The Committee on Budgetary Control adopted the report by Petri SARVAMAA (EPP, FI) on discharge in respect of the implementation of the budget of the European Centre for disease Prevention and Control (ECDC) for the financial year 2017.
The committee called on the European Parliament to grant the Director of the Centre discharge in respect of the implementation of the agencys budget for the financial year 2017.
Noting that the Court of Auditors stated that it had obtained reasonable assurance that the annual accounts of the Centre for the financial year 2017 were reliable and that the underlying transactions were legal and regular, Members called on Parliament to approve the closure of the Centres 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:
Centres financial statements
The final budget of the Centre for the financial year 2016 was EUR 58 042 653, representing a slight decrease of 0.35 % compared to 2016. 97.80 % of the Centres budget derives from the Union budget.
Budget and financial management
The budget monitoring efforts during the financial year 2017 resulted in a budget implementation rate of 99.78 %, representing an increase of 1.76 % compared to 2016. Payment appropriations execution rate was 81.71 %, representing an increase of 2.45 % compared to the previous year.
The cancellations of carry-overs from 2016 to 2017 amounted to EUR 953 754, representing 8.73 % of the total amount carried over, showing however a decrease of 3.11 % compared to 2016.
Members also made a series of observations regarding performance, staff policy, procurement and internal controls.
In particular, they noted that:
- the Centre responded to 59 formal scientific requests, 35 of which came from Parliament, and published a total of 210 reports (compared to 158 in 2016), including 38 rapid risk assessments addressing new disease threats in Europe, and 78 surveillance reports;
- the EPHESUS project was launched, aimed at evaluating all infectious disease surveillance systems in the Union/EEA public health sector, and started evaluating its disease programmes;
- the Centre has prioritised activities addressing the threats posed by antimicrobial resistance and the rise of vaccine hesitancy in the Union;
- on 31 December 2017, the establishment plan was 91.21 % executed, with 166 temporary agents appointed out of 182 temporary agents authorised under the Union budget;
- the Centre completed 316 procurement procedures in 2017;
- in July 2016, the Centre signed a new lease agreement for its new premises, that took effect at the end of February 2018, and that the duration of the new lease agreement is 15 years. The Centre moved to the new premises in April 2018.