RESOLUTION OF THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT
containing the comments accompanying the decision on the discharge to the Director of the
Translation Centre for the bodies of the European Union in respect of the implementation of its
budget for the financial year 2003
THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT,
—having regard to the Court of Auditors' report on the annual accounts of the Translation Centre for the
bodies of the European Union for the 2003 financial year together with the Centre's replies (1),
—having regard to the Council's recommendation of 8 March 2005 (6859/2005 —C6-0068/2005),
—having regard to the EC Treaty, and in particular Article 276 thereof,
—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, and to Council Regulation (EC) No 1645/2003 of 18 June 2003 amending Regulation (EC)
No 2965/94 setting up a Translation Centre for the Bodies of the European Union (3) and in particular
Article 14 thereof,
—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 theEuropean Communities (
4) and, in particular, Article 94 thereof,
—having regard to Rules 70 and 71 of and Annex V to its Rules of Procedure,
—having regard to the Report of the Committee on Budgetary Control (A6-0074/2005),
A. Whereas the European Court of Auditors (ECA) stated, in its abovementioned specific report, that it
obtained reasonable assurance that the annual accounts for the financial year ended 31 December2003 were reliable and that the underlying transactions, taken as a whole, were legal and regular.
B. Whereas on 21 April 2004 the European Parliament gave discharge (5) to the Director of the
Translation Centre for the bodies of the European Union (the Centre) in respect of the implemen-tation of its budget for the 2002 financial year and in the resolution accompanying the dischargedecision, the European Parliament, inter alia :
—welcomed the results obtained by the Centre on the reduction of carry-overs,
—noted the Centre's efforts with a view to implementing a sound accounting solution concerning
the presentation in its accounts of the positive balance of a financial year as revenue for the
following financial year,
—approved the Centre's efforts to find a satisfactory solution to the question of its premises,EN 27.7.2005 Official Journal of the European Union L 196/101
(1) OJ C 324, 30.12.2004, p. 46.
(2) OJ L 248, 16.9.2002, p. 1.
(3) OJ L 245, 29.9.2003, p. 13.
(4) OJ L 357, 31.12.2002, p. 72.
(5) OJ L 330, 4.11.2004, p. 27.
1. Notes the following figures for the accounts of the Translation Centre for the bodies of the European
Union for the financial years 2003 and 2002:
Revenue and expenditure account for the financial years 2003 and 2002
(in EUR 1 000)
2003 2002
Operating revenue
Invoicing for the financial year 22 075 18 113Miscellaneous revenue 223 291
Total (a) 22 298 18 404
Operating expenditure
Current expenses 18 255 18 446
Total (b) 18 255 18 446
Operating result (c = a –b) 4 043 –42
Financial income
Bank interest 387 495Exchange rate gain 1 2
Total (d) 388 497
Financial charges
Bank charges 10 0
Total (e) 10 0
Financial result (f = d –e) 378 497
Result for ordinary activities (g = c + f) 4 421 455
Exceptional income (h) 19 0
Exceptional expenses (i) 9 0
Exceptional result (j = h –i) 10 0
Result for the financial year (g + j) 4 431 455
Source: Data compiled by the Centre.
2. Invites the Centre and the Commission to make further efforts with a view to reaching a satisfactory
solution on the question of pension contributions in respect of the Centre's staff;
3. Invites the Centre and the Commission to keep Parliament informed of the outcome of its attempts
to find a solution to the question of pension contributions for the Centre's employees;
4. Welcomes the signing in 2004 of a Memorandum of Understanding by the Centre and the
Luxembourg authorities resolving the problem of the costs related to the Centre's use of the NewHemicycle Building; expects full information on this issue to be provided in the Annual ActivityReport of the Director for 2004;
5. Notes the concern expressed by the Centre as to the calendar as set out in Regulation (EC, Euratom)
No 2343/2002 in accordance with which the ECA is to make its observations on the provisionalaccounts of the Agencies (Article 83(1) thereof) by 15 June and the Directors are to send the finalaccounts to the Commission's accounting officer (Article 83(3)) by 1 July together with the opinionof the Management Board; is aware of the difficulty that this entails, namely that of obtaining theopinion of the Agency's Management Board between these two dates;EN L 196/102 Official Journal of the European Union 27.7.2005
6. Notes and regrets the absence of an equality plan and expects the Agency to develop a plan shortly in
order to become an equal opportunities employer; expects the Agency not only to consider equalityissues at the stage of recruitment but also to work proactively and on a long-term basis to promotegender equality;
7. Welcomes the Centre's commitment to communicating information on its activities to citizens and
hopes to see further measures to develop and strengthen the Agency's strategy for information andcommunication;
8. Notes, after exchanging information with the Centre, that the price per page set in the 2003 budget,
and invoiced by the Centre is EUR 77,50, which includes all the costs of the Centre (staff, buildings,IT, equipment, freelance translations, provisions for pensions and social conditions), as well as in-house linguistic quality-checking, formatting and updating, and all the necessary administrative costsof outsourcing; calls on the Commission to evaluate the performance and added value of the differenttranslation services together with the cost-benefit ratio;
9. Notes that for reasons of security, confidentiality, speed and special qualifications in-house translation
is necessary; notes also that where the required quality criteria are met, the Centre does work inpartnership with external translators, and that in 2003, 40 % of its total production was outsourced;
