The European Parliament decided by 614 votes to 48, with 36 abstentions, to grant discharge to the Director of the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control in respect of the implementation of the Centre's budget 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 Authority's annual accounts for the financial year 2019 were reliable and that the underlying transactions were legal and regular, Parliament adopted, by 603 votes to 86 with 2 abstentions, 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 EU agencies.
Centre's financial statements
The Centre's final budget for 2019 was EUR 59 206 000, an increase of 2.03% compared to 2018.
Budgetary and financial management
Members welcomed the budget monitoring efforts during the 2019 financial year which resulted in a budget implementation rate of 99.23%, which represents an increase of 0.71% compared to the 2018 financial year. The execution rate for payment appropriations was 81.41%, which was a slight increase of 0.19% compared to the previous year.
Other observations
Members also made a number of observations concerning performance, staff policy, public procurement, conflicts of interest and internal controls.
In particular, they noted that:
- the key performance indicators (KPIs) have been revised for the 2021-2023 single programming document: 90.3% of the 2019 work programme activities has been implemented;
- the Centre shares best practice and collaborates regularly with other EU agencies and bodies, including the European Food Safety Authority, the European Medicines Agency and the European Monitoring Centre for Drugs and Drug Addiction;
- the Centre has provided effective support in priority policy areas of the EU and Member States and has demonstrated its ability to adapt successfully to policy developments. It received a positive assessment of the coherence of its actions and coordination with other relevant bodies;
- in 2019, the Centre responded to 34 formal scientific requests from the Commission (including 10 from Members) and published a total of 219 reports, including 24 rapid risk assessments on diseases;
- on 31 December 2019, the establishment plan was 95.56 % implemented, with 172 temporary agents appointed out of 180 temporary agents authorised under the Union budget; the gender balance is relatively good;
- the Centre should continue to develop a long-term human resources policy framework, which covers work-life balance, lifelong guidance and career development, gender balance, teleworking, geographical balance and the recruitment and integration of people with disabilities;
- the Centre has made efforts to create a 'green' working environment and has taken steps to reduce its carbon footprint and energy consumption and to implement a paperless workflow;
- the use of electronic procurement workflows has enabled 11 procurement procedures to be launched in 2019;
- the Centre should publish the declarations of interest and CVs of all Management Board and Advisory Forum members, and inform the discharge authority of the steps taken in this respect;
- further steps have been taken to disseminate the results of its research to the general public and to address the public through social media and other channels.