Report on the annual accounts of the Trans-European Transport Network Executive Agency for the financial year 2008, together with the Agency’s replies
Date: 2009-10-08
Institutions: European Court of Auditors
Subjects: EU office or agency, European Court of Auditors, administration of the Institutions, financial control, implementation of the budget, powers of the institutions (EU), report, trans-European network, transport network








C_2009304EN.01007101.xml










15.12.2009   


EN


Official Journal of the European Union


C 304/71






REPORT

on the annual accounts of the Trans-European Transport Network Executive Agency for the financial year 2008, together with the Agency’s replies
2009/C 304/14

CONTENTS








 



Paragraph




Page





INTRODUCTION…


1-2


72




STATEMENT OF ASSURANCE…


3-12


72




COMMENTS ON THE BUDGETARY AND FINANCIAL MANAGEMENT…


13


73




OTHER MATTERS…


14


73




Table…


74





The Agency’s replies…


76





INTRODUCTION







1.


The Executive Agency for the Trans-European Transport Network (hereinafter ‘the Agency’), located in Brussels, was set up by the Commission Decision 2007/60/EC of 26 October 2006 (1) and amended by the Commission Decision 2008/593/EC (2). The Agency was established for a period beginning on 1 November 2006 and ending on 31 December 2015 for the management of Community actions in the field of the trans-European transport network. The Agency acquired its financial independence on 15 April 2008 (3).










2.


The Agency’s 2008 budget amounted to 5,2 million euro.The number of staff employed by the Agency at the end of the year was 67.






STATEMENT OF ASSURANCE









3.



Pursuant to the provisions of Article 248 of the Treaty the Court has audited the annual accounts (4) of the Agency, which comprise the ‘financial statements’ (5) and the ‘reports on implementation of the budget’ (6) for the period of 15 April 2008 to 31 December 2008 and the legality and regularity of the transactions underlying those accounts.











4.



This Statement of Assurance is addressed to the European Parliament and the Council in accordance with Article 14 of Council Regulation (EC) No 58/2003 (7).






The Director’s responsibility









5.



As authorising officer, the Director implements the revenue and expenditure of the budget in accordance with the financial rules of the Agency under his own responsibility and within the limits of authorised appropriations (8). The Director is responsible for putting in place (9) the organisational structure and the internal management and control systems and procedures relevant for drawing up final accounts (10) that are free from material misstatement, whether due to fraud or error, and for ensuring that the transactions underlying those accounts are legal and regular.






The Court’s responsibility









6.



The Court’s responsibility is to provide, on the basis of its audit, a statement of assurance as to the reliability of the annual accounts of the Agency and the legality and regularity of the transactions underlying them.











7.



The Court conducted its audit in accordance with the IFAC and ISSAI (11) International Auditing Standards and Codes of Ethics. Those standards require that the Court complies with ethical requirements and plans and performs the audit to obtain reasonable assurance about whether the accounts are free from material misstatement and whether the underlying transactions are legal and regular.











8.



The Court’s audit involves performing procedures to obtain audit evidence about the amounts and disclosures in the accounts and about the legality and regularity of the transactions underlying them. The procedures selected depend on its audit judgement including the assessment of the risks of material misstatement of the accounts or of illegal or irregular transactions, whether due to fraud or error. In making those risk assessments internal control relevant to the entity’s preparation and presentation of accounts is considered in order to design audit procedures that are appropriate in the circumstances. The Court’s audit also includes evaluating the appropriateness of accounting policies used and, the reasonableness of accounting estimates made by management, as well as evaluating the overall presentation of the accounts.











9.



The Court believes that the audit evidence obtained is sufficient and appropriate to provide a basis for the opinions set out below.







Opinion on the reliability of the accounts










10.



In the Court’s opinion, the Agency’s Annual Accounts (12) present fairly, in all material respects, its financial position as of 31 December 2008 and the results of its operations and its cash flows for the period then ended, in accordance with the provisions of its Financial Regulation.







Opinion on the legality and the regularity of the transactions underlying the accounts










11.



In the Court’s opinion, the transactions underlying the annual accounts of the Agency for the period of 15 April 2008 to 31 December 2008 are, in all material respects, legal and regular.










