2012 discharge: European Centre for the Development of Vocational Training (Cedefop)

The Committee on Budgetary Control adopted the report by Petri SARVAMAA (EPP, FI) in which it recommended the European Parliament to grant discharge to the Director of the European Centre for the Development of Vocational Training (Cedefop) in respect of the implementation of the Centre's budget for the financial year 2012.

Noting that the Court of Auditors stated that it has obtained reasonable assurances that the annual accounts of the Centre for the financial year 2012 are reliable, and that the underlying transactions are legal and regular, Members approved the closure of the Cedefop’s accounts. They made, however, a number of recommendations that needed 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.

• Role of the Centre: Members acknowledged the essential role of the Centre in the promotion of vocational education and training (VET) in the Union and the relevance of its contribution to policies aimed at exploring VET’s potential to support economic development. They noted the presence of various stakeholders shows an increased demand for the Centre’s expertise and analytical capacity.
• Budget and financial management: Members noted that budget monitoring efforts during the financial year 2012 resulted in a budget implementation rate of 99.68% and that the payment appropriations execution rate was 94.44%.
• Commitments and carry-overs: they also noted that carry-overs of committed appropriations were high however they acknowledged that this was mainly due to reasons beyond the Centre’s control.

Members also made a series of observations on transfers, procurement and recruitment procedures as well as comments on internal controls.

Lastly, they acknowledged that the Centre should assess its policy on the prevention and management of conflicts of interests on the basis of the Commission's Guidelines on the issue. They called on the Centre to inform the discharge authority of the assessment results once available.