Resolution (EU) 2020/1906 of the European Parliament of 14 May 2020 with observations forming an integral part of the decision on discharge in respect of the implementation of the budget for the SESAR Joint Undertaking for the financial year 2018
Date: 2020-05-14
Institutions: European Parliament
Subjects: European Joint Undertaking, air traffic control, budgetary discharge, financial year, general budget (EU)








L_2020417EN.01022201.xml










11.12.2020   


EN


Official Journal of the European Union


L 417/222






RESOLUTION (EU) 2020/1906 OF THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT
of 14 May 2020
with observations forming an integral part of the decision on discharge in respect of the implementation of the budget for the SESAR Joint Undertaking for the financial year 2018
THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT,






—


having regard to its decision on discharge in respect of the implementation of the budget of the SESAR Joint Undertaking for the financial year 2018,










—


having regard to Rule 100 of and Annex V to its Rules of Procedure,










—


having regard to the opinion of the Committee on Transport and Tourism,










—


having regard to the report of the Committee on Budgetary Control (A9-0044/2020),










A.


whereas the SESAR Joint Undertaking (the 'Joint Undertaking') was set up in February 2007 to run the Single European Sky Air Traffic Management Research (SESAR) programme, which aims to modernise traffic management in the Union;










B.


whereas, following the adoption of Council Regulation (EU) No 721/2014, the SESAR 2020 extended the lifetime of the Joint Undertaking until 31 December 2024;










C.


whereas the Joint Undertaking was designed as a public-private partnership, with the Union and Eurocontrol as founding members;










D.


whereas the Union contribution for the deployment phase of the SESAR 2020 2014 to 2024 funded by Horizon 2020 is EUR 585 000 000; whereas under the new Horizon 2020 Membership Agreements, the contribution from Eurocontrol is expected to be around EUR 500 000 000, and the other partners from the aviation industry were to contribute with at least EUR 500 000 000, and being around 90 % the in-kind contributions from Eurocontrol and other partners;





General









1.


Observes from the report of the Court of Auditors (the 'Court') on the Joint Undertaking’s annual accounts for the year ended 31 December 2018 (the 'Court’s report') present fairly, in all material respects, the financial position of the Joint Undertaking at 31 December 2018, the results of its operations, its cash flows, and the changes in net assets for the year then ended, in accordance with its Financial Regulation and with accounting rules adopted by the Commission’s accounting officer;












2.


Acknowledges that the Court's report states that the transactions underlying the annual accounts of the Joint Undertaking for the financial year 2018 are, in all material respects, legal and regular;












3.


Notes that effective communication is an essential component of successful Union-financed projects. Considers it to be important to increase the visibility of the achievements of the Joint Undertaking, and the dissemination of information on the value added. Calls upon the Joint Undertaking to pursue a proactive communications policy disseminating the results of its research to the general public, e.g. via social media or other media outlets, and thus aiming to raise public awareness of the impact of Union support, with particular regard to market uptake.












4.


Asks the Court to assess the soundness and reliability of the methodology for calculating and valuing in-kind contributions. The assessment shall evaluate the design and the robustness of the guidance for the implementation of the in-kind contribution procedure in order to assist in the planning, reporting and certification process of the in-kind contributions.












5.


Recalls that SESAR is the technological pillar of the Single European Sky (SES) initiative and its role is to coordinate and implement research to contribute overcoming the fragmentation of SES; points out that one of the main achievements of the Joint Undertaking includes the free routing to reduce flight and fuel emissions; believes therefore that the Joint Undertaking could be further used to contribute to the sustainability of the aviation sector;












6.


Highlights the importance of the work of the Joint Undertaking to help accelerate innovation uptake; stresses moreover its role in the significant development of U-space and the production of a blueprint to enable the safe introduction and use of drones in the low-level airspace, which is the basis for a modern and rapidly growing sector;





Budget and financial management









7.


Notes that in 2018, budget in payment appropriations was EUR 94 800 000 (EUR 90 900 000 in 2017), and budget in commitment appropriations was EUR 129 517 762 (EUR 109 900 000 in 2017); Including the unused appropriations of previous years, which the Joint Undertaking re-entered in the budget of the current year, and assigned revenues, the total available payment budget was EUR 166 465 000 (EUR 213 000 000 in 2017), and the total available commitment budget was EUR 175 918 000 (EUR 130 900 000 in 2017);












8.


