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2011 discharge: SESAR Joint Undertaking to develop the new generation European air traffic management system

2012/2216(DEC)

The European Parliament adopted a decision on discharge to be granted to the Executive Director of the SESAR Joint Undertaking 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 Joint Undertaking 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: the budget for the 2008-2013 development phase of the SESAR project is EUR 2.1 billion. The Joint Undertaking's final budget for the financial year 2011 included commitment appropriations of EUR 148 million and payment appropriations of EUR EUR 91.7 million.
  • Implementation rate of appropriations and carryovers: Parliament further acknowledges that the utilisation rates for commitment and payment appropriations were 99.4% and 82.4% respectively. It points out that that year-end deposits in bank accounts totalling EUR 15.3 million still represents a breach of the budgetary principle of equilibrium. It calls on the Joint Undertaking to continue to implement concrete measures to attain budget equilibrium.
  • Membership contributions: Parliament deplores the fact that the deadline for the payment of cash contributions to the Joint Undertaking from its members was not respected; notes that at the end of August 2011. It urges the Joint Undertaking to nevertheless ensure the respect of contractual deadlines for the payment of cash contributions by its members that represent 10 % of their global contributions to the project.

Parliament also makes a series of observations as regards the Undertaking’s control and internal audit systems, and other management issues.

Lastly, Parliament invites the Court of Auditors to provide, within a reasonable deadline, a special report to Parliament on common issues which occur due to the nature of the joint undertakings in order to ensure their added value and efficient execution of Union research, technological development and demonstration programmes. It further notes that the same report should include an assessment of the effectiveness of the joint undertakings' establishment and structure.