12.


The comments which follow do not call the Court’s opinions into question.





COMMENTS ON THE BUDGETARY AND FINANCIAL MANAGEMENT







13.


For several budgetary commitments the appropriations carried forward in 2008 were not fully justified. The Agency should ensure that all provisional commitments without corresponding legal commitments are decommitted at the end of the year.





OTHER MATTERS







14.


The recruitment plan for 2008 comprised 99 people, of whom 32 were temporary staff and 67 contractual staff. Nevertheless, by the end of 2008 the Agency had achieved only 68 % of its recruitment plan, employing 67 persons (23 temporary staff and 44 contract staff). The Agency should improve the programming and reduce the recruitment backlog (32 vacancies) in 2009. The partial achievement of the 2008 recruitment plan may endanger the fulfilment of the Agency’s tasks and objectives in a timely and regular manner.





This report was adopted by the Court of Auditors in Luxembourg at its meeting of 8 October 2009.


For the Court of Auditors

Vítor Manuel da SILVA CALDEIRA


President





Table


Trans-European Transport Network Executive Agency (Brussels)











Areas of Community competence deriving from the Treaty


Competences of the Agency as defined in Commission Decision 2007/60/EC of 26 October 2006


Governance


Resources made available to the Agency in 2008


Products and services




The Community shall contribute to the establishment and development of trans-European networks in the area of transport.
Community action shall aim at promoting the interconnection and interoperability of national networks as well as access to such networks.
The Community shall establish a series of guidelines covering the objectives, priorities and broad lines of measures envisaged in the sphere of trans-European networks; these guidelines shall identify projects of common interest.
The Community shall implement any measures that may prove necessary to ensure the interoperability of the networks.
Community action may support projects of common interest supported by Member States, particularly through feasibility studies, loan guarantees or interest-rate subsidies; the Community may also contribute, through the Cohesion Fund, to the financing of specific projects in Member States in the area of transport infrastructure.
The Community’s activities shall take into account the potential economic viability of the projects.
The Community may decide to cooperate with third countries to promote projects of mutual interest and to ensure the interoperability of networks.

(Articles 154 and 155 of the Treaty)




Objectives

TEN-TEA is responsible for managing the technical and financial implementation of the Commission’s TEN-T Programme. Its role is to improve the effectiveness of TEN-T implementation at a lower cost; to strengthen the links between the TEN-T and communities of experts; to mobilise a high level of expertise and make the recruitment of specialised staff easier; to ensure a better coordination of funds with other Community instruments; to enable the simplification and flexibility of TEN-T implementation; to raise the profile of Community action in the field of TEN-T; and in general to add value to the management of the TEN-T Programme.



Tasks







(a)


ensure the technical and financial management of projects and events which are co-financed under the TEN-T budget;










(b)


collect, analyse and transmit to the Commission all information required for the implementation and programming of the TEN-T;










(c)


provide technical support to project promoters and the financial institution responsible for managing the loan guarantee instrument for the TEN-T projects;










(d)


provide any technical and administrative support requested by the Commission.
Its parent, DG TREN, continues to address all policymaking and institutional tasks related to the TEN-T.







1 —   Steering Committee

The Agency’s activities are supervised by a Steering Committee which is currently composed of five members and one observer. The members of the Steering Committee are appointed for two years. The Steering Committee meets in principle four times a year. Certain measures or decisions need its approval before they can be implemented. This applies for example to the administrative budget, the establishment plan, the Work Programme, the Annual Activity Report, the provisional accounts of all revenue and expenditure, the external evaluation report and the adoption of several special rules and measures etc. On a number of other actions, the committee is kept informed. In exceptional and urgent cases, decisions are taken through a written procedure.

2 —   Director

Appointed by the European Commission for five years.

3 —   External audit

Court of Auditors.

4 —   Discharge Authority

Parliament acting on recommendation by the Council.



Budget







A.


8,0 billion euro (100 % general budget of the European Union) for the TEN-T budget linked to the 2007–2013 Financial Perspective.
780,0 million euro in outstanding commitments linked to the 2000–2006 Financial Perspective.
The Agency implements the operating budget under the responsibility of the Commission.