Notes that in December 2016, the SESAR 1 was formally closed and the last final grant payment was made in December 2017, and unused payment appropriations of EUR 40 000 000 from previous years were carried over to 2018 for the reimbursement of cash contributions received in excess from the SESAR 1 industry members and for the payment of delayed but still justified cost claims for the Seventh Framework Programme and the Trans-European Transport Network (TEN-T) projects; notes with concern that at the end of 2018, only EUR 1 800 000 (5 %) of these appropriations could be used for the corrective payments, EUR 20 000 000 (50 %) had to be cancelled, and EUR 18 200 000 (45 %) were carried over to 2019; regrets at the end of 2018 in the closing phase of the SESAR 1, the Joint Undertaking still showed a large amount of open commitments of EUR 61 400 000, and these resources allocated to the Joint Undertaking will not be fully used;





Multiannual budget implementation under the Seventh Framework Programme and TEN-T









9.


Notes that, out of the EUR 1 284 300 000 of in-kind and cash contributions to be made by the other members to the operational and administrative activities of the Joint Undertaking (EUR 700 000 000 from Eurocontrol and EUR 584 300 000 from the air traffic sector members), the Joint Undertaking had, by the end of 2018, validated contributions of EUR 1 099 800 000 (EUR 560 700 000 from Eurocontrol and EUR 539 100 000 from the air traffic sector);





Multiannual budget implementation under Horizon 2020









10.


Notes that out of the EUR 585 000 000 Union subsidy under Horizon 2020, by the end of 2018 the cumulative Union (Directorate-General for Mobility and Transport (DG MOVE)) cash contributions to the operational activities of the Joint Undertaking amounted to EUR 216 900 000, and that the other members committed to make in-kind and cash contributions of at least EUR 1 000 000 000 to the Joint Undertaking’s SESAR 2020 operational activities (an estimated amount of EUR 500 000 000 from Eurocontrol matched by estimated EUR 500 000 000 from the air traffic sector); notes, moreover, that, at the end of 2018, the other members had contributed EUR 14 400 000 in cash and had made validated EUR 114 000 000 contribution in kind, while a further EUR 120 200 000 in-kind contribution was reported, but had not yet been validated;












11.


Notes that for SESAR 2020, at the end of 2018, the Joint Undertaking implemented 81 % and 61 % respectively of the commitment and payment appropriations available for Horizon 2020 projects, and cancelled around EUR 44 600 000 (35 %) of the available Horizon 2020 payment appropriations (the utilisation rates for commitment and payment appropriations in 2017 were respectively 80,24 % and 67,97 %);












12.


Notes the Court’s observations that the low implementation and high cancellation rates for Horizon 2020 payment appropriations available in 2018 were mainly due to the Joint Undertaking ’s conservative budget planning, and not fully taking account of the amount of unused payment appropriations from previous years in its budget planning and monitoring;





Performance









13.


Notes the Joint Undertaking’s key performance indicators in 2018, in particular, forecasted PPP-leverage values at the end of the programme:






—


by interim evaluation method: 1,22,










—


by refined interim evaluation method: 1,26,










—


for Horizon 2020: 2,26, and










—


partnership leverage: 1,74;
















14.


Notes that the Joint Undertaking met its key policy and operational objectives as outlined in the Single Programming Document for the period 2017-2019;












15.


Reminds the Joint Undertaking of its call to take steps to meet the target leverage effect over the whole 2014-2020 period of 1,41;












16.


Observes that the management cost ratio (administrative/operational budget) remains below the 5 %, thus pointing to rather lean and efficient organisational structure of the Joint Undertaking;












17.


Notes that the SESAR Joint Undertaking is one among several Joint Undertakings which saw more operational synergies with Union decentralised agencies operating in their respective areas of research and innovation, in particular, the Joint Undertaking and the European Union Aviation Safety Agency collaborated on drones;












18.


