 2020: Bio-based Industries Joint Undertaking - Entlastung 2020: Gemeinsames Unternehmen für biobasierte Industriezweige - A9-0074/2022 - Joachim Stanisław Brudziński - Proposition de résolution #

2022/05/04 Outcome: +: 569, -: 67, 0: 5
DE FR ES PL RO IT HU NL CZ PT BG BE EL SE AT LT DK HR IE SK FI SI LV CY LU MT EE
Total
89
66
57
47
27
72
19
26
19
21
14
20
16
20
17
10
14
12
13
11
13
7
8
6
6
5
6
icon: PPE PPE
159

Hungary PPE

1

Denmark PPE

For (1)

1
3

Slovenia PPE

3

Latvia PPE

2
2

Luxembourg PPE

2

Malta PPE

For (1)

1

Estonia PPE

For (1)

1
icon: S&D S&D
131

Czechia S&D

For (1)

1

Lithuania S&D

2

Slovakia S&D

2

Finland S&D

1

Slovenia S&D

2

Latvia S&D

2

Cyprus S&D

2

Luxembourg S&D

For (1)

1

Estonia S&D

2
icon: Renew Renew
95

Poland Renew

1

Italy Renew

3

Hungary Renew

2
3

Austria Renew

For (1)

1

Lithuania Renew

1

Croatia Renew

For (1)

1

Ireland Renew

2

Finland Renew

3

Slovenia Renew

2

Latvia Renew

For (1)

1

Luxembourg Renew

2

Estonia Renew

2
icon: Verts/ALE Verts/ALE
65

Spain Verts/ALE

3

Poland Verts/ALE

For (1)

1

Netherlands Verts/ALE

3

Czechia Verts/ALE

3

Portugal Verts/ALE

1

Belgium Verts/ALE

3

Sweden Verts/ALE

2

Austria Verts/ALE

3

Lithuania Verts/ALE

For (1)

1

Denmark Verts/ALE

2

Ireland Verts/ALE

2

Finland Verts/ALE

3

Luxembourg Verts/ALE

For (1)

1
icon: ECR ECR
57

Germany ECR

1

Netherlands ECR

4

Bulgaria ECR

1

Belgium ECR

2

Greece ECR

1
3

Lithuania ECR

1

Croatia ECR

1

Slovakia ECR

For (1)

1

Latvia ECR

2
icon: NI NI
37

France NI

2

Lithuania NI

1

Croatia NI

Against (1)

Abstain (1)

2

Slovakia NI

Against (1)

Abstain (1)

2

Latvia NI

Against (1)

1
icon: The Left The Left
37

Netherlands The Left

Against (1)

1

Czechia The Left

1

Portugal The Left

4

Belgium The Left

Abstain (1)

1

Sweden The Left

Against (1)

1

Denmark The Left

Against (1)

1

Ireland The Left

Against (2)

4

Finland The Left

Abstain (1)

1

Cyprus The Left

2
icon: ID ID
60

Netherlands ID

Against (1)

1

Czechia ID

For (1)

Against (1)

2

Austria ID

3

Denmark ID

Against (1)

1

Finland ID

2

Estonia ID

Against (1)

1
AmendmentsDossier
17 2021/2148(DEC)
2022/02/03 CONT 17 amendments...
source: 703.123

History

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

events/4/docs
  • url: https://www.europarl.europa.eu/doceo/document/CRE-9-2022-05-04-TOC_EN.html title: Debate in Parliament
events/6
date
2022-10-05T00:00:00
type
Final act published in Official Journal
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OJ L 258 05.10.2022, p. 0437
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Old
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events/5/summary
  • The European Parliament decided to grant discharge to the Executive Director of the Bio-based Industries Joint Undertaking (now the Circular Bio-based Europe Joint Undertaking) in respect of the implementation of the budget of the Joint Undertaking for the financial year 2020 and approve the closure of the Joint Undertaking’s accounts.
  • Noting that the Court of Auditors was of the opinion that the annual accounts of the Joint Undertaking for the financial year 2020 present fairly the financial situation of the Joint Undertaking on 31 December 2020, as well as the results of its operations, Parliament adopted, by 569 votes to 67 with 5 abstention, a resolution containing a series of observations which form an integral part of the discharge decision.
  • General comments
  • The maximum EU contribution to the Joint Undertaking operations, under Horizon 2020, is EUR 975 000 000. Members of the Joint Undertaking other than the Union are expected to make a total contribution of at least EUR 2 730 000 000 over the 10-year period of the duration of the Joint Undertaking, of which EUR 182 500 000 is the minimum financial contribution to operational costs. In-kind contributions of at least EUR 1 755 000 000 are to be made by the members other than the Union or their constituent entities consisting of the costs incurred by them in implementing additional activities outside the Joint Undertaking’s annual work plan and contributing to its objectives.
  • Budgetary and financial management
  • The final available 2020 budget for implementation including re-entered unused appropriations of previous years, assigned revenues and reallocations to the following year includes commitment appropriations of EUR 111 733 166, of which EUR 67 604 259 from the Union budget, and payment appropriations of EUR 196 631 962, of which EUR 184 010 322 from the Union budget.
  • As regards the Joint Undertaking’s 2020 budget available for Horizon 2020 projects, the implementations rates for commitment and payment appropriations were 100 % and 85 % respectively. Members noted that the administrative budget included a relatively high surplus from unused appropriations carried over from previous years.
  • The industry members total in-kind contributions to additional activities only achieved 53 % of the minimum amount of EUR 1 755 000 000. Parliament is concerned that there is a high risk that, by the end of the Horizon 2020 programme, the Joint Undertaking will not achieve the expected targets for its industry members’ in-kind contributions and adopted annual work plans.
  • Once again, Parliament called for a harmonisation of the calculation of in-kind contributions to the Joint Undertaking.
  • Other observations
  • The resolution also contains a series of observations on performance, recruitment, internal audit and fraud prevention.
  • In particular, it noted the following:
  • - the Joint Undertaking project portfolio consists of 124 projects resulting from the 2014–2019 calls and 18 projects from the 2020 call are expected to the Joint Undertaking’s project portfolio;
  • - the Joint Undertaking’s efficient performance in core operations was confirmed, continuing the positive trends observed in previous years;
  • - by the end of 2020, the Joint Undertaking had 23 staff members from 10 Member States (26 % men and 74 % women);
  • - the Joint Undertaking has set up reliable ex ante control procedures and in February 2020, the IAS finalised its Strategic Internal Audit Plan covering the period 2021-2023;
  • - the European Anti-Fraud Office (OLAF) closed an investigation in the first half of 2020 that found evidence of irregularities and fraud in the activities of two beneficiaries involved in Horizon 2020 projects, including projects co-financed by the Joint Undertaking;
  • - the CVs of the members of its Governing Board should be published according to Parliament;
  • - permanent and robust training scheme should be set up for its employees, especially those working directly with calls for proposals and grants, in order to strengthen ethical standards and minimise the risk of unethical behaviour occurring, having a negative impact on sound financial management.
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