2007 discharge: Translation Centre for the Bodies of the European Union CdT

The Committee on Budgetary Control adopted the report drawn up by Christopher FJELLNER (EPP-ED, SE) on discharge to be granted to the Translation Centre for the Bodies of the European Union, calling on the European Parliament to grant the Director of the Centre discharge in respect of the implementation of the its budget for the financial year 2007.

Noting that the Centre’s annual accounts for the financial year 2007 are reliable, and the underlying transactions are legal and regular, MEPs approve the closure of the Centre’s accounts.

However, they make a number of recommendations as part of the decision on discharge. In addition to the general recommendations appearing in the draft resolution on financial management and control of EU agencies (see 2008/2207(INI)), MEPs make the following observations:

• the ECA's observation that its audit of procurement procedures showed that the evaluation of award criteria was not appropriately documented;
• certain recruitment procedures lacked transparency.

Noting the Centre's willingness to follow up on the problems detected by the ECA, MEPs call on the Centre to report on the follow-up action taken and the results achieved in its activity report 2008.

In terms of the follow-up on previous discharge exercises, MEPs note that, in 2007, the Centre refunded EUR 9.3 million to its clients from outturn carried over from previous financial years. MEPs also regret that, although this issue has been highlighted in discharge resolutions over many years, a solution concerning the conflict between the Centre and the Commission as to the employer's share of pension contributions for staff has still not been found. They therefore call on the Commission and the Centre to strive to resolve the dispute quickly and to inform the discharge authority of the outcome of the negotiations.