Resolution of the European Parliament

of 10 May 2011

with observations forming an integral part of its Decision on discharge in respect of the implementation of the budget of the Translation Centre for the Bodies of the European Union for the financial year 2009

THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT,

having regard to the final annual accounts of the Translation Centre for the Bodies of the European Union for the financial year 2009,

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 financial year 2009, together with the Centre’s replies [1],

having regard to the Council’s recommendation of 15 February 2011 (05892/2011 — C7-0052/2011),

having regard to Article 276 of the EC Treaty and 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 Regulation (EC) No 2965/94 of 28 November 1994 setting up a Translation Centre for 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 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 (A7-0119/2011),

A. whereas the Court of Auditors stated that it has obtained reasonable assurances that the annual accounts for the financial year 2009 are reliable and that the underlying transactions are legal and regular,

B. whereas on 5 May 2010 Parliament granted the Director of the Translation Centre for the Bodies of the European Union discharge for implementation of the Centre’s budget for the financial year 2008 [5], and in its resolution accompanying the discharge decision, inter alia:

- noted the Court of Auditors’ observations in its 2006 report that the accumulated budget surplus for 2006 was EUR 16900000, that, in 2007, the Centre would refund EUR 9300000 to its clients and that in 2008 the surplus amounted to EUR 26700000; agreed with the Court of Auditors that such an accumulation of surpluses suggested that the method used by the Centre to price its translations was not precise enough,

- called on the Commission and the Centre to strive to resolve quickly the dispute over pension contributions for staff,

C. whereas the budget of the Centre for 2009 was EUR 62630000, which is an increase of 4,48 % on the financial year 2008,

Performance

1. Welcomes the Centre’s plan to carry over a mid-term review of its Strategy 2008-2012; calls none the less on the Centre to further develop the evaluation of its performance by improving the links between its strategic actions and the actions foreseen in its Work Programme and by reviewing the indicators for monitoring its performance in order to comply with SMART criteria;

2. Notes that in 2009 the Centre increased its services (in terms of pages translated) to the EU institutions by 41 % compared to 2008;

3. Congratulates the Centre for having set out, in the table annexed to the Court of Auditors’ 2009 report, a comparison of the operations that were carried out during 2008 and 2009 so as to enable the discharge authority to assess more effectively the Centre’s performance from one year to the next;

Financial management

4. Calls on the Centre to systematically apply Article 8.2 of its Financial Regulation in which it is stated that "commitment appropriations shall cover the total cost of the legal commitments entered into the current financial year";

Budget surplus contrary to the Regulation establishing the Centre

5. Calls on the Centre to take more effective measures to remedy its constant rise in surplus; notes, in fact, that for several years the Centre has had an accumulated budget surplus contrary to Regulation (EC) No 2965/94, and that in 2009 the surplus amounted to EUR 24000000, whereas it had been EUR 26700000 in 2008, EUR 16900000 in 2006, EUR 10500000 in 2005 and EUR 3500000 in 2004; observes that this surplus is mainly linked to the lack of precision in the forecasts for translation requests received from its clients;

6. Welcomes, nevertheless, the Centre’s initiative to refund EUR 11000000 to its clients in 2009; stresses that similarly, in 2007, the Centre had already refunded EUR 9300000 to its clients;

Pension contributions to the Commission retirement scheme

7. Observes that on 12 February 2010 the Court of Justice of the European Union judged as manifestly inadmissible the Commission’s appeal (in Case T-456/07) [6] which called on the Centre to pay a contribution representing the part of the financing of the Community pension scheme in connection with the budget years 1998 to 2005;

8. Congratulates the Centre on having put efforts into finding an amicable solution in respect of this conflict with the Commission by using part of its budget surplus (EUR 18300000) to pay the employer contribution to the Commission retirement scheme;

Accounting system

9. Encourages the Centre to ensure that there is a proper validation accounting system to be used by the Accounting Officer; recalls that the absence of a validation accounting system implies that the Centre takes over the responsibility of its Accounting Officer for the declaration of the Centre’s Annual Activity Report;

10. Calls on the Centre to inform the discharge authority of the steps put forward for making the ABAC accounting system effectively operational; reminds the Centre that as the Centre does not have the necessary expertise for maintaining SI2, there is a significant risk to continuity of its financial operations until ABAC is operational;

Human resources

11. Calls on the Centre to include information on sensitive functions in job descriptions and ensure that all mitigating controls put in place are identified;

12. Encourages the Centre to update the implementing rules for training and define new timing for this; supports the Centre in the steps taken by it to monitor effectively the quality of its training courses;

Internal audit

13. Acknowledges that the Centre has sent to the authority responsible for discharge a report drawn up by its Director summarising the content of the Internal Audit Service (IAS) recommendation as provided for in Article 72(5) of the framework Financial Regulation; calls nevertheless on the Director of the Centre to provide specific information on the content of recommendations opened by IAS;

14. Acknowledges that the IAS performed an audit on monitoring and building blocks of assurance in the Centre on 2009; encourages the Centre to further strengthen its internal control system, its monitoring system and assurance process;

15. Calls also on the Centre to issue a comprehensive written procedure defining roles, timing and workflows for the establishment, validation and booking of recovery orders for transactions delivered to customers;

16. Refers, in respect of the other observations accompanying its Decision on discharge, which are of a horizontal nature, to its resolution of 10 May 2011 [7] on the performance, financial management and control of the agencies.

[1] OJ C 338, 14.12.2010, p. 119.

[2] OJ L 248, 16.9.2002, p. 1.

[3] OJ L 314, 7.12.1994, p. 1.

[4] OJ L 357, 31.12.2002, p. 72.

[5] OJ L 252, 25.9.2010, p. 119.

[6] ECR 2010, p. II-00183.

[7] Texts adopted, P7_TA(2011)0163 (See page 269 of this Official Journal).

--------------------------------------------------