The European Parliament decided to grant discharge to the Director of the European Foundation for the Improvement of Living and Working Conditions (Eurofound) for the financial year 2017 and to approve the closure of the accounts for the financial year in question.
Noting that the Court of Auditors has stated that it has obtained reasonable assurances that the Foundations annual accounts for the financial year 2017 are reliable and that the underlying transactions are legal and regular, Parliament adopted by 496 votes to 128 with 5 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 draft resolution on performance, financial management and control of EU agencies:
Foundations financial statements
The final budget for Eurofound for the financial year 2017 was EUR 20 480 000 representing a decrease of 1.49 % compared to 2016.
Budget and financial management
Parliament noted with appreciation that the budget monitoring efforts during the financial year 2017 resulted in a budget implementation rate of 100 %, the same as in the 2016. Payment appropriations execution rate was 80.7 %, representing a decrease of 4.1 % compared to 2016.
Members also made a series of observations regarding procurement, staff policy and internal controls.
In particular, they noted that:
- the delivery of work programme outputs planned for 2017 reached 90 % of achievement (35 of 39 outputs);
- on 31 December 2017, the establishment plan was 95.70 % completed, with 89 officials or temporary agents appointed out of 93 authorised under the Union budget.
- that the Foundation reported underpayments and overpayments to thirty staff members for the period 2005 to 2014 in relation to the transition to the new EU Staff Regulations in 2005. The Foundation corrected all underpayments, but will not recover the overpayments;
- by the end of 2017, the Foundation was not yet using all of the tools launched by the Commission aimed to introduce a single solution for the electronic exchange of information with third parties participating in public procurement procedures (e-procurement);
- the Foundation implemented an ethics code and that the Foundation is committed to informing the discharge authority about any case of alleged or confirmed conflict of interest;
- there is a need to strengthen the accounting officers independence by making him directly responsible to the Foundations director and management board.