2005 discharge: European Monitoring Centre for Racism and Xenophobia

Having examined the revenue and expenditure account for the financial year 2005 and the balance sheet of revenue and expenditure at 31 December 2005 of the European Monitoring Centre on Racism and Xenophobia, the Council recommends the European Parliament to give a discharge to the Director of the Monitoring Centre in respect of the implementation of the budget for the financial year 2005.

In doing so, the Council confirms that EUR 700 000 (75%) of the EUR 900 000 in appropriations carried forward from the financial year 2004 to the financial year 2005, have been used. In addition, EUR 1.4 million in appropriations have been carried forward from the financial year 2005 to the financial year 2006 and EUR 800 000 has been cancelled.

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

• notes once again, as already pointed out in its recommendations for the financial years 2003 and 2004, the need for the Centre to improve its expenditure planning and calls on the Centre to take all necessary measures to keep automatic carry-overs to a minimum level, in order to comply with the principle of annuality. Furthermore, the Council calls on the Centre to introduce an activity-based management system;
• takes note that the Centre's financial workflows were changed in order to improve the quality of its internal control standards regarding transactions and to fulfil the requirements of the Financial Regulation;
• shares the Court's concerns about the lack of clarity of information provided in the call for tenders and calls on the Centre to take adequate measures.