2006 discharge: European Training Foundation (ETF)

PURPOSE: presentation of the final accounts of the European Training Foundation for the financial year 2006.

CONTENT: this document sets out a detailed account of the implementation of the 2006 budget, including the revenue and expenditure and the balance sheet for the year concerned.

According to this document, the final budget amounted to EUR 26.5 million (compared to EUR 26.3 million in 2005) divided up into EUR 19.5 million funded by a Commission subsidy and EUR 7 million funded by other bodies as assigned revenue. This sum of EUR 7 million divides up as follows: EUR 0.98 million from the Italian Ministry of foreign affairs; EUR 4.37 million from DG AIDCO (Meda-ETE) and EUR 1.69 million from DG EAC (Tempus).

As regards the staffing policy, the Foundation, whose headquarters are based in Turin (Italy) officially set out 105 in the establishment plans. 94 posts are currently occupied with + 32 other posts (auxiliaries, local staff and contract staff) totalling 126 posts assigned to operational, administrative and mixed tasks. In 2006, staff expenditure amounted to EUR 11.427 million.

The assistance supplied by the Foundation covers a large range of technical fields including: initial vocational training, lifelong learning, continuing (adult) education, human resource development in companies, employment policies, training of unemployed people, poverty alleviation and social inclusion and training to encourage local development.

• Support for the Commission: in 2006, 97 new requests for support were received from the Commission. The majority came from the delegations (38%), AIDCO (21%), DG EAC (16%) followed by DG ELARG and EAR (7%), DG RELEX (5%). DG EMPL (4%). This included 24 analyses of the situation in the ENPI countries. The Commission’s rate of satisfaction with the ETF’s response was 97%. The most frequent applications were those in the field of programming, followed by policies and contributions in the preparation of European Neighbourhood Instruments, the identification of projects and follow-up.
• Information and analysis: country sector studies, statistics on education, policy advice to countries.
• Innovation and development support projects: as a centre of expertise, the ETF contributes towards the setting up of development projects in order to test innovatory approaches allowing partner countries to carry out reforms of their education and vocational training systems.
• Technical assistance to DG EAC for the implementation of the Tempus programme: assistance Conventions with CARDS, MEDA and Tacis for the Tempus programme: this assistance covers the whole cycle of the project. It includes the selection, management and follow-up of contracts and information and communication, including general administrative support. IT tools such as online applications and report forms have greatly facilitated the administrative management of the various project cycles.

The complete version of the final accounts may be found at the following address: http://www.etf.europa.eu