Legislative Observatory
European Parliament
Please fill in this field to find a procedure

2014 discharge: European Centre for the Development of Vocational Training (Cedefop)

2015/2164(DEC)

PURPOSE: presentation of the EU Court of Auditors’ report on the annual accounts of the European Centre for the Development of Vocational Training (CEDEFOP) for the financial year 2014, together with the Centre’s reply.

CONTENT: in accordance with the tasks conferred on the Court of Auditors by the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union, the Court presents to the European Parliament and to the Council, in the context of the discharge procedure, a Statement of Assurance as to the reliability of the annual accounts of each institution, body or agency of the EU, and the legality and regularity of the transactions underlying them, on the basis of an independent external audit.

This audit concerned, amongst others, the annual accounts of the European Centre for the Development of Vocational Training (CEDEFOP).

Statement of assurance: pursuant to the provisions of Article 287 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union (TFEU), the Court has audited:

  • the annual accounts of the Centre, which comprise the financial statements and the reports on the implementation of the budget for the financial year ended 31 December 2014; and
  • the legality and regularity of the transactions underlying those accounts.

Opinion on the reliability of the accounts: the Court considered that the Centre’s annual accounts present fairly, in all material respects, its financial position as at 31 December 2014 and the results of its operations and its cash flows for the year then ended, in accordance with the provisions of its Financial Regulation and the accounting rules adopted by the Commission’s accounting officer.

Opinion on the legality and regularity of the transactions underlying the accounts: the Court considered that the transactions underlying the annual accounts for the year ended 31 December 2014 are legal and regular in all material respects.

No observations were made as regards the Centre’s budgetary and financial management.

Lastly, the report contains a summary of the Centre’s activities in 2014. It focused on:

Budget: EUR 17.28 million. Union contribution: 96.9%.

Activities (inter alia):

  • Policy analysis and reporting: the findings of Cedefop’s 2010-2014 review of progress towards the goals set for VET informed policy discussions were presented at the Cedefop/DGEAC conference in 2014.
  • The Centre published brief overviews of national VET systems (Spotlights on VET) and prepared detailed country information on VET policies for all Member States, Norway and Iceland. This information informed the 2014 country-specific recommendations of the European Semester.
  • Common European tools, qualifications and learning outcomes: Cedefop coordinated the EQF (European Qualifications Framework) Advisory Group jointly with the European Commission and analysed NQF developments in 36 countries. Visits to the Europass website — managed by Cedefop and available in 27 languages — have reached 102 million since its launch (2014: 21.7 million; 2013: 20.1 million). Users have generated 47 million CVs online (2014: 13.1 million; 2013: 9.8 million).
  • Adult learning and transitions: Cedefop and the European Commission organised the European conference on ‘Steering Partnerships for Growth’ (Thessaloniki, 7-8 May) to help countries find potential partners willing to cooperate in developing apprenticeship schemes. To help young people and workers to manage labour market transitions and achieve positive labour market outcomes, Cedefop published the study Navigating difficult waters: learning for career and labour market transitions.
  • Skills analysis: in 2014, Cedefop took over responsibility for the EU Skills Panorama. Cedefop also published online its latest skills supply and demand forecasts (for 2013-2025). With the ETF and ILO, Cedefop produced guides on approaches to anticipating skill needs and contributed to the OECD and European Union publication Matching economic migration with labour market needs.
  • Organisational impact: key performance indicators show a high organisational impact: Cedefop’s work is widely cited in 97 EU policy documents. Cedefop provided advice and expertise to Presidency events and EU-level senior stakeholder meetings in support of policy implementation (164 contributions). It organised 69 conferences, workshops and meetings. Some 600 000 Cedefop publications were downloaded, including 71 000 briefing notes targeting policy makers and published in eight languages. 745 articles on Cedefop’s work appeared in leading European media, including Die Welt, the Times Educational Supplement and El País.