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2014 discharge: ENIAC Joint Undertaking for the implementation of the Joint Technology Initiative on nanoelectronics

2015/2202(DEC)

The European Parliament decided to postpone its decision to grant discharge to the Executive Director of the ECSEL Joint Undertaking in respect of the implementation of ENIAC’s budget for the financial year 2014.

It postponed the closure of the accounts of the ENIAC Joint Undertaking (in accordance with Annex V, Article 5 (1)(b) to Parliament’s Rules of Procedure.

Parliament adopted by 595 votes to 40, with 0 abstentions, a resolution containing a series of recommendations, which form an integral part of the decision on discharge and which add to the general recommendations set out in the resolution  on performance, financial management and control of EU agencies:

  • General remark: Parliament recalled that the Artemis Joint Undertaking and the ENIAC Joint Undertaking (ENIAC) were merged to create the Electronic Components and Systems for European leadership Joint Technology Initiative (ECSEL JTI), which started its activity in June 2014 and will run for 10 years.
  • Qualified opinion of the Court of Auditors: Parliament expressed concerned that the Court issued a qualified opinion for the fourth consecutive year regarding the regularity and legality of the underlying transactions on the grounds that the administrative agreements signed with the national funding authorities (“the NFAs”) regarding audit of project cost claims do not include practical arrangements for ex-post audits. It noted that the Joint Undertaking did not assess the quality of the audit reports received from the NFAs even though the ECSEL JTI confirmed that its extensive assessment of the national assurance systems concluded that they can provide reasonable protection of the financial interests of the Joint Undertakings’ members. Parliament invited the ECSEL initiative to further strengthen its controls and the Court to collect additional and necessary documents and information as an alternative way to justify its opinion. Parliament also called on the ECSEL JTI, following the assessment of the procedures applied by the NFAs, to invite the NFAs to produce evidence that the implementation of the national procedures provides a reasonable assurance on the legality and regularity of transactions.
  • Budget and financial management: Parliament noted that the Joint Undertaking's final budget for the financial year 2014 included commitment appropriations of EUR 2 356 000 and payment appropriations of EUR 76 500 250. It noted that the initial budget for 2014 included only commitment appropriations for running costs amounting to EUR 2 300 000 and that the budget did not include commitment appropriations for operational activities, with a low utilisation rate for administrative commitment appropriations of 43 %. Parliament regretted the lack of information regarding in-kind and cash contributions. It called on the Court to include, in future reports, concrete provisions regarding the evaluation procedure and the level of in kind and cash paid contributions.

Lastly, Parliament issued a series of observations regarding the internal audit.