2018 discharge: Clean Sky 2 Joint Undertaking

The European Parliament decided to grant the Executive Director of the Clean Sky 2 Joint Undertaking discharge in respect of the implementation of the joint undertaking’s budget for the financial year 2018 and to approve the closure of the joint undertaking’s accounts.

Noting that the Court of Auditors considered that the annual accounts of the Joint Undertaking for the financial year 2018 accurately reflected the financial position of the Joint Undertaking as at 31 December 2018, as well as the results of its operations, Parliament adopted by 625 votes to 62, with 6 abstentions, a resolution containing a series of observations which form an integral part of the discharge decision.

General

The maximum contribution from the Union to the Joint Undertaking second phase of activities is EUR 1 755 000 000 to be paid from the budget of Horizon 2020.

Budgetary and financial management

The Joint Undertaking’s final budget for 2018 included commitment appropriations of EUR 371 100 000 and payment appropriations of EUR 343 786 573. The commitment appropriations utilisation rate was 99.2 % and the rate of payment appropriations was 97.3 %.

Parliament noted with satisfaction that the Joint Undertaking has implemented various tools to monitor the execution of the programme in terms of productivity, achievements, planning and risks of the operations.

Other observations

The resolution also contained a series of observations on calls for proposals, performance and internal audits.

It noted in particular:

- by the end of 2018, nine calls for proposals were launched, of which eight have been evaluated and fully implemented or in the final stage. These eight calls engage more than 560 partners from 27 different countries;

- that the Joint Undertaking’s turnover rates were high for temporary agents and contracts agents in 2017 and 2018 with the use of interim staff services almost doubling in 2018;

- that gender balance while being stable in 2017 and 2018 is nevertheless still quite low;

- during 2018, three cases of alleged fraudulent activities were detected in connection with receiving funding from the Joint Undertaking and were notified to the European Anti-Fraud Office (OLAF);

Lastly, the major contribution made by the Joint Undertaking to the increased efficiency of the aviation sector has been highlighted. It has made net accelerations in green technologies that aim to reduce CO2, gas emissions and noise levels produced by aircrafts.