The European Parliament decided by 612 votes to 83, with 3 abstentions, to grant discharge to the Acting Executive Director of the European Foundation for the Improvement of Living and Working Conditions (Eurofound) for the financial year 2019 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 Foundation’s annual accounts for the financial year 2019 are reliable and that the underlying transactions are legal and regular, Parliament adopted by 598 votes to 86 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 resolution on performance, financial management and control of EU agencies:
Foundation’s financial statements
The final budget of Eurofound for the financial year 2019 was EUR 21 489 160 representing an increase of 3.51 % compared to 2018.
Budget and financial management
Budget monitoring efforts during 2019 resulted in a budget implementation rate of 99.99 %, representing a slight increase of 0.41 %. Payment appropriations execution rate was 80.92 %, representing a decrease of 1.78 % compared to 2018.
Other observations
Parliament also made a series of observations regarding performance, procurement, staff policy and internal controls.
In particular, it noted that:
- the Foundation’s new founding regulation entered into force on 20 February 2019;
- the delivery of work programme outputs planned for 2019 reached 91 % of achievement (51 of 56 outputs), the Foundation contributed to 212 policy development events (46 % of them at EU level);
- the Foundation should continue to develop its synergies, to exchange information, to share knowledge and to exchange of good practices with other European agencies with a view to improving efficiency with regard to human resources, building management, IT services and security;
- on 31 December 2019 the establishment plan was 97.80 % implemented, with 11 officials and 78 temporary agents appointed out of 91 authorised under the Union budget (compared to 91 authorised posts in 2018);
- gender balance was achieved for senior managers (1 man and 1 woman). However, there is no gender balance at management board level (51 men and 33 women);
- on procurement, the Foundation concluded a framework contract for a maximum amount of EUR 170 000 for the supply of electricity on the basis of a negotiated procurement procedure with a single candidate and without the prior publication of a contract notice.