General points addressed to the Commission and the Agencies
10. Recalls its position that while it supported the Commission's efforts to establish a limited number of
models, at least for future ‘regulatory ’agencies, it took the view that the structure of current and
future agencies merited in-depth consideration at interinstitutional level; also stresses that before theCommission defines the framework conditions for the use of regulatory agencies an Interinstitutional
Agreement should spell out common guidelines; this should happen before setting up a harmonised
framework for the structure of the agencies;
11. Notes the Commission's position (
1) with regard to delegating responsibility for the execution of tasks
to bodies, including agencies, other than the Commission's core administration; takes the view thatthis does not answer Parliament's call for in-depth consideration at interinstitutional level of thestructure of existing agencies; therefore invites the Commission to provide clarification on this point
and on the future overall Interinstitutional Agreement related to the new arrangements to be set up
within or in parallel with the Financial Perspective (
2);
12. Invites the Commission to organise and perform in the medium term, e.g. on a standard three-year
cycle, a cross-cutting analysis of the evaluations carried out on individual Agencies in order to:
(a) reach conclusions with regard to the coherence of Agency activity with EU policies in general and
as regards the synergies existing or to be developed between the agencies and Commissiondepartments and the avoidance of overlapping between them;
(b) make an assessment of the broader European added value of the Agencies' outputs in their
respective area of activity and of the relevance, efficiency and effectiveness of the Agencymodel in implementing or contributing to EU policies;
(c) determine and enhance the impact of the Agencies' actions in terms of the proximity, accessibility
and visibility of the EU to its citizens;EN 27.7.2005 Official Journal of the European Union L 196/103
(1) As set out in Annex 1 to the Communication from the Commission to the Council and the European Parliament
‘Building our common future, policy challenges and budgetary means of the enlarged Union 2007-2013 ’,
(COM(2004) 0101, p. 38).
(2) See Annex to the Commission's report on the follow-up to 2002 Discharges (COM(2004) 0648, p. 108).
13. Expects such an overall analysis to be available by the end of 2005 so as to cover the three-year
period from the time of the introduction of the new Financial Regulation and the consequent newframework in the Agencies' system;
14. Invites the Agencies to participate actively in such a process and to cooperate with the Commission,
providing the necessary input on matters that they feel are of substance to their functioning, role,remit and needs, as well as on any matter which could help to improve the whole dischargeprocedure, with a view to contributing to the success of such a process and increasing the account-ability and transparency of the Agencies; invites Agencies to present such input also to its competentcommittees;
15. Calls on the Commission, in parallel with this exercise, to present by the end of 2005 at the latest,
proposals for changes to be made in the existing Agencies' Constituent Acts with a view, inter alia ,t o
optimising its relationship with the Agencies; such proposals should aim at:
(a) increasing communication between the Commission and the Agencies;
(b) establishing or expanding cooperation in defining needs to be covered and objectives, outputs to
be produced and the strategy to achieve them, and in setting standards for monitoring andevaluation;
(c) enhancing complementary action, better organising the necessary resources and their effective
allocation to produce results, and devising a communication strategy for dissemination of those
results;
16. Emphasises that, before any decision is taken to propose the creation of a new agency, the
Commission must undertake a strict evaluation of the need and added value of the function ofthis agency, bearing in mind existing structures, the principles of subsidiarity, budgetary austerity andthe simplification of procedures;
17. Expects the Commission to present swiftly the guidelines concerning staff policy of the Agencies that
Parliament had requested the Commission to present before the end of the 2005 budgetaryprocedure;
General points addressed to the Agencies
18. Expects to receive from now on, from each of the Agencies, the report summarising information on
the audits carried out by the Internal Auditor, the recommendations made and the action taken onthese recommendations in accordance with Article 72(5) of Regulation (EC, Euratom)No 2343/2002;
19. Invites the Agencies to make further efforts to apply correctly the staff regulations and rules
applicable to other civil servants with regard to their staff (recruitment procedures and relevantdecisions taken, personal files, calculation of remuneration and other entitlements, promotionspolicy, percentage of vacant posts, quotas for respecting gender equality, etc.);
20. Notes that, in general, the respective percentage of male and female employees in the overall staff
composition of the Agencies shows that an imbalance between men and women exists; regrets thatmen make up about one third of staff and are over-represented in high grade positions while womenare generally over-represented in low grade positions; expects the Agencies to take immediate andeffective measures to correct this situation;EN L 196/104 Official Journal of the European Union 27.7.2005
21. Calls on the Agencies to ensure that all the relevant provisions of Directive 2002/73/EC of the
European Parliament and of the Council of 23 September 2002 amending Council Directive76/207/EEC on the implementation of the principle of equal treatment for men and women asregards access to employment, vocational training and promotion, and working conditions (
