The European Parliament adopted by 436 votes to 170,
with 15 abstentions, a decision to grant discharge to the
Director of the Joint Undertaking for ITER and the Development
of Fusion Energy in respect of the implementation of the budget of
the ENIAC Joint Undertaking for the financial year
2014.
At the same time, Parliament approved the closure
of ITERs accounts.
Parliament also adopted by 441 votes to 166, with 19
abstentions, a resolution containing a number of recommendations
that form an integral part of the discharge decision granted in
plenary.
The principal observations made by Parliament may be
summarised as follows:
- Positive developments:
Parliament welcomed the conclusions of the ITER Council meeting of
15 and 16 June 2016 which confirmed that the ITER Project is now
going in the right direction, in a way that will allow for
a realistic and detailed proposal for schedule and associated
costs. The conclusions indicated the successful completion of all
project milestones to date, on or ahead of schedule. Parliament
noted that the milestones set up at the ITER Council meeting of 18
and 19 November 2015 are well advanced and that four out of the six
milestones attributed to Fusion for Energy (F4E) for
2016 have already been fulfilled.
- Lease agreements:
Parliament noted that the issue of the lease of the premises of the
Joint Undertaking has been solved, as the Spanish government
offered a long-term lease agreement for the current premises and an
extension of the current office space by one additional
floor.
- Intellectual property rights: Parliament welcomed the fact that, as of 1 January
2016, the new Financial Regulation and new Implementing Rules of
the Joint Undertaking entered into force. It acknowledged that the
Joint Undertaking has established a working definition of
fusion/non-fusion application that facilitates establishing the
scope of the exclusive use of Intellectual Property rights
generated within the contracts.
- Staff Regulations:
lastly, Parliament noted the partial implementation of the Staff
Regulations and encourages the Joint Undertaking to continue
implementing the remaining regulations