The European Parliament decided by 615 votes to 76, with 7 abstentions, to grant discharge to the acting director of the Translation Centre for the bodies of the European Union (CdT) for the financial year 2019 and to approve the closure of the accounts for that year.
Noting that the Court of Auditors stated that it had obtained reasonable assurance that the Centre's annual accounts for the financial year 2018 were reliable and that the underlying transactions were legal and regular, Parliament adopted, by 606 votes to 84 with 1 abstention, a resolution containing a series of recommendations which form an integral part of the discharge decision and which complement the general recommendations set out in the resolution on the performance, financial management and control of European Union agencies.
Centre’s financial statements
The final budget of the Translation Centre for the Bodies of the European Union was EUR 45 750 404 for the financial year 2019, which represents a decrease of 2.95% compared to 2018.
Budgetary and financial management
The budget monitoring efforts during the financial year 2019 resulted in a budget implementation rate of 93.03%, a decrease of 1.91% compared to the previous year. The implementation rate for payment appropriations was 85.11%, a decrease of 2.82% compared to 2018.
The Centre is invited to:
- adopt a sustainable business model in line with its two-year transformation plan devised following the external study on the Centre as the linguistic shared service provider for EU agencies and bodies;
- fully implement measures that can help adapt the new business model to technological developments.
Members are concerned that the Centre has not completed the anti-fraud plan which was to be fully deployed by the end of 2018. They recommended that the Centre inform the discharge authority of the postponed actions and their effect on the fraud risk that the Centre would be exposed to.
Other observations
Members also made a number of observations concerning performance, staff, procurement, conflicts of interest and internal controls.
In particular, they noted that:
- the Centre should further develop key performance indicators to assess the outcome and impact of its activities;
- at 309 047 pages, the number of translated, modified, editorially checked and revised pages of documents decreased by 16.2% compared to 2018, but this volume was 2.4% higher than the original budget and 8.3% higher than the amended budget for 2019;
- the Centre has put in place a translation quality assurance action plan for the period 2019-2020, focusing on improving the quality of language services provided to clients;
- the Centre is keen to develop synergies with other agencies, notably through the implementation of the common e-recruitment tool, Systal. The Centre is encouraged to continue this process of cooperation and sharing of knowledge and experience;
- on 31 December 2019, the establishment plan was 93.26 % implemented, with 48 officials and 132 temporary agents appointed out of the 141 temporary agents and 52 officials authorised under the Union budget;
- the Centre achieved a good gender balance in 2019 at management level (60% men and 40% women). However, men are under-represented in the overall staff;
- the Centre should publish the CVs of all Management Board members and inform the Discharge Authority of the measures taken in this respect. It should also develop preventive measures to maintain fair prices for all its customers;
- the self-assessment of internal control standards in 2019 concluded that these standards are in place and that they are effective.
Parliament noted that the Centre has not provided adequate information in its final accounts on the impact of COVID-19-related measures on its current and planned operations. It required the Centre to assess this impact and to communicate the results to the budgetary authority.