1) are
introduced in their respective staff policies;
22. Expects the Agencies, in response to the relevant observations of the ECA, to comply fully with the
budgetary principles as set out in the Financial Regulation, in particular those of unity and budgetaryaccuracy; calls on the Agencies that have not yet done so to fulfil the Financial Regulation'srequirements on accounting matters and to strengthen further their procedures as regards internalmanagement and control with the aim of increasing accountability, transparency and European addedvalue;
23. Encourages the Agencies, especially those whose activities have points in common with the activities
or missions of other Agencies, to strengthen their cooperation, thus opening up opportunities fordeveloping synergies; invites them to formalise, where appropriate, such cooperation through specificagreements (joint declarations, memoranda of understanding, decisions on joint planning and actions/programmes presenting complementary characteristics) so as to ensure that there is no duplication ofwork, that each Agency's output is clearly identified and that the result of joint efforts maximises theadded value and the impact of their work; expects to be informed regularly on this issue;
24. Calls on the Agencies to pay special attention to procedures for the award and management of
contracts; invites them to take all appropriate measures as regards their administrative structures inorder to strengthen their internal control procedures, channels and management; takes the view thatsuch measures may include, where necessary or feasible, the setting-up of specialised units entrustedwith the task of advising, on the basis of risk analysis, on how best to prepare contract awardprocedures, to ensure monitoring and to carry out follow-up, as required; on this matter, calls on theCommission and the ECA to strengthen cooperation with the Agencies;
25. Notes the difficulties to which some Directors, in particular of the ‘newly created ’Agencies, referred
with regard to the Agencies' compliance with the calendar and deadlines for reporting as set in theFinancial Regulation; invites the Agencies' Directors, in the perspective of the forthcoming review ofthe Financial Regulation to be held in 2005, to inform its Committees on Budgets and BudgetaryControl of the difficulties encountered so far so that these may be considered in the framework of thereview; expects the Directors to make specific proposals for alternative arrangements as to deadlinesthat may best suit their functioning requirements while respecting the reporting obligations of theAgencies as provided for in the Financial Regulation;
26. Notes the positive response by the Agencies' Directors to the call by Parliament's committee
responsible for preparing discharge for the establishment of a more precise system of communi-cation, in particular as regards the transmission by the Agencies to that committee of documentsrelating to the Agencies' reporting obligations; takes the view that better organisation of suchcommunication will strengthen its cooperation with the Agencies and enhance democratic control;
27. Invites the Directors of the Agencies from now on to accompany their annual activity report, which
is presented together with financial and management information, with a declaration of assuranceconcerning the legality and regularity of operations, similar to the declarations signed by theDirectors-General of the Commission;EN 27.7.2005 Official Journal of the European Union L 196/105
(1) OJ L 269, 5.10.2002, p. 15.
28. Invites the Agencies to develop a comprehensive strategy of communication addressing the need to
make available, in the appropriate form, the results of their work to the general public beyond thepresentation of such results to the Institutions, Member States' competent services, specialists,partners or specific beneficiaries; calls on the Agencies, in view of the development of such astrategy, to intensify their cooperation and exchange information on best practice aimed atachieving this goal; expects its competent committees to be duly informed by the Agencies, beforethe next discharge exercise, on the progress made in devising such a strategy in order to ensure theeffective and timely monitoring of their activities;
General points addressed to the ECA and the Agencies
29. Welcomes the ECA's initiative to add a table to its specific reports on the Agencies presenting
summary information on the competences, governance, resources available and products/output ofthe particular agency; takes the view that this enhances the clarity and transparency of the work ofthese Community bodies, while providing a useful basis for comparison, where appropriate, with aview to helping set up the harmonised framework for the Agencies that Parliament has called for;
30. Invites the ECA and the Agencies to strengthen their cooperation in order to enhance the procedures
and technical tools to improve the sound management of all the budgetary and finance issues, withthe view to establishing a methodology that prepares the ground for a positive budget discharge fromthe start of the process; expects to be informed regularly of the progress made and the implemen-tation of best practices;
31. Calls on the ECA and the Agencies to enhance transparency in the procédure contradictoire prior to the
ECA's final report, so as to avoid any contradiction or ambiguity which could jeopardise the cred-ibility of the whole exercise; in this respect, invites the ECA and the Commission to propose afeasible way of updating information on the improvements made and/or the problems found, fromthe time when the ECA's preparatory report is first discussed until the time of the decision as towhether to grant discharge, in order to offer the most accurate picture of the situation of theAgencies.EN L 196/106 Official Journal of the European Union 27.7.2005