Resolution of the European Parliament containing the comments accompanying the decision concerning 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 financial year 2001
Date: 2003-04-08
Institutions: Committee on Budgetary Control, European Parliament
Subjects: Cedefop, board of directors, budgetary discharge, financial year, implementation of the budget

16.6.2003

EN

Official Journal of the European Union

L 148/83

RESOLUTION

of the European Parliament containing the comments accompanying the decision concerning
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 financial year 2001

THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT,

— having regard to the Court of Auditors' report on the financial statements of the European Centre
for the Development of Vocational Training for the financial year 2001, together with the Centre's
replies (1) (C5-0601/2002),

— having regard to the Council's recommendation of 7 March 2003 (C5-0088/2003),

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

— having regard to Article 12 of Council Regulation (EEC) No 337/75 (2) as amended by Council
Regulation (EEC) No 1946/93 (3) and having regard to Article 185 of the Financial Regulation of
25 June 2002 (4),

— having regard to Rule 93a and Annex V of its Rules of Procedure,

— having regard to the report of the Committee on Budgetary Control and the opinion of the

Committee on Employment and Social Affairs (A5–0079/2003),

A.

whereas the European Centre for the Development of Vocational Training (Thessaloniki Centre)
pursues its mission as a reference Centre for the promotion and development of vocational
education and training at Community level through compiling documentation on systems and
developments in this area and dissemination of all relevant
information and documentation,
through conducting research in that field, through supporting a concerted approach to vocational
training development and by providing a discussion forum for interested parties,

B.

whereas on 10 April 2002 Parliament gave discharge (5) to the Management Board of the Centre in
respect of the implementation of its budget for the 2000 financial year and, at the same time,

— regretted the fact that Cedefop had failed to honour its undertakings regarding the procedure it
in particular for

had itself decided to implement with respect to the award of contracts,
information technology-related projects,

— welcomed the Action Plan adopted by the Management Board as a follow-up to the report of
the external evaluation as well as the fact that Cedefop gave an undertaking to implement this
Action Plan in accordance with the objectives and time-schedule indicated, while keeping the
Parliament informed through an annual progress report,

— insisted that the cooperation framework which the Centre had set up with the European

Training Foundation be fully implemented,

C.

whereas the Court of Auditors has obtained reasonable assurance that the accounts for the financial
year ended 31 December 2001 are reliable and the underlying transactions are, taken as a whole,
legal and regular,

(1) OJ C 326, 27.12.2002, p. 42.
(2) OJ L 39, 13.2.1975, p. 1.
(3) OJ L 181, 23.7.1993, p. 11.
(4) OJ L 248, 16.9.2002, p. 1.
(5) OJ L 158, 17.6.2002, p. 59.

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Official Journal of the European Union

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1.

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

Revenue and expenditure account for the financial years 2001 and 2000

Revenue

Own revenue

Commission subsidies

Revenue from previous financial years

Sundry revenue

Earmarked revenue (PHARE + third parties)

Financial revenue

Expenditure

Staff — Title I of the budget

Pagamentos

Appropriations carried over

Administration — Title II of the budget

Payments

Appropriations carried over

Operating activities — Title III of the budget

Payments

Appropriations carried over

Earmarked revenue (third parties)

Payments

Appropriations carried over

(1 000 EUR)

2001

2000

13 200

724

0

402

104

11 502

2 165

18

205

122

Total revenue (a)

14 430

14 011

7 231

266

700

323

2 720

2 059

277

453

6 881

282

781

210

2 793

2 041

41

191

Total expenditure (b)

14 029

13 220

Out-turn for the financial year (a-b) (1)

Balance carried over from the previous financial year

Cancelled appropriations carried over from the previous year

Appropriations to be carried over, allocated revenue

Appropriations for reuse from the financial year 2000, not utilised

Repayments to the Commission

Exchange-rate differences

Balance for the financial year

401

– 228

349

0

12

0

– 2

532

791

– 520

232

—

—

– 697

– 34

– 228

Source: European Centre for the Development of Vocational Training.
NB: Any discrepancies in totals are due to the effects of rounding.
(1) The negative balance of the out-turn and own capital does not constitute a capital loss. It result from the application of the
financial regulation in respect of revenue (only revenue collected) and expenditure (payments plus appropriations carried
over).

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Official Journal of the European Union

L 148/85

Budgetary implementation / Financial Provisions

2.

3.

