RESOLUTION OF THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT  
of 10 May 2012  
with observations forming an integral part of its Decision on discharge in respect of the 
implementation of the budget of the European Joint Undertaking for ITER and the Development 
of Fusion Energy for the financial year 2010  
THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT,  
— having regard to the final annual accounts of the European Joint Undertaking for ITER and the Devel ­
opment of Fusion Energy for the financial year 2010,  
— having regard to the Court of Auditors’ report on the annual accounts of the European Joint Under ­
taking for ITER and the Development of Fusion Energy for the financial year 2010, together with the 
replies of the Joint Undertaking (  1 ), 
— having regard to the conclusions of the European Parliament Joint Delegation of the Committee on 
Budgets and the Committee on Budgetary Control to ITER in Cadarache of 16-18 May 2011,  
— having regard to the Council’s recommendation of 21 February 2012 (06086/2012 - C7-0050/2012),  
— having regard to Article 319 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union,  
— having regard to Council Regulation (EC, Euratom) No 1605/2002 of 25 June 2002 on the Financial 
Regulation applicable to the general budget of the European Communities (  2 ), and in particular 
Article 185 thereof,  
— having regard to Council Decision 2007/198/Euratom of 27 March 2007 establishing the European 
Joint Undertaking for ITER and the Development of Fusion Energy and conferring advantages upon it (  3 ), 
and in particular Article 5 thereof,  
— having regard to the Financial Regulation of the European Joint Undertaking for ITER and the Devel ­
opment of Fusion Energy, adopted by decision of 22 October 2007 of the Joint Undertaking’s 
Governing Board (hereinafter ‘ITER Financial Regulation’),  
— having regard to Commission Regulation (EC, Euratom) No 2343/2002 of 19 November 2002 on the 
framework Financial Regulation for the bodies referred to in Article 185 of Council Regulation (EC, 
Euratom) No 1605/2002 on the Financial Regulation applicable to the general budget of the European 
Communities (  4 ), and in particular Article 94 thereof,  
— having regard to Rule 77 of, and Annex VI to, its Rules of Procedure,  
— having regard to the report of the Committee on Budgetary Control (A7-0113/2012),  
A. whereas the European Joint Undertaking for ITER and the Development of Fusion Energy (‘the Joint 
Undertaking’) was set up in March 2007 for a period of 35 years,  
B. whereas the Court of Auditors states that it has obtained reasonable assurances that the annual accounts 
for the financial year 2010 are reliable and that the underlying transactions are legal and regular,  
C. whereas the ITER Financial Regulation is based on the framework Financial Regulation, which was 
recently amended to bring it into line with changes made to the general Financial Regulation,EN 17.10.2012 Official Journal of the European Union L 286/343  
( 1 ) OJ C 368, 16.12.2011, p. 24.  
( 2 ) OJ L 248, 16.9.2002, p. 1.  
( 3 ) OJ L 90, 30.3.2007, p. 58.  
( 4 ) OJ L 357, 31.12.2002, p. 72.
