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 for the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control for 
the financial year 2010  
THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT,  
— having regard to the final annual accounts of the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control 
for the financial year 2010,  
— having regard to the Court of Auditors’ report on the annual accounts of the European Centre for 
Disease Prevention and Control for the financial year 2010, together with the Centre’s replies (  1 ), 
— having regard to the Council’s recommendation of 21 February 2012 (06083/2012 – C7-0051/2012),  
— 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 Regulation (EC) No 851/2004 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 
21 April 2004 establishing a European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control (  3 ), and in particular 
Article 23 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 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 and the opinion of the Committee 
on the Environment, Public Health and Food Safety (A7-0123/2012),  
A. whereas the Court of Auditors stated that it has obtained reasonable assurances that the annual 
accounts of the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control (‘the Centre’) for the financial 
year 2010 are reliable and that the underlying transactions are legal and regular,  
B. whereas on 10 May 2011 Parliament granted the Director of the Centre discharge for implementation 
of its budget for the financial year 2009 (  5 ), and in its resolution accompanying the discharge called on 
the Centre, inter alia:  
— to make, in a table to be annexed to the Court of Auditors’ report, a comparison of the operations 
that were carried out during the year for which discharge is to be granted and those carried out 
during the previous financial year;EN 17.10.2012 Official Journal of the European Union L 286/185  
( 1 ) OJ C 366, 15.12.2011, p. 122.  
( 2 ) OJ L 248, 16.9.2002, p. 1.  
( 3 ) OJ L 142, 30.4.2004, p. 1.  
( 4 ) OJ L 357, 31.12.2002, p. 72.  
( 5 ) OJ L 250, 27.9.2011, p. 145.
— to address the high level of carry-over which has a negative impact on the implementation of the 
budget and is at odds with the principle of annuality;  
— to fulfil its obligation to send to the discharge authority a report drawn up by its Director 
summarising the content of the Internal Audit Service (IAS) recommendations;  
C. whereas the overall budget of the Centre for the financial year 2010 was EUR 57 800 000 compared to 
EUR 49 200 000 in 2009, which represents an increase of 17,5 %; whereas the total contribution of 
the Union to the budget of the Centre for 2010 was EUR 56 225 000,  
Budget and Financial Management  
1. Recalls that the initial Union contribution to the Centre for 2010 amounted to EUR 53 078 000; notes 
however that EUR 145 000, coming from the recovery of surplus, was added to it which, as a result, 
makes a total Union contribution of EUR 53 223 000 for 2010;  
2. Underlines that according to the general budget of the European Union for the financial year 2010 the 
total contribution to the Centre amounts to EUR 56 225 000 and was comprised of:  
— a contribution of EUR 33 360 000 under Titles I and II, and  
— a contribution of EUR 22 895 000 under Title III, of which EUR 10 000 000 were paid;  
notes, however, that the same document presents a total Union contribution of EUR 53 223 000 for 
2010; acknowledges the Commission’s statement that the Union’s contribution to the Centre for 2010 
was EUR 56 225 000 and that the figure of EUR 53 223 000 is the result of inconsistencies in the text 
accompanying the budget figures; is of the opinion that this reflects the necessity for the Commission 
to provide annually the discharge authority with consolidated information on the total annual funding 
per Agency made from the general budget of the European Union;  
3. Takes note from the Centre that a second grant agreement was reached with the Directorate-General for 
Enlargement for an initial duration of two years and that a subsequent budget increase of EUR 400 000 
for the period 2009–2010 was implemented in 2010; notes that in 2011 the Centre was due to 
present a request to extend the duration of the grant;  
4. Acknowledges from the final annual accounts of the Centre for the financial year 2010 that its budget 
execution rate reached 95 % in terms of commitment appropriations; is however concerned that the 
budget execution rate in terms of payments only reached 68 % of its total budget; believes nevertheless 
that this is already an improvement compared to 59 % in 2009 but considers that further efforts need 
to be made by the Centre in this respect;  
5. Underlines that the implementation of payment credits improved to 92,7 % which represents an 
amount of unused credits of EUR 3 800 000; notes that this under-execution is related to the fact 
that the Centre has limited its request of payment credits in order to reduce the amount of cash in its 
bank account at year-end, as requested by the Court of Auditors and the Commission;  
6. Notes from the Centre’s 2010 Annual Activity Report (AAR) that the Director, as Authorising Officer, 