Notes that in the Joint Undertaking's 2018 annual activity report, the information on key performance indicators on gender balance is only given for 2017 and not for 2018; notes that the information for 2017 relates to the Joint Undertaking's calls for proposals regarding the Horizon 2020 programme in 2016, with the figures given for key performance indicators being as follows: percentage of women in Horizon 2020 projects – 15,4 %; percentage of women project coordinators – 12 %; percentage of women in the Commission’s advisory and expert groups, etc. – 33,3 %;












19.


Notes that the Joint Undertaking has conducted three major initiatives that have been key in setting the vision for the future of Air Traffic Management (ATM) in Europe in 2018 and that the results of these achievements, recognised by the whole ATM community, have been transferred to the Commission that will take the next steps for their inclusion in the aviation legislative and policy framework;












20.


Acknowledges that in addition to its results from the Exploratory Research projects, the Joint Undertaking has proven to be a key player in innovation for aviation through the integration of new entrants beyond the traditional actors in ATM research and innovation;





Procurement and recruitment procedures









21.


Notes from the Court’s report that at 31 December 2018, the Joint Undertaking employed 42 staff (2017: 40);












22.


Observes that in 2018 the Joint Undertaking signed 48 contracts including 37 specific contracts implementing the Joint Undertaking’s framework contracts and inter-institutional agreements, and there were 12 procurement procedures: five negotiated procedures without prior publication of a contract notice, five very low, low and middle value negotiated procedures, three open calls for tender, and one prize;












23.


Notes that under the DG Move delegation agreement, the Joint Undertaking launched in January 2018 an open call for proposals for studies and demonstrations on drone traffic management in Europe (U-Space Call), the maximum grant amount of EUR 9 500 000 being funded through the Commission’s Connect Europe Facility (CEF) fund; notes with grave concern the Court’s findings that whilst the award criteria of the call respected in general the orientations laid down in Regulation (EU) No 1316/2013 (1), there were, according to the Court, several overlaps and inconsistences among award criteria and their sub-criteria, which could put at risk the overall effectiveness of the grant evaluation process and need to be addressed at the call design and preparation phase;





Internal Control









24.


Acknowledges that the ex ante control procedures of the Joint Undertaking are reliable, in particular, for the Seventh Framework Programme interim and final payments, the Joint Undertaking performs ex post audits at the beneficiaries whilst for Horizon 2020 payments the Commission’s Common Audit Service is responsible for the ex post audits; notes that the residual error rates for the ex-post audits reported by the Joint Undertaking at the end of 2018 were 1,29 % for the Seventh Framework Programme and 1,33 % for Horizon 2020;












25.


Acknowledges from the Joint Undertaking’s follow-up of Parliament’s discharge resolution for the financial year 2017 that the Joint Undertaking has taken steps to address Parliament’s concerns, in particular, the Joint Undertaking has appointed a new Head of Budget and Finance team, that the team incorporates a new Finance Officer and Finance Assistant, Joint Undertaking is in process of recruiting a Chief Financial Officer, and a new budget procedure is in place, which has led to a timely preparation of detailed budget;





Internal audits









26.


Notes that the Commission’s Internal Audit Service (IAS) issued the final audit report on coordination between the Joint Undertaking and the Common Support Centre (CSC) and implementation of CSC tools and services, leading to three important recommendations; notes that the Joint Undertaking set up a detailed action plan to address the risks underlying these recommendations, which was expected to be implemented in the course of 2019;












27.


Notes that in 2018, the Internal Audit Capability (IAC) performed activities focusing on assurance audits and consulting engagements; notes that the IAC conducted a follow-up audit on recruitment and actively participated in the Risk Assessment exercise of the Joint Undertaking, liaised with the IAS, the Court and other relevant audit actors, monitored the implementation of Joint Undertaking action plans related to past audits and followed-up on the discharge procedure;












28.


Notes that the Joint Undertaking conducted a corporate risk management workshop in July 2018 to report on risk management and validate main changes linked to corporate risks;





Issues concerning the deployment phase of the SESAR project









29.


Observes that in 2019, the Court published Special report no 11/2019 on the Union regulation for the modernisation of air traffic management; notes that in its special report the Court assessed how well the Commission managed the deployment of SESAR since 2011, whether the Union intervention targeted the projects in greatest need of support, and whether it added value to the management of air traffic in the Union; notes the need for effective management of air traffic in the future so as to ensure safety and efficiency;












30.