D. whereas on 9 October 2008 the Court of Auditors delivered Opinion No 4/2008 on the ITER Financial 
Regulation,  
E. whereas the Joint Undertaking started to work autonomously on 18 March 2008,  
F. whereas at the creation of the Joint Undertaking the indicative total resources deemed necessary for the 
period 2007 to 2014 were EUR 9 653 000 000,  
G. whereas the final budget of the Joint Undertaking for the financial year 2010 included commitment 
appropriations of EUR 444 100 000 and payment appropriations of EUR 241 700 000,  
Budget and financial management  
1. Notes that in January 2010 the Governing Board accepted the resignation of the Joint Undertaking’s 
first Director;  
2. Notes with concern that the Court of Auditors draws attention to the requirement for substantially 
increased resources for the ITER project compared to the indicative total resources deemed necessary 
for the period 2007-2014;  
3. Notes that the budget of the Joint Undertaking for the financial year 2010 was initially adopted for the 
collective amount of EUR 447 440 000 in commitment appropriations and EUR 254 900 000 in 
payment appropriations; understands from the Joint Undertaking’s Final Accounts that its 2010 
budget has been amended twice; acknowledges in particular that the purpose of the two amending 
budgets was fourfold:  
— to decrease by EUR 3 300 000 the Euratom administrative contribution in view to reaching full 
accordance between the initial Joint Undertaking’s budget and the Union’s general budget for 2010,  
— to update the ITER Host State Contribution: a debit note for the full amount provided for in the 
budget of EUR 13 600 000 was issued for the payment of the 2010 French contribution; on the 
basis of a real forecast in payment, EUR 8 000 000 have been cashed in 2010,  
— to update the membership contributions: the Joint Undertaking received a complement to the 2009 
membership contributions but Italy and Hungary did not pay their contributions related to the 
2010 budget, despite several reminders,  
— to record other additional revenues made of bank interest on the French contribution (EUR 
104 506,54), interest on the ‘current account’ (EUR 34 629,49), and reimbursement from the 
Translation Centre for the Bodies of the European Union (EUR 1 389,00);  
4. Takes note from comments by the Joint Undertaking that it has implemented 99,9 % of its 2010 
budget in terms of commitment appropriations; is however concerned with the delays in implementing 
activities which resulted in a utilisation rate for payment appropriations of only 63,4 %;  
5. Acknowledges with concern that carry-overs from 2009 amounted to EUR 106 800 000 in 
commitment appropriations and EUR 52 200 000 in payment appropriations and that these appropri ­
ations are mainly accruing from the ITER host state and assigned to the ITER construction;EN L 286/344 Official Journal of the European Union 17.10.2012
6. Notes from the Joint Undertaking’s Final Accounts that in 2010 cancelled commitment and payment 
appropriations for administrative expenditure amounted to EUR 1 090 550,73 while cancelled payment 
appropriations for operational expenditure amounted to EUR 50 713 452,82;  
7. Underlines with concern the high cash balance, which amounted to EUR 78 800 000 at the end of the 
year representing 26,8 % of the available payment appropriations in 2010;  
Procurement and grants  
8. Notes from the Joint Undertakings’ 2010 Annual Activity Report (AAR) that a total of 44 procurement 
contracts were awarded for a total value of EUR 826 000 000; notes, in particular, that 42 operational 
procurement procedures were initiated, 43 procurement evaluations were completed and 43 
procurement contracts were signed; also establishes from the AAR that the Joint Undertaking issued 
a total of five administrative procurement procedures, awarded seven administrative procurement 
contracts for a total value of EUR 6 000 000 and signed six procurement contracts;  
9. Ascertains that a total of 16 grant procedures were issued, 21 evaluations were completed, 23 
agreements were awarded and 29 agreements were signed;  
10. Acknowledges that the Court of Auditors tested a sample of nine procurement and six grant award 
procedures; is concerned that, out of the nine procurement procedures audited, three of them received 
only one offer; is furthermore concerned that for the grants, the average number of proposals received 
was only one per call; urges the Joint Undertaking to develop an Action Plan with concrete measures 
and deadlines to maximise competition and to follow the value-for-money principle in the call prep ­
aration, publication, evaluation and contract management phases;  
11. Notes that the controls applied by the Joint Undertaking before payments are made under grant 
agreements are not sufficiently documented to provide assurance regarding compliance with the 
financial requirements and the eligibility of the underlying costs; underlines that the Internal Auditor 
of the Joint Undertaking has also noted that the  ex-ante  control approach for payments of cost claims is 
not effective and not well prepared to process cost claims; calls on the Joint Undertaking to take the 
necessary measures to reinforce controls before payments are executed and to keep the discharge 
authority informed on this matter;  
12. Notes that the list of contracts and grant beneficiaries is not publicly available on the Joint Under ­
taking’s website and is concerned by this lack of transparency; calls, therefore, on the Joint Undertaking 
to follow the examples set by the Joint Undertakings Clean Sky, FCH, IMI and SESAR and to update its 
