The European Parliament adopted a decision on
discharge to be granted to the Director of the Centre for the
Development of Vocational Training in respect of the implementation
of the budget for the financial year 2011. The vote on the decision
to grant discharge covers the closure of the accounts (in
accordance with Annex VI, Article 5(1) of the European
Parliament’s Rules of Procedure).
Noting that the Court of Auditors stated that it has
obtained reasonable assurances that the annual accounts of the
Centre for the financial year 2011 are reliable and that the
underlying transactions are legal and regular, Parliament adopted a
resolution containing 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: Parliament recalls that
the contribution of the Union to the Centre's budget for the
financial year 2011 was EUR 16 987 000, which represents a slight
increase from 2010. It also notes that the Centre receives annual
contributions from two third countries which benefit from its
work.
- Implementation rate of appropriations: Parliament acknowledges from the annual accounts
that EUR 900 000 was carried over to 2012 and calls on the
Centre to inform the discharge authority of the actions taken to
address this deficiency as the excessive level of carryovers for
Title II is at odds with the budgetary principle of
annuality.
- Cooperation with other agencies: Parliament invites the Commission, together with the
European Training Foundation, the European Centre for the
Development of Vocational Training, European Foundation for the
Improvement of Living and Working Conditions and the European
Agency for Safety and Health at Work to further explore the
synergies that exist between those agencies and to report to
the discharge authority on the possible deeper integration of those
four agencies. It should be evaluated so see whether closer
cooperation could lead to economies of scale and optimisation of
their performance. Parliament welcomes the fact that the Centre and
ETF further systematised their cooperation to maximise the benefits
for their respective mandates, which resulted in the organisation
of knowledge sharing seminars, collaboration in the area of
qualifications development and the implementation of common Union
instruments.
Lastly, Parliament made a
series of observations as regards grants, transfers, recruitment of
this Agency as well as on its performance and its internal audit
systems.