2004 discharge: European Training Foundation

Having examined the Foundation’s revenue and expenditure account for the financial year 2004 and the observations made by the Court of Auditors, the Council recommends the European Parliament to give a discharge to the Director of the Foundation in respect of the implementation of the budget for the financial year 2004.

In doing so, the Council confirms that EUR 1.7 million (85 %) of the EUR 2.0 million in appropriations carried forward from the financial year 2003 to the financial year 2004 have been used. In addition, EUR 2.2 million in appropriations have been carried forward from the financial year 2004 to the financial year 2005 and EUR 0.5 million have been cancelled.

In parallel, the Council makes accompanying comments on the discharge which should be followed up. In particular, it :

§         deplores once again that the Tempus programmes which are managed by the Foundation are not shown in the Foundation's budget and urges the Foundation to comply with the budgetary principles of unity and budget accuracy. Furthermore, the Council asks the Foundation to include in an appropriate way the financial information on the Tempus programmes in its annual accounts;

§         calls on the Foundation to enter the balance of a financial year in the budget by way of using an amending budget as requested by the Court;

§         notes that the Foundation has published its budget in the Official Journal without sufficient subdivisions nor an establishment plan, as set out in the Foundation's Financial Regulation, and urges it to comply fully with this regulation. In order to contain publication costs, the Council asks the Foundation to look for a solution in the context of interinstitutional cooperation.