2018 discharge: European Foundation for the Improvement of Living and Working Conditions (EUROFOUND)

The European Parliament decided to grant discharge to the Executive Director of the European Foundation for the Improvement of Living and Working Conditions (Eurofound) for the financial year 2018 and to approve the closure of the accounts for the financial year in question.

Noting that the Court of Auditors has stated that it has obtained reasonable assurances that the Foundation’s annual accounts for the financial year 2018 are reliable and that the underlying transactions are legal and regular, Parliament adopted by 466 votes to 223 with 4 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:

Foundation’s financial statements

The final budget of Eurofound for the financial year 2018 was EUR 20 760 000 representing an increase of 1.37 % compared to 2017.

Budget and financial management

Budget monitoring efforts during the financial year 2018 resulted in a budget implementation rate of 99.58 %, representing a slight decrease of 0.42 % compared to 2017. The payment appropriations execution rate was 82.70 %, representing an increase of 2 % compared to 2017.

Other observations

Members also made a series of observations regarding procurement, staff policy and internal controls.

In particular, they noted that:

- the delivery of work programme outputs planned for 2018 were 83 % achieved (48 of 58 outputs), the Foundation contributed to 236 policy development events (41 % of them at Union level);

- on 31 December 2018, the establishment plan was 96.70 % executed, with 88 officials or temporary agents appointed out of 91 authorised under the Union budget;

- gender balance was achieved among senior managers, however that there is no gender balance at management board level (97 men and 64 women);

- on procurement, the Foundation did not systematically check prices and uplifts charged with the suppliers’ quotes and invoices issued to the framework contractor for the acquisition of software licences;

- the Foundation adopted a revised internal control framework marking a shift from a compliance-based to a principles-based process.