website with a complete list of contracts and grants beneficiaries for 2010 as well as for the previous 
financial years;  
Internal control systems  
13. Notes with concern that the Joint Undertaking’s internal control systems have not yet been fully 
established and implemented as required by its Financial Regulation; further regrets that concerns 
have been voiced on the financial circuits and the separation of duties; recognises that a new organi ­
sational structure became operational on 1 January 2011; notes however that the responsibility for the 
financial circuits has still not been fully assigned and that Joint Undertaking’s key posts were still 
vacant;  
14. Calls on the Joint Undertaking to validate the business processes that provide financial information to 
the accounting systems (ABAC and SAP); further urges the Joint Undertaking to put in place an 
appropriate tool for the management of the operational contracts integrated with the budget and 
financial reporting systems;EN 17.10.2012 Official Journal of the European Union L 286/345
15. Appreciates that the Joint Undertaking set up an Audit Committee reporting directly to the Governing 
Board as requested by the discharge authority;  
16. Notes that the Joint Undertaking has started to develop an  ex-post  audit strategy aiming to assess the 
legality and regularity of the underlying transactions, to be implemented in 2012; underlines that the 
Joint Undertaking started to work autonomously on March 2008;  
Internal audit  
17. Takes note that the Joint Undertaking’s Financial Rules have not yet been amended to include the 
provision referring to the powers of the Commission’s internal auditor regarding the general budget as 
a whole;  
18. Notes however that the Commission and the Joint Undertaking have taken action to ensure that the 
respective operational roles of the Commission’s Internal Audit Service and the Joint Undertaking’s 
internal auditing function are clearly defined;  
Late payment of membership contributions and Host State agreement  
19. Considers it to be essential that the deadline for paying membership contributions is respected by all 
Members of the Joint Undertaking; notes that measures were approved by the Governing Board for 
interest to be levied on Annual Membership Contribution in the event of late payment;  
20. Recognises that, although a host agreement on the site and support, privileges and immunities was 
signed between the Kingdom of Spain and the Joint Undertaking, the permanent premises were yet not 
made available to the Joint Undertaking; notes however that the Joint Undertaking occupies temporary 
premises sponsored by the Kingdom of Spain;  
Horizontal observations on the Joint Undertakings  
21. Underlines that seven Joint Undertakings have so far been established by the Commission under 
Article 187 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union; notes that six Joint Undertakings 
(IMI, Artemis, ENIAC, Clean Sky, FCH and ITER-F4E) are in the research area under the Commission’s 
DGs RTD and INFSO and one is charged with developing the new air traffic management system 
(SESAR) in the transport domain whose activities are supervised by DG MOVE;  
22. Notes that the total indicative resources deemed necessary for the Joint Undertakings for their period of 
existence amounts to EUR 21 793 000 000;  
23. Notes that the total Union contribution deemed necessary for the Joint Undertakings for their period of 
existence amounts to EUR 11 489 000 000;  
24. Notes that, for the financial year 2010, the overall Union contribution to the budget of the Joint 
Undertakings amounted to EUR 505 000 000;  
25. Calls on the Commission to provide the discharge authority annually with consolidated information on 
the total annual funding per Joint Undertaking made from the general budget of the Union in order to 
ensure transparency and clarity on the use of the Union’s funds and restore trust among the European 
taxpayers;  
26. Welcomes the initiative of Artemis to include information in its AAR on the monitoring and review of 
its ongoing projects; believes this is a practice that should be followed by the other Joint Undertakings;  
27. Recalls that Joint Undertakings are public-private partnerships and that as a consequence public and 
private interests are intertwined; is of the opinion that under the circumstances the likelihood of 
conflicts of interest should not be dismissed but addressed properly; calls therefore on the Joint 
Undertakings to inform the discharge authority on the verification mechanisms which exist in their 
respective structures to enable a proper management and prevention of conflicts of interest;EN L 286/346 Official Journal of the European Union 17.10.2012
28. Notes, with the notable exception of the Joint Undertaking for ITER and the Development of Fusion 
Energy, that Joint Undertakings are relatively small structures and geographically-concentrated; believes 
therefore that they should pool their resources where possible;  
29. Calls on the Court of Auditors to provide the discharge authority with a follow-up on the comments it 
has made for each of the Joint Undertakings in their respective report on the annual accounts for the 
financial year 2011;  
30. Invites the Court of Auditors to provide, within a reasonable deadline, a special report to Parliament, on 
the added value of the establishment of the Joint Undertakings for the efficient execution of Union 
research, technological development and demonstration programmes; further notes that the same report 
should include an assessment of the effectiveness of the Joint Undertakings’ establishment.EN 17.10.2012 Official Journal of the European Union L 286/347