Report on the annual accounts of the Trans-European Transport Network Executive Agency for the financial year 2009, together with the Agency’s replies
Date: 2010-09-16
Institutions: European Court of Auditors
Subjects: EU office or agency, European Court of Auditors, administration of the Institutions, competence of the institution, financial control, implementation of the budget, report








C_2010338EN.01007701.xml










14.12.2010   


EN


Official Journal of the European Union


C 338/77





REPORT
on the annual accounts of the Trans-European Transport Network Executive Agency for the financial year 2009, together with the Agency’s replies
2010/C 338/14

CONTENTS








 



Paragraph




Page





INTRODUCTION …


1-2


78




STATEMENT OF ASSURANCE …


3-12


78




COMMENTS ON THE BUDGETARY AND FINANCIAL MANAGEMENT …


13


79




Table …


80





The Agency’s replies …


82





INTRODUCTION







1.


The Executive Agency for the Trans-European Transport Network (hereinafter ‘the Agency’), located in Brussels, was set up by Commission Decision 2007/60/EC of 26 October 2006 (1) and amended by 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 Union 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 2009 administrative budget amounted to 8,9 million euro, compared with 5,2 million the previous year. The number of staff employed by the Agency at the end of the year was 91, compared with 67 the previous year.



























































































































12.


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





COMMENTS ON THE BUDGETARY AND FINANCIAL MANAGEMENT







13.


In 2009, the Agency’s budget for Title II Administrative expenditure increased by 1,3 million euro (0,8 million increase compared to 2008 and 0,5 million euro transfer from Title I). For the same Title II the Agency carried forward appropriations amounting to 0,8 million euro and cancelled an equivalent amount. This situation was at odds with the principle of annuality.





This report was adopted by Chamber IV, headed by Mr Igors LUDBORŽS, Member of the Court of Auditors, in Luxembourg at its meeting of 14 and 16 September 2010.


For the Court of Auditors

Vítor Manuel da SILVA CALDEIRA

President





Table


Trans-European Transport Network Executive Agency (Brussels)











Areas of Union 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 2009


Products and services










1.


To help achieve the objectives referred to in Articles 26 and 174 and to enable citizens of the Union, economic operators and regional and local communities to derive full benefit from the setting-up of an area without internal frontiers, the Union shall contribute to the establishment and development of trans-European networks in the areas of transport, telecommunications and energy infrastructures.










2.


Within the framework of a system of open and competitive markets, action by the Union shall aim at promoting the interconnection and interoperability of national networks as well as access to such networks. It shall take account in particular of the need to link island, landlocked and peripheral regions with the central regions of the Union.





(Article 170 TFEU)







1.


In order to achieve the objectives referred to in Article 170, the Union:






—


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,










—


shall implement any measures that may prove necessary to ensure the interoperability of the networks, in particular in the field of technical standardisation,










—


may support projects of common interest supported by Member States, which are identified in the framework of the guidelines referred to in the first indent, particularly through feasibility studies, loan guarantees or interest-rate subsidies; the Union may also contribute, through the Cohesion Fund set up pursuant to Article 177, to the financing of specific projects in Member States in the area of transport infrastructure.




The Union’s activities shall take into account the potential economic viability of the projects.










2.


Member States shall, in liaison with the Commission, coordinate among themselves the policies pursued at national level which may have a significant impact on the achievement of the objectives referred to in Article 170. The Commission may, in close cooperation with the Member State, take any useful initiative to promote such coordination.










3.


The Union may decide to cooperate with third countries to promote projects of mutual interest and to ensure the interoperability of networks.




(Article 171 TFEU)



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 Union instruments; to enable the simplification and flexibility of TEN-T implementation; to raise the profile of Union 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 MOVE, continues to address all policy-making 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 —   Internal audit

The Internal Audit Service of the European Commission and the Internal Audit Capability of the Agency.

4 —   External audit

Court of Auditors.

5 —   Discharge Authority

Parliament acting on a recommendation from 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.
555,6 million euro in outstanding commitments linked to the 2000-2006 Financial Perspective.
The Agency implements the operational budget under the responsibility of the Commission.










(B)


8,86 million euro (100 % Union subsidy) for the administrative budget for which the Agency is autonomous.





Staff at 31 December 2009

TA posts:






 


32 posts listed in the establishment plan, of which 31 (97 %) occupied.










 


Contract staff: 67 posts planned, of which 60 (90 %) were occupied.





Total staff: 99 (91 occupied)

Responsible for






(a)


Operational tasks:
64 (59 occupied)










(b)


Administrative tasks:
16 (15 occupied)










(c)


Financial control/accounting: 19 (17 occupied)






TEN-T EA set five specific objectives for 2009. The first and the most fundamental task was to further develop measures to increase the efficiency and improve the management of the TEN-T Programme and projects. The second related to the successful organisation and administration of all the 2009 Calls for Proposals, including the European Economic Recovery Plan. The third concerned the follow-up and successful implementation of projects selected under the 2007 and 2008 Calls for Proposals. The fourth concerned increased emphasis on information and communications on projects, in order to promote and support the TEN-T programme to all stakeholders. The fifth and final specific objective was to establish and consolidate the Agency in its final operational form.
In addition, a number of actions from the 2008 Work Programme were carried over to 2009: the treatment of old payment requests received by DG MOVE before the Agency’s autonomy; the creation of the Agency’s website and the improvement of the visibility of the TEN-T programme; the creation of the TEN-T EA Staff Committee and the finalisation of the Implementing Rules for personnel management; the development of the Geographical Information System, statistical tools and innovative financing methods.
The Agency also performed additional tasks: staff assisted DG MOVE to finalise the project selection from the 2009 Calls, for the adoption of the EERP Decisions and by preparing the work programmes for the 2010 calls under the Multi-Annual Programme and the Annual Programme for the Loan Guarantee Instrument and the 2020 European Fund for Energy, Climate Change and Infrastructure. The Agency contributed to the preparation of the methodology for the ‘2010 MAP project portfolio review’.





Source: Information supplied by the Agency.






THE AGENCY’S REPLIES






13.


The 0,8 million euro of cancelled appropriations concern the anticipated expenditure for works in the new premises, which, after discussions with the Commission, appeared not to be possible. The 0,8 million euro carried forward appropriations concern legal commitments made in 2009, for which the delivery and/or invoices will only be received in 2010.







(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 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 29 June 2010 and received by the Court on 5 July 2010. 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/mission__introduction/key_documents.htm