2000/467/EC: Decision of the European Parliament of 13 April 2000 granting discharge to the Management Board of the European Centre for the Development of Vocational Training in respect of the implementation of its budget for the 1998 financial year
Date: 2000-04-13
Institutions: European Parliament
Subjects: Cedefop, budgetary discharge, financial year

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Official Journal of the European Communities

27.7.2000

DECISION OF THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT

of 13 April 2000

granting discharge to the Management Board of the European Centre for the Development of
Vocational Training in respect of the implementation of its budget for the 1998 financial year

(2000/467/EC)

THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT,

Having regard to the report of the Court of Auditors on the statements and management of the European
Centre for the Development of Vocational Training (Cedefop (cid:151) Thessaloniki) for the financial year ended
December 1998 (C5-0149/2000) (1),

Having regard to the Council recommendation of 13 March 2000 (C5-0151/2000),

Having regard to the EC Treaty and in particular Article 276 thereof,

Having regard to Rule 93 and Annex V of its Rules of Procedure,

Having regard to the report of the Committee on Budgetary Control (A5-0089/2000),

Whereas:

A.

B.

C.

D.

E.

F.

Parliament granted discharge to the Management Board on 4 May 1999 (2) for the financial year
1997 on the basis of commitments to introduce a new budgetary and accounting system, to reduce
reliance on imprest accounts, to adopt a new staff policy and to submit biannual progress reports
on the state of the new premises.

The report of the Court of Auditors for 1998 notes that the Centre still uses an old and complex
system for drawing up its budget and balance sheets, relies on the imprest accounts for paying
staff, does not systematically review staff entitlements and suffers from delays when issuing calls for
tender.

The Centre is behind shedule in the completion of its own management and accounting system,
the
begun in 1997, while a similar system was developed for decentralised Agencies for
Commission as of 1 January 1998.

The Centre foresees final approval of its new building in November 2000, following its official
opening in November 1999.

The relatively long contradictory procedure between the Centre and the Court of Auditors for a
short report leads to the submission of the annual report for 1998 in November 1999.

The Court of Auditors, whose mandate is not to evaluate the effectiveness of the Centre in meeting
its goals but to audit its accounts, concludes that it has obtained reasonable assurance that the
annual accounts for the financial year ended 31 December 1998 are reliable and the underlying
transactions are, as a whole, legal and regular.

(1) OJ C 372, 22.12.1999, p. 26.
(2) OJ C 279, 1.10.1999, p. 140.

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G.

1.

There is a need for an external evaluation to assess the effectiveness of the Centre in meeting its
goals of developing vocational training, given that the last study on the impact of the Centre was
conducted in February 1995.

Notes the following figures for the accounts of the European Centre for the Development of
Vocational Training:

1998 FINANCIAL YEAR

(a) Revenue

1. Subsidy from the Commission

2. Miscellaneous revenue

3. Revenue from services rendered against payment

(b) Expenditure

Title I (cid:151) Staff expenditure

1. Payments for the year

2. Appropriations carried over

Title II (cid:151) Administrative expenditure

1. Payments for the year

2. Appropriations carried over

Title III (cid:151) Operating expenditure

1. Payments for the year

2. Appropriations carried over

Balance for the year

Out-turn for the year ((a) - (b))

Appropriations carried over from the previous year
which lapsed

Exchange differences for the year

(in thousand EUR)
12 953

12 943

10

0

12 635

5 421

599

878

528

2 433

2 776

697

318

320

59

25th year of operation of first decentralised Agency

2.

3.

Congratulates the Centre on its silver jubilee year of operation, since its creation by Council
Regulation (EEC) No 337/75 on 10 February 1975, and believes that its revitalisation in recent
years will lead to a marked improvement in the delivery of products and services.

Recognises that the Centre has managed to overcome staffing and location problems resulting
directly from its enforced transfer from Berlin to Thessaloniki in September 1995.

Impact of Commission reform programme

4.

Notes that Parliament’s demands for the Commission to reform its structure and financial
management systems and the consequent change in the role of
for
Financial Control will have a direct bearing on the Agency and will require the recasting of the
financial regulations and the introduction of activity-based budgeting.

the Directorate-General

Delays in development of computer system

5.

Notes that the Centre expended scarce resources in 1997, 1998 and 1999 to develop a tailor-made
computer system to manage its budget and accounts, while a number of Agencies employ a
decentralised application developed by the Commission, Sincom2.

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6.

7.

Calls on the Centre to ensure that the old system is fully replaced before 1 July 2000 and expects
that the new application will be vetted by the Commission and the adequate documentation and
in-house expertise will be provided for.

Calls on the Commission to extend the system to encompass activity-based management
Agencies,
inventory, on the lines of the Integrated Resources Management System (IRMS).

for
including monitoring, auditing or evaluation of personnel, missions, documents and

Imprest accounts

8.

Welcomes the fact that the Centre has reduced its reliance on imprest accounts for payments from
EUR 6,6 million in 1997 and EUR 5,9 million in 1998 to EUR 3,1 million in 1999 and, while
recognising the environment in which the Centre operates, urges a further reduction in the use of
imprest accounts.

Buildings policy

9.

Congratulates the Centre on the official inauguration of its building on 22 November 1999, but is
concerned that final approval is only foreseen for November 2000.

Recommendations to the Court of Auditors

10. Welcomes the short and precise reporting by the Court of Auditors and hopes that the Court will
continue in this business-like fashion. Calls on the Court of Auditors to follow up systematically
decisions of the discharge Authority and to produce a comprehensive analysis of the audits of all
Agencies.

11.

Calls on the Centre and the Court of Auditors to reduce the duration of
the contradictory
procedure to ensure that the annual report can be presented to Parliament before 15 July of the
year following the financial year in question.

New strategy and action plan in the light of the five-year evaluation

12. Welcomes the launching of an external evaluation of the impact of the Centre’s activities and asks
that recommendations made in its last evaluation of 1995 be appraised, and calls for presentation
to Parliament of the new strategy and action plan before 31 December 2000.

Discharge decision

13.

14.

Gives discharge to the Management Board of
the European Centre for the Development
Vocational Training in respect of the implementation of its budget for the 1998 financial year.

for

Instructs its President to forward this decision to the Management Board of the European Centre
for the Development for Vocational Training, the Council, the Commission and the Court of
Auditors and to have it published in the Official Journal of the European Communities (L series).

The Secretary-General

Julian PRIESTLEY

The President

Nicole FONTAINE