2015 discharge: SESAR Joint Undertaking

The Committee on Budgetary Control adopted the report by Miroslav POCHE (S&D, CZ) on discharge in respect of the implementation of the budget of the SESAR Joint Undertaking for the financial year 2015.

The committee called on the European Parliament to grant the joint undertaking’s Executive Director discharge in respect of the implementation of the joint undertaking’s budget for the financial year 2015.

Noting that the Court of Auditors issued a statement of assurance as to the reliability of the accounts and the legality and regularity of the underlying transactions for the financial year 2015, Members called on Parliament to approve the closure of the joint undertaking’s accounts.

They made, however, a number of recommendations that need to be taken into account when the discharge is granted. They may be summarised as follows:

Budget and financial management: 2015 was the first year of real transition from SESAR 1 (funded from FP 7 and TEN-T) to SESAR 2 (funded from Horizon 2020). The final budget for SESAR1 for the financial year 2015 included commitment appropriations of EUR 30 229 774 and payment appropriations of EUR 126 733 842. The final budget for SESAR 2020 for the financial year 2015 included commitment appropriations of EUR 51 470 000 and payment appropriations of EUR 10 300 000. The utilisation rates for commitment and payment appropriations were 100 % and 82.3 %, respectively. The payment appropriations rate of 82.3 % was due to delay of two months for the first Horizon 2020. Related unused 2015 payment appropriations were fully reintroduced into the 2016 budget.

Other observations: the report also contained a series of observations on procurement and recruitment procedures, the prevention and management of conflicts of interests, calls for proposal, internal audits and control systems.

In July 2015, the Commission issued guidelines to the Joint Undertakings related to rules on conflicts of interest, including a common template for the declaration of absence of a conflict of interest. Members urged the Joint Undertaking to reflect those guidelines in its procedures and to report to the discharge authority on the completion of the aforementioned declarations.

The report noted that the Administrative Board adopted in December 2015 the ATM Master Plan (2015 Edition) covering both SESAR development and deployment. It welcomed the development of a SESAR vision 2035+.

Members welcomed the successful delivery of the work mandated by the Commission concerning the Remotely Piloted Aircraft Systems (RPAS) definition phase.

Lastly, they highlighted the vital role of the Joint Undertaking in coordinating and implementing research into the SESAR project.