Having examined the revenue and expenditure accounts
for the financial year 2012 and the balance sheet at 31 December
2012 of the European Joint Undertaking for ITER and the Development
of Fusion Energy, and the report by the Court of Auditors on the
annual accounts of the Joint Undertaking for the financial year
2012, accompanied by the Joint Undertaking's replies to the Court's
observations, the Council recommends the European Parliament to
give a discharge to the Director of the Joint Undertaking in
respect of the implementation of the budget for the financial year
2012.
The observations in the Court of Auditors' report in
relation to the financial year 2012 call for some comments by the
Council, which may be summarised as follows:
- Market transparency: the Council, following the Court's
observation, urges the Joint Undertaking to present in the annual
accounts information on the degree of advancement of the works in
progress in order to provide transparency on the status of the
activities carried out so far by F4E as regards the procurement
arrangements signed with the ITER International
Organisation.
- Excessive carry-overs:
in order to avoid excessive carry-overs, the Council calls on the
Joint Undertaking to pay due attention to the proper implementation
of commitment and payment appropriations in the course of the
budgetary year and to decommit unused appropriations if necessary,
in line with the budgetary principle of annuality.
- Internal control systems: the Council welcomes the progress made by the Joint
Undertaking with regard to the establishment and implementation of
its internal control systems. However, since some deficiencies
still persist, the Council invites the Joint Undertaking to
continue its efforts in upgrading and making more efficient various
components of its internal control systems.
- Public procurement: with
regard the procurement and grant award procedures, the Council
regrets that numerous weaknesses were still identified by the
Court. It calls on the Joint Undertaking to make all possible
efforts to maximise competition in the areas of procurement and
grant contract management and to improve the controls and
verifications at different stages of the procurement and grant
procedures, with a view to mitigating any financial risk for the
EU funds.
- Intellectual property rights: the Council invites the Joint Undertaking to follow
thoroughly the Court's recommendations and to implement a plan for
monitoring and reporting on intellectual property rights, to avoid
late payment of membership contributions, to adopt the necessary
rules for the proper implementation of Staff Regulations, and to
respect the host state agreement with Spain.
The Council is also concerned with the significant
escalation in the costs of the ITER project that has been
estimated at EUR 290 million in June 2013. Taking into
account that the Council, in its conclusions of July 2010, agreed
to finance the ITER project up to EUR 6.6 billion, the Council
urges the Joint Undertaking to put in place, without delay, the
appropriate tools for monitoring the validity of cost estimates and
of any potential costs deviations, and to report duly in its annual
activity report on the results of the operations and on the
associated risks. The Council stresses the importance of a
realistic approach to the management of the ITER project,
including the setting up of a realistic reference schedule and
preventing any risks linked to the evolution of commodity
prices.