4.

5.

Regrets that the Centre did not depreciate its fixed assets in order for the book values to reflect the
real value of the goods which form part of the Centre's assets; expects the Centre to comply with
the Court's observation;

Regrets that the Centre, despite the criticism of the Court, has kept an imprest account with too
high a ceiling; expects the Centre to be more receptive to observations made by the Court in order
to avoid such criticism in the future;

Deplores the fact that, despite repeated criticism by the Court, the Centre has not fully respected
the tendering procedures for the awarding of contracts; recalls that this is not only a violation of
the principle of equal
the Centre by
disadvantaged tenderers; will continue to monitor such cases; expects the Centre to proceed with its
efforts towards better programming of its work in order to avoid urgencies, which have in the past
resulted in non-observance of the rules for public tender procedures;

treatment but could also result

in legal action against

that

the Court of Auditors

Notes
rate for operating
appropriations remains too high (EUR 2,8 million) and that the Centre should pursue its efforts to
increase the quality and monitoring of the planning of its activities; notes that the new Financial
Regulation will provide an improved legal base for carry-overs; welcomes however the assurance by
the Centre to try and improve the quality, and to follow up the programming of its activities;

the view that

the carry-over

takes

Follow-up to external evaluation

6.

7.

8.

Takes the view that the Centre should follow to a greater degree the recommendations contained in
the 2001 external evaluation report in order to ensure the consistency required between the tasks
assigned to it and the organisation of its financial and human resources;

Expects, therefore, the Centre to respond positively to the Court of Auditors criticism in order for it
to achieve a better balance between its administrative expenditure and its operating expenditure
arising from its activity programme so as to remedy the inconsistencies between its tasks and the
distribution of its financial and human resources;

Takes note of the efforts which the Centre has deployed in its Action Plan; will be monitoring the
relevance of the measures announced in order that the appropriate results be achieved, especially
with a view to responding adequately to the new challenges of enlargement; calls on the Centre to
carry out in the coming years an analysis of the impact of the measures adopted;

Cooperation with the ETF

9.

10.

the joint efforts undertaken by the Centre and the European Training
Notes in this respect
Foundation (ETF), as they appear in the Joint Progress Report of September 2002, in implementing
the framework cooperation between the two bodies during the enlargement process and the
preparation of the candidate countries;

Considers that in the light of the conclusions of the Copenhagen European Council a detailed
analysis of the impact of the transfer of competence in respect of the accession countries from the
ETF to Cedefop is needed; calls on the Commission,
together with the agencies
concerned, to carry out such an assessment and, if necessary, to submit proposals relating to the
transfer of expertise and of human and financial resources;

therefore,

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11.

Suggests that its committees responsible monitor the results of this cooperation in order to evaluate
the possibility of further enhancing such cooperation without prejudice to solutions entailing the
merger of activities where appropriate;

Further proposals

12.

Recalls that the external evaluation report stressed that a substantial effort was needed in order to
raise the public profile of Cedefop and called, inter alia, for improvement in the dissemination and
targeting of information; recalls that the same report suggested a discussion on the subject of
whether and in what ways Cedefop could gain from closer cooperation with the European training
foundation;

General points concerning the bodies referred to in Article 185 of the Financial Regulation

13.

14.

15.

16.

17.

18.

Takes note of
there is an imbalance between administrative and operational
expenditure in many Agencies, with administrative expenditure exceeding expenditure for
operational purposes;

the fact

that

Takes the view that these Agencies should have more operational tasks; they could for example be
entrusted with executing Community programmes in the field of education or health thereby
avoiding the creation of further executive agencies by the Commission; asks the Commission to
make proposals in this respect by 30 June 2003 at the latest and before creating any further
executive agencies;

Recalls that
Commission has ceased to exist;

independent ex ante control of

the Agencies by the Financial Controller of

the

Is worried that the absence of outside ex ante verifications of financial operations might increase the
risk of irregularities and mismanagement; invites therefore:

— the Court of Auditors to increase the number of checks carried out by its auditors,

— the Agencies to review and modify thoroughly their procedures for implementing their budget

in order to counter this risk;

Asks the Agencies to bring their procedures for implementing the budget
in line with the
requirements of the new Framework Financial Regulation (1) as soon as possible and by 1 July
2003 at the latest;

Recalls that the Agencies shall adopt their own financial rules, which may not depart from the
Framework Financial Regulation except where their specific operating needs so require and with the
financial
Commission's prior consent; asks the Court of Auditors to give an opinion on all
provisions adopted by the Agencies which depart from the Framework Financial Regulation;

19.