Notes with concern the Court’s findings that a majority of the projects audited would have been financed without Union funding support, there were weaknesses in the implementation of the funding scheme, in particular, insufficient prioritisation, and ATM performance benefits in an operational environment are still to be demonstrated;












31.


Calls on the Commission to inform the discharge authority of the measures they have taken to mitigate possible conflicts of interest, particularly as regards project selection;












32.


Endorses the Court’s recommendations aiming to address the issues, and notes that the Commission has accepted all of the Court’s recommendations; calls on the Commission to follow up on the implementation of the Courts recommendations;





Transport and Tourism









33.


Notes that the Joint Undertaking has presented its budget in two separate sections: (1) SESAR 1 and (2) SESAR 2020; notes further that SESAR 1 was co-financed from TEN-T and the Seventh Research Framework programmes and SESAR 2020 is co-financed from Horizon 2020;












34.


Notes that the implementation rates were 83 % for commitment appropriations and 47 % for payment appropriations (for SESAR 1: 99 % and 5 % and for SESAR 2020: 81 % and 61 %); notes that the low overall payment implementation rate is mainly due the low rate for SESAR 1, reflecting the financial closure of its projects and winding up of the programme, and also the efforts of the Joint Undertaking to keep the running costs at the minimum necessary;












35.


Stresses that both the further development of European airspace in the SES2+ framework and the incorporation of drones require sufficient financial and human resources;












36.


Notes that the Joint Undertaking ran its operations in full accordance with four different frameworks: the Horizon 2020, the CEF Programme for drone U-space demonstration activities, as well as two specific frameworks for the Active Geo-fencing service call and the study to develop a proposal for the future architecture of the European airspace; recognises that these different legal frameworks mean a high degree of complexity for the Joint Undertaking and therefore commends the Joint Undertaking for successfully implementing innovation projects;












37.


Highlights the importance of the work of the Joint Undertaking in helping to accelerate innovation uptake; stresses moreover its role in the significant development of U-space and the production of a blueprint to enable the safe introduction and use of drones in the low-level airspace, which is the basis for a modern and rapidly growing sector; highlights the importance of the Joint Undertaking in preparing for the update of the European ATM Master Plan toward a Digital European Sky through a holistic and passenger-centric digital transformation of aviation; believes therefore that the role of the Joint Undertaking should be recognised and strengthened within the next Multiannual Financial Framework;












38.


Notes that the Joint Undertaking continued the financial and administrative closure of SESAR 1; notes that the actual overall programme execution rate is 89,9 %; notes that the Joint Undertaking has EUR 30,7 million on its virtual bank account to cover all remaining obligations of SESAR 1 and that according to payments and recoveries forecasts the Joint Undertaking should close SESAR 1 with an estimate cash surplus of EUR 30,6 million; reminds that the accumulated budget results for the SESAR 1 will be used to reimburse the surplus cash contributions of the members of the Joint Undertaking and the remaining unused amount will be paid back to the Union;












39.


Notes that 2018 was the first year of SESAR 2020 without SESAR 1 projects; further notes that out of EUR 96,0 million in revenue received by SESAR 2020 in 2018, the contribution from the Union was EUR 88,2 million and from Eurocontrol EUR 5,2 million;












40.


Notes that unused payment appropriations in 2018 resulted in a surplus of EUR 19,3 million that remains within the Joint Undertaking (of which EUR 0,05 million for SESAR 1 and EUR 19,25 million for the SESAR 2020) and that the cumulative surplus amounts to EUR 77,24 million (of which EUR 30,93 million for SESAR 1 and EUR 46,31 million for SESAR 2020);












41.


Notes that the last audits of SESAR 1 regarding payments made in 2017 were launched in 2018 and the 4th cycle of audits consisting of 23 audit exercises in eight Members was completed; is concerned by the residual error rate for the year 2018 of 5,07 %;












42.


Notes the results of the 2018 Human Resources benchmarking exercise: 61,67 % operational posts, 28,57 % administrative and 9,76 % of neutral posts;






(1)  Regulation (EU) No 1316/2013 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 11 December 2013 establishing the Connecting Europe Facility, amending Regulation (EU) No 913/2010 and repealing Regulations (EC) No 680/2007 and (EC) No 67/2010 (OJ L 348, 20.12.2013, p. 129).