Legislative Observatory
European Parliament
Please fill in this field to find a procedure

2011 discharge: European Institute of Innovation and Technology (EIT)

2012/2212(DEC)

The Committee on Budgetary Control adopted the report by Gerben-Jan GERBRANDY (ADLE, NL) on discharge to be granted to the Director of the European Institute of Innovation and Technology in respect of the implementation of the budget for the financial year 2011.

Noting that the Court of Auditors stated that it has obtained reasonable assurances that the annual accounts of the Authority for the financial year 2011 are reliable and that the underlying transactions are legal and regular, Members approve the closure of the Institute’s accounts. However, they make 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 draft resolution on performance, financial management and control of EU agencies:

  • Financing, budget and financial management: Members recall that accordance with its Foundation Regulation, the Institute's 2011 budget was financed by a subsidy granted by the Union, a contribution granted by the European Free Trade Association (EFTA) countries and a contribution granted by the host Member State. The Institute's overall budget for 2011 amounted to EUR 64 294 640.
  • Implementation rate of appropriations: Members take note that the execution rate for the period of financial autonomy stands at 92.81% for commitment appropriations, 24.70% for payment appropriations against commitment and 11.48% for payment against the commitment. They call on the Institute to inform the discharge authority of the actions it will take to address this deficiency as the low execution rates show difficulties in budget planning and implementation. Members also observe that a high level of payment appropriations was carried over non-automatically from 2011 to 2012.

Lastly, Members made a series of observations as regards the accounting systems, procurement and recruitment procedures of this Agency.