PURPOSE: presentation of the EU Court of
Auditors’ report on the annual accounts of the ENIAC Joint
Undertaking for the financial year 2010, together with the Joint
Undertaking’s reply.
CONTENT: in accordance with the tasks conferred on the
Court of Auditors by the Treaty on the Functioning of the European
Union, the Court presents to the European Parliament and to the
Council, in the context of the discharge procedure, a Statement of
Assurance as to the reliability of the annual accounts of each
institution, body or agency of the EU, and the legality and
regularity of the transactions underlying them, on the basis of an
independent external audit.
This audit concerned, amongst others, the annual
accounts of the ENIAC Joint Undertaking.
In the Court’s opinion, the FCH Joint
Undertaking’s Annual Accounts fairly present, in all
material respects, its financial position as of 31 December
2010 and the results of its operations and its cash flows for
the year then ended, in accordance with the provisions of its
Financial Regulation.
The Court also considers that the transactions
underlying the annual accounts of the ENIAC Joint Undertaking
for the financial year ended 31 December 2010 are, in all material
respects, legal and regular.
The report confirms that the maximum EU contribution
to the to the ENIAC Joint Undertaking to cover running costs and
research activities is EUR 450 million to be paid from the budget
of the Seventh Research Framework Programme AENEAS is to make a
maximum contribution of EUR 30 million to the running costs of the
Joint Undertaking. ENIAC Member States are to make in-kind
contributions to the running costs (by facilitating the
implementation of projects), and to provide financial contributions
of at least 1.8 times the EU contribution. In-kind contributions
are also to be provided by research organisations participating in
projects. The organisations participating in the research projects
must make in-kind contributions at least equal to the contribution
of the Commission and the Member States. The Joint Undertaking was
granted its financial autonomy on 26 July 2010.
The report also makes a series of observations on the
budgetary and financial management of the Joint Undertaking,
accompanied by the latter’s response. The main observations
may be summarised as follows:
The Court’s observations:
- implementation of the budget: the final budget for 2010 included commitment and
payment appropriations amounting to EUR 38 million. The utilisation
rates for the available commitment and payment appropriations were
99 % and 24 % respectively. Payment appropriations of EUR 29
million were carried over to 2011. The low implementation of the
payment appropriations is the result of the delayed transfer of the
operational activities and the corresponding funding from the
Commission to the Joint Undertaking;
- internal control systems: the Joint Undertaking has not fully implemented its
internal controls and financial information systems. Control
weaknesses were detected in the area of ex-ante financial
verification of pre-financing payments, in particular regarding the
calculation and validation of the amounts to be paid. The ex-post
audit of project cost claims has been fully delegated to the Member
States without any control being exercised by the Joint
Undertaking. This will make it difficult for the Joint Undertaking
to ensure: (i) that the financial interests of its Members are
adequately protected, and (ii) the legality and regularity of the
underlying transactions;
- delayed financial autonomy : the Council Regulation setting up the Joint
Undertaking came into force in February 2008. In May 2010 the
financial and accounting systems were deployed and tested
successfully and the administrative appropriations were transferred
to the Joint Undertaking. However, the operational budget lines
were not transferred and remained inaccessible in the accounting
system until the Joint Undertaking was officially granted financial
autonomy on 26 July 2010. The cash transfer from the Commission to
the Joint Undertaking covering the operational appropriations was
made on 22 September 2010. It was only from that date onwards that
the Joint Undertaking was able to make operational
payments;
- lack of host agreement:
according to the Council Regulation setting up the Joint
Undertaking, a host agreement should be concluded between the Joint
Undertaking and Belgium concerning office accommodation, privileges
and immunities and other support to be provided by Belgium.
However, as at the end of 2010, no such agreement had been
signed.
The Joint Undertaking’s response:
- implementation of the budget: the Joint Undertaking agrees that a number of
elements are missing in the final accounts and will pay special
attention in entering the necessary corrections in the next years'
accounts.
- audits: in accordance
with Article 66 of the Joint Undertaking’s financial rules,
the validation of any expenditure shall be based on the
certification on the reality and the amount of the claim submitted
by the respective national funding authorities. The Joint
Undertaking is currently collecting the various national audit
strategies and procedures as well as the ex-post audit results from
ENIAC Member States, and will analyse with the internal auditor
(IAS) the way to improve and review the its ex-post audit
strategy
- host State : ENIAC
took the necessary steps for the signature of the Host State
Agreement as it sent two copies of the agreement duly signed by the
Executive Director to the Belgian authorities on 17 December 2010,
inviting them to return one copy with their signature.
Lastly, the Court of Auditors’ report contains a
summary of the Joint Undertaking’s activities in 2010.
The main tasks of the ENIAC Joint Undertaking may be described as
follows:
- committing all appropriations for the projects arising
from the third call for proposals (2010) ;
- strengthening communication activities;
- collaborating with all its stakeholders, pursuing
three lines of action: (i) work with AENEAS and the industry at
large to generate compelling ‘must-do’ project proposals
with strategic impact in line with the Research Agenda; (ii) work
with the National Public Authorities to improve the synergy with
the policies pursued by the ENIAC Member States and optimise their
financial engagement; (iii) engage additional public entities who
can contribute to the programme at national level.