The Committee
on Budgetary Control adopted the report drawn up by Christofer FJELLNER
(EPP-ED, SE) on discharge to be granted to the European Foundation for the
Improvement of Living and Working Conditions, calling on the European
Parliament to grant the Executive Director of the Foundation discharge in
respect of the implementation of its budget for the financial year 2007.
Noting that
the Foundation’s annual accounts for the financial year 2007 are reliable,
and the underlying transactions are legal and regular, MEPs approve the
closure of the Foundation’s accounts.
However, they
make a number of recommendations as part of the decision on discharge. In
addition to the general recommendations appearing in the draft resolution on financial
management and control of EU agencies (see 2008/2207(INI)),
MEPs make the following observations:
- in relation
to weaknesses in recruitment procedures, MEPs regret that in
2007, as in 2006, the European Court of Auditors (ECA) found weaknesses
in recruitment procedures. Although measures have been taken, the Court
notes that they do not ensure transparent and non-discriminatory
recruitment procedures. MEPs therefore call on the Foundation to pay
particular attention to the legality of its recruitment procedures and
to specify, in its annual activity report for 2008, the action taken in
follow-up to the ECA's observations;
- in relation
to weaknesses in procurement procedures, MEPs regret the
anomalies identified by the Court, which considers that they affected
the quality of the final selection procedure. They therefore call on the
Foundation to also specify, in its annual activity report for 2008, the
action taken in follow-up to the ECA's observations;
- in relation
to the introduction of Accrual Based Accounting (ABAC), MEPs are satisfied
that the Foundation introduced ABAC in 2008, although they note
anomalies in terms of assigned revenue;
- in relation
to follow-up to the previous discharge exercise, MEPs recall
that, in 2006, the Foundation launched an ex-post evaluation of the
2001-2004 work programme, with a view to determining the organisation's
impact. MEPs call on the Foundation to inform them of the results of the
evaluation in time for the 2008 discharge exercise.