B.


5,2 million euro (100 % Community subsidy) for the administrative budget for which the Agency is autonomous.





Staff at 31 December 2008

TA posts:






 


32 posts listed in the establishment plan of which 23 (72 %) occupied.










 


Contract staff: 67 posts planned of which 44 (66 %) were occupied.





Total staff: 99 (67 occupied)

Responsible for:






(a)


Operational tasks: 61 (44 occupied);










(b)


Administrative tasks: 38 (23 occupied).






During the first quarter of 2008, the transfer of files from DG TREN took place with the Agency taking over responsibility for 390 files, representing 780 million euro of open commitments and 138 requests for payment for an amount of 238 million euro. In addition, approximately 100 amendments to the open Decisions were to be made.
Although no part of the formal responsibility of the Agency at the time and not planned, due to lack of resources in DG TREN, the Agency also assisted with additional tasks. These included assistance and logistical support in the evaluation of the 2008 call for proposals for projects of common interest in the field of TEN-T, preparation of the selection process in DG TREN and participation in the negotiation process with the beneficiaries for the 139 Financing Decisions under the 2007 call for proposals.
Following the modification of the Agency’s mandate it became responsible for the TEN-T budget linked to the 2007–2013 Financial Perspective (global funding of 8 billion euro). In collaboration with DG TREN, it was agreed that the Agency would be responsible for the preparation of all the Annual 2007 Decisions and contribute to the Multiannual Decisions. In practice, the Agency also played the leading role in the preparation of many of the Multiannual Decisions. In addition the Agency also undertook the preparation of all corresponding funding commitments. All 139 Decisions were adopted by the end of the reporting period and nearly 80 % of the pre-financing payments referring to 2007 and 2008 instalments were made using 100 % of the available amount.





Source: Information supplied by the Agency.






THE AGENCY’S REPLIES






13.


The Agency agrees with the Court’s observation that the carry forward of some appropriations was not fully justified. This was due to the heavy workload in its first year of autonomy. The necessary procedures will be put in place to prevent this from happening at the end of 2009.










14.


The lower than expected recruitment rate at the end of 2008 was mainly due to the delayed approval of the extension of the Agency’s mandate. The Agency is of the opinion that these delays did not have a substantial impact on the fulfilment of its tasks and objectives, since certain tasks and responsibilities were linked to the extended mandate, and were also transferred later than planned. The Agency’s target is to fill the current vacant posts by the end of 2009.







(1)  OJ L 32, 6.2.2007, p. 88.

(2)  OJ L 190, 18.7.2008, p. 35.

(3)  The Table summarises the Agency’s competences and activities. It is presented for information purposes.

(4)  These accounts are accompanied by a report on the budgetary and financial management during the year which gives inter alia an account of the rate of implementation of the appropriations with summary information on the transfers of appropriations among the various budget items.

(5)  The financial statements include the balance sheet and the economic outturn account, the cash-flow table, the statement of changes in capital and the annex to the financial statements which includes the description of the significant accounting policies and other explanatory information.

(6)  The budget implementation reports comprise the budget outturn account and its annex.

(7)  OJ L 11, 16.1.2003, p. 1.

(8)  Article 25 of Commission Regulation (EC) No 1653/2004 of 21 September 2004 (OJ L 297, 22.9.2004, p. 6).

(9)  Article 29 of Regulation (EC) No 1653/2004.

(10)  The rules concerning the presentation of the accounts and accounting by the Agencies are laid down in Chapter 1 of Title VI of Regulation (EC) No 1653/2004 as last amended by Commission Regulation (EC) No 651/2008 of 9 July 2008 (OJ L 181, 10.7.2008, p. 15).

(11)  International Federation of Accountants (IFAC) and International Standards of Supreme Audit Institutions (ISSAI).

(12)  The Final Annual Accounts were drawn up on 25 June 2009 and received by the Court on 29 June 2009. The Final Annual Accounts, consolidated with those of the Commission are published in the Official Journal of the European Union by 15 November of the following year. These can be found on the following website http://eca.europa.eu or http://tentea.ec.europa.eu/en/about_us/missionintroduction/key_documents.htm