Underlines in particular the strict segregation of duties between authorising officers and accounting
officers and the enhanced role of the latter in:

(a)

laying down and validating the accounting systems,

(b) keeping the accounts,

(c) validating systems laid down by the authorising officer to supply accounting information,

(d) cooperating with the Commission's accounting officer,

(e) preparing and presenting the financial statements and the reports on implementation of the

budget;

(1) OJ L 357, 31.12.2002, p. 72.

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20.

21.

Stresses that accounting officers shall be appointed by the management boards of the Agencies on
the grounds of particular competence as evidenced by diplomas or by equivalent professional
experience; recalls that they shall not be hierarchically subordinated to authorising officers;

Asks the Agencies to fully respect the rules for procurement procedures as laid down in the
Financial Regulation; stresses that open calls for tenders must be used as much as possible in order
to enhance transparency and to ensure equal treatment of potential tenderers;

22.

Calls upon the Agencies to monitor closely the granting of leave on personal grounds, in order to
ensure that conditions of transparency and separation of interests are met;

23.

24.

25.

26.

27.

28.

Recalls that non-respect of public procurement rules is not only potentially detrimental to the
financial interests of the Agencies but can also be a criminal offence under the law of Member
States;

Asks the Court of Auditors to report at the next opportunity on whether the Community bodies
duly cooperate with the European Anti-Fraud Office (OLAF) and apply the Interinstitutional
Agreement of 25 May 1999 concerning internal investigations by the OLAF (1) unreservedly; also
asks the Court of Auditors to evaluate the effectiveness of this cooperation on the basis of the cases
processed so far;

Notes that the Court of Auditors deplores the practice of ‘super-user' rights in computerised
systems (where one and the same person is able to discharge the duties of the manager, the
authorising officer, the financial controller and the accounting officer) as incompatible with the
principle of the separation of duties; asks all the Agencies to ensure that such ‘super-user' rights are
no longer attributed;

Stresses that computerised systems must guarantee the existence of a complete audit trail for each
operation and for any change made to the system so that it is possible at any time to identify the
nature of the change and the person who made it;

Invites the Commission, with a view to accelerating the efforts towards preparing integration of the
future Member States, to make proposals to foster better functioning of these Community bodies,
ensuring better value for money through a cost/ benefit analysis, and avoiding any unnecessary
proliferation of agencies; such proposals may provide, for bodies entrusted with similar tasks, for
the setting-up of common boards;

the question, on grounds of efficiency and cost,

Considers it out of
to expand further the
administrative boards of the Community bodies during the forthcoming enlargement; takes the
view that enlargement offers a good opportunity to reconsider thoroughly the composition and
working methods of these administrative boards, which are already very ponderous as a rule; calls
on the Commission to put
forward appropriate proposals by 31 July 2003 to amend the
constituent acts of Community bodies accordingly and, in so doing, to examine whether provision
could be made for common administrative boards for bodies with similar responsibilities;

29.

Recalls the Court of Auditors' observation (2) that there is a risk of directors of Community bodies
becoming too dependent on the Commission; calls therefore on the Commission to submit by
31 July 2003 an amendment to the constituent acts of the agencies to ensure that the directors of
Community bodies may in future be appointed only with the assent of Parliament;

(1) OJ L 136, 31.5.1999, p. 15.
(2) Opinion 10/2002 of the Court of Auditors on a Commission proposal for amendment of the constituent acts of

Community bodies following the adoption of the new Financial Regulation (OJ C 285, 21.11.2002, p. 4).

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30.

31.

Invites the Commission to make an overall study of activities currently deployed by various
Community bodies that may overlap or serve the same goals in order to propose appropriate
solutions including possible mergers of agencies; notes that the Commission has stated a possible
overlap between Cedefop and the ETF in the field of vocational
training and between the
Foundation for the improvement of Working and Living Conditions and the Agency for Health and
Safety and Work (1);

Invites the Commission furthermore, in line with its proposal on European governance aimed at
concentrating its activity on the core tasks, to include in its action programme the appropriate
proposals with a view to ensuring that overlapping between the activities of its services and those
of the agencies is avoided;

(1) See working document from DG-budget on the management costs and analytical accounts of the decentralised

agencies.