2000 discharge: European Centre for the Development for vocational Training ECDVT budget, Thessalonica

The European Parliament adopted the report by Mr Bart STAES (GREENS, EFA, B) concerning the discharge to the management board of the European Centre for the Development of vocational Training in respect of the implementation of its budget for the 2000 financial year. (Please refer to the previous text). In the resolution attached to its opinion, the Parliament regrets that the Cedefop has failed to take full account of the observations made by the Court of Auditors in its 1999 annual report. However, it welcomes the decision taken by the Greek authorities on 16 May 2001 to transfer to Cedefop ownership of the building and site in Thessaloniki. The Parliament welcomes the Action Plan drafted by the Management Board (29.11.2001) as a follow-up to the final report of the external evaluation of Cedefop and notes that the Action Plan takes into account the Commission's position paper and assesses the validity of all conclusions and recommendations formulated in the evaluation report. Moreover, it welcomes the fact that the Cedefop promises to implement the Action Plan in conformity with the objectives and time-schedule indicated and further welcomes the proposal that the Director will report on progress annually (November meetings) to the Management Board, which will forward the results to the European Parliament. As regards the co-operation with the European Training Foundation (ETF) - Turin, the Parliament notes that the evaluation concludes that co-operation between the two Agencies is satisfactory and that, at present, ETF makes appropriate use of Cedefop as a resource centre. It welcomes the fact that at that, at the request of the Commission, the two Agencies have drawn up a co-operation framework which was agreed by the Cedefop and ETF Boards in March and June 2001 respectively. Further, it welcomes that this joint framework paper sets out the overall objectives of this new co-operation, namely the preparation of the applicant countries for full participation in Cedefop at a time of accession and the means of facilitating the participation and involvement of applicant countries in the policy development of the Community during the transition period.