2004 discharge: European Training Foundation
PURPOSE : presentation of the final accounts of the European Training Foundation for the financial year 2004.
CONTENT : this document published in the Official Journal of the EU sets out a detailed account of the implementation of the 2004 budget, including the revenue and expenditure and the balance sheet for the year concerned.
According to this document, the final budget amounted to EUR 18,4 million (against 17,2 million in 2003) fully financed by the Commission.
As regards the staffing policy, the Foundation, whose headquarters are based in Turin (Italy) officially set out 104 in the establishment plans. 99 posts are currently occupied with + 31 other posts (auxiliaries, national experts, employment agency staff) totalling 130 posts assigned to the operational, administrative and mixed tasks.
Staff expenditure amounted to EUR 11 122 000.
The Foundation’s purpose is to support the reform of vocational training in the European Union’s partner countries. As such, it assists the Commission in the implementation of various programmes (Phare, Tacis, Cards and Meda).
The European Training Foundation covers a wide range of areas including:
- initial vocational training, lifelong learning, continuing (adult) education, human resource development in companies, employment policies, training of unemployed people, poverty alleviation
and social inclusion and training to encourage local development. There were 169 applications in 2004 (against 143 in 2003) most of which were from the Delegations (35 %), followed by AIDCO (21 %), DG EAC (16 %), DG ELARG (9 %) and DG RELEX (7 %). The most frequent applications were those in the field of programming (42 applications), followed by advice on policies and contributions in the preparation of European Neighbourhood Instruments (28), identification of projects (19) and follow-up (18).
Network of observatories in eligible countries: country sector studies, statistics on education, policy advice to countries.
Development projects: As a centre of expertise, the ETF contributes to the setting-up of development projects in order to test innovatory approaches allowing partner countries to carry out reforms of their education and vocational training systems.
Technical assistance Conventions with Cards, Meda and Tacis for the Tempus programme.
This assistance covers the whole cycle of the project. It includes the selection, management
and follow-up of contracts and information and communication, including general administrative
support. IT tools such as online applications and report forms have greatly facilitated the administrative management of the various project cycles.
Operation expenditure represented roughly EUR 4,6 million in commitments. On the other hand, the balance for the financial year amounted to EUR – 759 000 due to negative balance from the previous year).
The complete version of the final accounts may be found at the following address:
http://www.etf.eu.int/WebSite.nsf/Pages/Public+access+to+documents?OpenDocument