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2007 discharge: European Training Foundation ETF

2008/2264(DEC)

PURPOSE: to present the final accounts of the European Training Foundation for the financial year 2007.

CONTENT: this document sets out a detailed account of the implementation of the European Training Foundation’s budget for the financial year 2007. It notes that the final budget amounted to EUR 21.1 million (compared to EUR 26.5 million in 2006) funded by a Commission subsidy and EUR 1.4 million funded by other bodies as assigned revenue.

As regards the staffing policy, the Foundation, whose headquarters are based in Turin (Italy) officially set out 100 posts in the establishment plan. 91 posts are currently occupied with 40 other posts (auxiliaries, local agents and contract agents) totalling 131 posts assigned to operational, administrative and mixed tasks.

In 2007, the Foundation’s main activities concentrated on the following:

  • Activities: the assistance provided by the ETF covers a large range of technical fields including: initial vocational training, lifelong learning, continuing (adult) education, human resources development in companies, employment policies, training of the unemployed, poverty alleviation and social inclusion, and training to encourage local development;
  • Support for the Commission: in 2007, 115 new requests for support were received from the Commission. Most came from the delegations (40%), EAR (17%), DG AIDCO (10%), DG EAC and DG ENTRE (9%), DG EMPL (6%), DG ELARG (4%), DG RELEX (3%) and DG JLS (3%), This included 29 analyses of the situation in the ENPI countries. The Commission’s satisfaction rate with the ETF’s response was 96%. The most frequent applications were those in the field of programming (32%), followed by policies and contributions in the preparation of European Neighbourhood Instruments (25%), the identification of projects (14%) and followup;
  • Information and analysis: country sector studies, statistics on education, policy advice to countries;
  • Innovation and development support projects: as a centre of expertise, the ETF contributes towards the setting up of development projects in order to test innovative approaches allowing partner countries to carry out reforms of their education and vocational training systems;
  • Technical assistance to DG EAC for the implementation of the Tempus Programme: assistance Conventions with CARDS, MEDA and Tacis for the Tempus programme. This assistance covers the whole cycle of the project. It includes the selection, management and follow-up of contracts and information and communications, including general administrative support. IT tools such as online applications and report forms have greatly facilitated the administrative management of the various project cycles.

The complete version of the final accounts may be found at the following address: http://www.etf.europa.eu/Wpubdocs.nsf/0/6d08a4916a401d3ac125747800306eeb/$FILE/ETF-GB-08-009_EN.pdf