The European Parliament decided by 594 votes to 30,
with 5 abstentions, to postpone the decision to grant discharge to
the Director of the European Joint Undertaking for ITER and the
Development of Fusion Energy for the financial year
2014.
It postponed the closure of the accounts of the Joint
Undertaking (in accordance with Annex V, Article 5 (1)(b) to
Parliaments Rules of Procedure.
Parliament adopted by 570 votes to 55 with 7
abstentions, a resolution containing a series of recommendations,
which form an integral part of the decision on discharge and which
add to the general recommendations set out in the resolutionÂ
on performance, financial management and control of EU
agencies:
- Budget and financial management: Parliament noted that the
Court of Auditors, in its report, emphasised the fact that the
Council, in 2011, had approved EUR 6.6 billion (in 2008 values) for
the Joint Undertaking contribution to the ITER construction phase
of the project. That figure is double the initial budgeted costs
for this phase of the project and did not include EUR 663
million proposed by the Commission in 2010 to cover potential
contingencies. Although the ITER Organization set up a Reserve Fund
with the aim of providing a clearer mechanism that compensates the
domestic agencies for design changes, Parliament called on ITER to
adopt solutions that minimise costs in an attempt to rectify the
weakness identified by 2013 ITER Management Assessment.
Parliament considered that the significant increase of the project
costs may put in danger other programmes which are also financed by
the Union budget and may be contradictory to the
''value-for-money'' principle. It also noted with concern that
the amount of the contribution to the construction phase of the
project by the Joint Undertaking is exposed to significant risks of
increase due to changes in the scope of the project deliverables
and delays in the current schedule which was considered to be
unrealistic. It also noted that the latest estimate of the
shortfall (negative contingency) until the finalisation of the
construction phase, calculated by the Joint Undertaking in November
2014, was EUR 428 million (2008 values). Parliament acknowledged
that the Joint Undertaking is currently working on a more accurate
and updated estimate through cost-containment measures and that
cost control will continue to be a priority at global project
management level under the leadership of the new Director General
of the ITER Organization.
- Action plan:
Parliament stressed that because of the problems
currently faced by the ITER project, the new Director-General of
the ITER Organisation presented an action plan setting out specific
measures to tackle the main issues facing the project's progress.
It noted that the Commission publically stated that it had
rejected the proposed action plan made by the new
Director General of the ITER Organization. It urged the new
Director General of the ITER Organization to present publically the
new ITER action plan which clearly avoids any further delay or
additional costs to the ITER Project. It noted that the Joint
Undertaking has implemented a central system to manage costing data
in order to maintain close control of the evolution of the budget
and to monitor cost deviations on a regular
basis.
Parliament made a series of observations on conflicts
of interest in the joint undertaking, procurement, the headquarters
agreement with Spain, working conditions, controls in the joint
undertaking, and its legal framework, as well as intellectual
property rights in regard to exclusive exploitation rights over
intellectual property produced in fields outside fusion.