2017 discharge: Fuel Cells and Hydrogen 2 Joint Undertaking (FCH 2 Joint Undertaking)

2018/2216(DEC)

The European Parliament decided to grant the Executive Director of the Fuel Cells and Hydrogen (FCH 2) Joint Undertaking discharge in respect of the implementation of the joint undertaking’s budget for the financial year 2017 and to approve the closure of the joint undertaking’s accounts.

Noting that the Court of Auditors considered that the annual accounts of the Joint Undertaking for the financial year 2017 accurately reflected the financial position of the Joint Undertaking as at 31 December 2017, as well as the results of its operations, Parliament adopted by 505 votes to 119, with 5 abstentions, a resolution containing a series of observations which form an integral part of the discharge decision.

General

In FCH2, the maximum Union contribution is EUR 665 000 000 from the Horizon 2020 and the members from the Industry and Research Groupings are expected to contribute resources of at least EUR 380 000 000, comprising in-kind contributions in the Horizon 2020 projects funded by the FCH2, in-kind contributions to additional activities (of at least EUR 285 000 000) and in cash-contributions to administrative costs.

Budget and financial management

Its final budget for the financial year 2017 included commitment appropriations of EUR 127 800 000 and payment appropriations of EUR 198 600 000. Payment appropriations increased by 71.95 %, and were mainly used for pre-financing the 2016 and 2017 calls for proposals. The overall 2017 budget execution of commitment and payment appropriations reached 96 % and 89 % respectively.

Other observations

The resolution also contained a series of observations on performance, internal control systems and audits. It noted in particular:

- that all calls for proposals were published and closed according to the respective work plans and that the results regarding ‘time-to-grant’ and ‘time-to-pay’ remained well below the defined targets;

- in 2017, the FCH2 finalised implementation of all action plans addressing recommendations on internal audit service (IAS) audits on the performance management undertaken by the IAS in 2016, with an exception of one action;

- on 31 December 2017, the total number of posts filled in the FCH2 was 26, representing 11 different Member States;

- a number of communication activities were organised in 2017 which further contributed to increased visibility of the FCH2.