2004 discharge: Translation Centre for the Bodies of the European Union

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

In doing so, the Council confirms that EUR 1.1 million (92 %) of the EUR 1.2 million in appropriations carried forward from the financial year 2003 to the financial year 2004 have been used. In addition, EUR 1.7 million in appropriations have been carried forward from the financial year 2004 to the financial year 2005 and EUR 8.9 million have been cancelled.

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

§         shares the Court's remarks concerning the method used for removing the balance sheet provision created to cover the dispute over rent with the host-country authorities;

§         considers the amount of cancelled appropriations for the financial year 2004 as too high and asks the Centre to take remedial actions to avoid these cancellations in future;

§         is disappointed of the fact that the conflict with the Commission over the payment of employer's contributions in respect of its employees' pension rights remains unsolved and calls on the Centre to strengthen its efforts in order to find an agreement.