The European Parliament adopted by 503
votes to 66, with 37 abstentions a decision on discharge to be granted to the Director of the European Centre for the
Development of Vocational Training (CEDEFOP) in respect of the
implementation of its budget for the financial year 2009.
Noting that CEDEFOP’s annual accounts for
the financial year 2009 are reliable, and the underlying transactions are
legal and regular, Parliament approves the closure of its accounts. However, it
makes a number of recommendations that need to be taken into account when the
discharge is granted (in addition to the general recommendations that appear
in the resolution on financial management and control of EU agencies - see DEC/2010/2271):
- performance: Parliament congratulates the Centre for having introduced a
performance measurement system (PMS). It believes that this system could
result in further improvements to the activity-based budget and closer
monitoring of payment appropriations to avoid carryovers. Parliament
calls on the Centre to set out a clear comparison between operations
carried out during the year for which discharge is to be granted and in
the previous financial year so as to enable the discharge authority to
assess more effectively its performance from one year to the next;
- human resources: Parliament welcomes the changes made to recruitment
procedures following the remarks of the Court of Auditors in its 2009
report;
- carry-over appropriations: Parliament draws attention to the fact that the Centre has
carried appropriations forward (31 % of the administrative expenditure)
and cancelled payment appropriations (24 % of total appropriations for
operating activities). It calls on the Centre to continue to improve the
programming and monitoring and respect the principle of annuality more
fully;
- budget management: Members call on the Centre to apply, more effectively, the
budgetary principles of specification and transparency.