2013 discharge: European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC)

The European Parliament adopted by 560 votes to 113, with 20 abstentions, a decision to grant discharge to the Director of the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC) for the financial year 2013.

The vote on the discharge decision approved the closure of the accounts (in accordance with Annex VI, Article 5(1) of the Rules of Procedure of the European Parliament.

Noting that the Court of Auditors stated that it has obtained reasonable assurances that the annual accounts of the Centre for the financial year 2013 are reliable, and that the underlying transactions are legal and regular, Parliament adopted by 576 votes to 108, with 6 abstentions, a resolution containing a number of recommendations that form an integral part of the discharge decision and as well as the general recommendations that appear in the resolution on performance, financial management and control of EU agencies:

• Centre’s financial statements: Parliament noted that the final budget of the Centre for the financial year 2013 was EUR 58 315 000, representing an increase of 0.2% compared to 2012. The overall contribution of the Union to the Centre's budget for 2013 amounted to EUR 56 727 000.
• Commitments and carry-overs: Parliament noted that budget monitoring efforts during the financial year 2013 resulted in a relatively low budget implementation rate of 92.96% and that the payment appropriations execution rate was 74.14%, with cancellations of appropriations appearing in all budget titles. Regarding administrative and operational expenditure, the levels of committed appropriations carried over to 2014 were 26% and 44% respectively. Parliament also identified weaknesses in respect of the budgetary planning and execution for operational meetings, mainly due to overestimated attendance levels and hotel and flight costs.

Parliament also made a series of observations on procurement and recruitment procedures, internal controls and internal audit.

It also noted that with regard to the legality and regularity of transactions and in particular for one procedure launched in 2013, there was conflicting information between the contract notice and the tender specifications. It acknowledged the Centre's initiative to strengthen the area of procurement by establishing the Procurement Section and the Legal Services Section.