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2011 discharge: Translation Centre for the Bodies of the European Union (CdT)

2012/2189(DEC)

The European Parliament adopted a decision on discharge to be granted to the Director of the Translation Centre for the Bodies of the European Union in respect of the implementation of the budget for the financial year 2011. The vote on the decision to grant discharge covers the closure of the accounts (in accordance with Annex VI, Article 5(1) of the European Parliament’s Rules of Procedure).

Noting that the Court of Auditors stated that it has obtained reasonable assurances that the annual accounts of the Centre for the financial year 2011 are reliable and that the underlying transactions are legal and regular, Parliament adopted a resolution containing a number of recommendations that need to be taken into account when the discharge is granted, in addition to the general recommendations that appear in the draft resolution on performance, financial management and control of EU agencies:

  • Financing, budget and financial management: Parliament recalls that the Centre’s final budget for 2011 was EUR 51.3 million, which represents a decrease of 8.27% compared to 2010. It recalls that the Centre’s 2011 budget outturn decreased to EUR 1.2 million compared to more than EUR 8 million in 2010, which represents a decrease of 85.56%. This decrease mainly resulted from a 15% decrease in revenues, reflecting the Centre's new pricing policy, which aims to align the prices of products with their costs.
  • Implementation rate of appropriations: Parliament highlights the very good execution rate of commitment appropriations. It also welcomes the limited number of carry-overs.
  • Data protection: Parliament takes note that in 2011, in order to increase the independence of the function, the Centre appointed a new Data Protection Officer. It notes that the number of prior check notifications made to the European Data Protection Supervisor (EDPS) in 2011 was four, namely video surveillance, the disciplinary procedure, anti-harassment policy and the certification procedure. It notes that for the disciplinary and anti-harassment procedures, complementary information was sent to the EDPS at his request. The discharge authority should be informed about the state of play.

Lastly, Parliament made a series of observations as regards human resources, procurement and on the accounting system of this Agency.