delegated financial responsibility to the five Heads of Unit, and for a period of time, to the Coordinator 
of the Director’s Office; notes, however, that all contracts over EUR 250 000 need to be signed by the 
Director;EN L 286/186 Official Journal of the European Union 17.10.2012
Carry-over appropriations  
7. Acknowledges from the Court of Auditors that in 2010, an amount of EUR 15 600 000, equivalent to 
27 % of the total budget including 50 % of Title III — Operational expenditure — was carried forward 
to 2011; urges once more the Centre to promptly redress the deficiencies found by the Court of 
Auditors on carry-overs; underlines that a high level of carry-overs has a negative impact on the 
implementation of the budget;  
8. Is concerned that this high level of carry-forward matched by a low level of accrued expenditure is 
excessive and is at odds with the principle of annuality;  
Accounting system  
9. Notes from its Report on Budget and Financial Management (RBFM) that 2010 was the first full year 
that the Centre implemented its budget for the entire year through ABAC WF (the EC integrated 
budgetary and accounting system);  
10. Acknowledges from its AAR that the Centre performed a review of the internal procedures for 
payments and commitments;  
Procurement  
11. Observes from its AAR that the procurement office dealt with 50 open procedures and 18 negotiated 
procedures as well as eight calls for proposals; calls on the Centre to provide the discharge authority 
with the results of each of the procurement procedures;  
12. Notes that after five years of negotiations, a Seat Agreement has been signed between the Centre and 
the Ministry for Elderly Care and Public Health of Sweden;  
Human Resources  
13. Acknowledges that the former Director left the Centre in February 2010 to take up a position at the 
World Health Organisation Regional Office for Europe;  
14. Urges the Centre to put in place sufficient measures to guarantee the transparency of its recruitment 
procedures; is in particular concerned about the Court of Auditors’ findings: neither the thresholds that 
candidates had to meet in order to be invited to the interview, nor those necessary to be put on the 
reserve list were fixed in advance; notes that this could cover up a situation of nepotism or conflict of 
interests;  
15. Notes from its RBFM that the total number of temporary agents working at the Centre as of 
31 December 2010 was 175, out of 200 posts provided for in the Establishment Table 2010;  
16. Ascertains also from the RBFM that the turnover rate for temporary agents and contract agents was 7 % 
in 2010;  
17. Considers the Centre as an important Union body to strengthen and develop European disease surveil ­
lance, to assess and communicate current and emerging threats to human health posed by infectious 
diseases and to pool Europe’s health knowledge;  
Performance  
18. Acknowledges that the Centre is now working with its partners to implement changes on the basis of 
lessons learned from the 2009 H1N1 pandemic, in order to further improve the performance of the 
Centre for the future; points nevertheless to the important contributions made by the Centre to the 
measures on fighting the H1N1 pandemic, by issuing preliminary guidelines on the ‘Use of specific 
pandemic influenza vaccines’ in 2009;EN 17.10.2012 Official Journal of the European Union L 286/187
Internal audit  
19. Observes from the RBFM that a review of the implementation of the Internal Control System was 
carried out; is concerned in particular that two of the standards have still not been implemented, 
notably business continuity and evaluation of activities, and four others have only been partly imple ­
mented; urges therefore the Centre to promptly take action in this respect and inform the discharge 
authority of the stage of implementation of these standards;  
20. Ascertains from the RBFM that the planned audit of the Internal Audit service (IAS) on ‘Processes 
supporting the establishment of the Annual Work Programme, focusing on the Management 
Information System’ was postponed to 2011; calls therefore on the Centre to inform the discharge 
authority on the IAS finding;  
21. Acknowledges also from the Centre that at the end of 2010 the IAS audit reported no critical findings; 
however six important findings were still open; is informed by the Centre that four of these recom ­
mendations concern health communication, the performance indicators, the checklist used by the 
financial actors and the estimation of costs of the Centre’s meetings; urges the centre to inform the 
discharge authority about the other two recommendations that still need to be implemented by the 
Centre;  
22. Draws attention to its recommendations from previous discharge reports, as set out in the Annex to 
this resolution;  
23. Refers, in respect of the other observations accompanying its Decision on discharge, which are of a 
horizontal nature, to its resolution of 10 May 2012 (  1 ) on the performance, financial management and 
control of the agencies.EN L 286/188 Official Journal of the European Union 17.10.2012  
( 1 ) Texts adopted, P7_TA(2012)0164 (see page 388 of this Official Journal).
