2012 discharge: European Training Foundation (ETF)

The Committee on Budgetary Control adopted the report by Petri SARVAMAA (EPP, FI) on discharge in respect of the implementation of the budget of the European Training Foundation for the financial year 2012, and called on the European Parliament to grant the Director of the Foundation discharge in respect of the implementation of the Foundation's budget for the financial year 2012.

Noting that the Court of Auditors stated that it had obtained reasonable assurances that the annual accounts of the Foundation for the financial year 2012 are reliable, and that the underlying transactions are legal and regular, Members approved the closure of the Foundation’s accounts. They made, however, a number of recommendations that needed 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: Members recalled that the budget of the Foundation for the financial year 2012 was EUR 20.20 million, and that budget monitoring efforts during the financial year 2012 resulted in a budget implementation rate of 99.91 %.

·        Rate of implementation and carryovers: they noted that the level of committed appropriations carried over to 2013 was high but appreciated that the main reasons were the late receipt of invoices for building-related services delivered in 2012.

Members also made a series of observations ontransfers, procurement and recruitment procedures as well as comments on internal controls.

Lastly, they asked the Foundation to strengthen transparency and prevent conflicts of interests, as well as make publicly available the Declarations of Interests of certain members.