ANNEX  
EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT RECOMMENDATIONS OVER PAST YEARS  
European Centre for 
Disease Prevention and 
Control  2006  2007  2008  2009  
Performance/ 
procurement  — The rules on procurement are not 
strictly enforced: lack of clear 
selection criteria; incorrect choice of 
procedure; non-respect of the 
procedure described in the tender 
notice; insufficient documentation of 
the procedure  n.a. — Calls on the Centre to set out a 
comparison of operations carried out 
during the year for which discharge is 
to be granted and in the previous 
financial year, so as to enable the 
discharge authority to assess its 
performance more effectively from 
one year to the next one 
— No Seat Agreement between the 
Centre and the Swedish Government 
as there were still many outstanding 
issues that needed further negotiation  — Calls on the Centre to make a 
comparison of the operations that 
were carried out during the year for 
which discharge is to be granted and 
during the previous financial year  
Carry-over of appropri ­
ations  — The annuality principle is not strictly 
observed: Nearly 45 % of the 
commitments entered into during the 
year were carried over. Moreover, 
during the second half of the 2006, 
numerous transfers were made → 
imprecise estimates of staffing needs  — The annuality principle is not strictly 
observed: weaknesses in the 
programming, monitoring and 
subsequent implementation of the 
Centre’s budget 
— When budget amendments were 
decided, no evaluation was made of 
their impact on the work programme 
and the achievements of the objectives  — The annuality principle is not strictly 
observed: weaknesses in the 
programming and subsequent imple ­
mentation of the Centre’s budget 
— Calls on the Commission to examine 
ways of ensuring that the principle of 
needs-based cash management is 
implemented →The Centre maintains 
enormously high cash reserves over 
long period (31 December 2008: 
EUR 16 705 091)  — Calls on the Centre to inform the 
discharge authority of the measures 
taken to redress the deficiency. High 
level of carry-overs which has an 
negative impact on the implementation 
of the budget and is at odds with the 
principle of annuality  
Human resources  n.a.  n.a.  — Weaknesses in the planning of 
recruitment procedures  n.aEN 17.10.2012 Official Journal of the European Union L 286/189
European Centre for 
Disease Prevention and 
Control  2006  2007  2008  2009  
Internal audit  — Legal commitments were entered into 
the absence of prior budgetary 
commitments, in breach of the 
financial regulation  — The Centre did not comply with the 
Financial Regulation and the principle 
of economy: in 2007 the Centre paid 
EUR 500 000 for renovating its main 
building, as consequence of an 
agreement signed by the Centre and 
the building owner. Such an 
agreement did not specify the nature 
of the works to be done as well as 
deadlines and payment conditions  — The Centre has not comprehensively 
fulfilled its obligation to send to the 
authority responsible for discharge a 
report drawn up by its Director 
summarising the number of internal 
audits conducted by the internal 
auditor  — The Centre has not comprehensively 
fulfilled its obligation to send to the 
discharge authority a report drawn up 
by its Director summarising the 
content of the IAS recommendationEN L 286/190 Official Journal of the European Union 17.10.2012