PURPOSE: to grant discharge to the Translation Centre for the Bodies of the European Union in respect of the implementation of the Agency's budget for the financial year 2009.

NON-LEGISLATIVE ACT: Decision 2011/566/EU of the European Parliament on discharge in respect of the implementation of the budget of the Translation Centre for the Bodies of the European Union for the financial year 2009.

CONTENT: with the present decision, the European Parliament grants discharge to the Director of the Translation Centre for the Bodies of the European Union for the implementation of its budget for the financial year 2009.

This decision is in line with the European Parliament's resolution adopted on 10 May 2011 and comprises a series of observations that form an integral part of the discharge decision (please refer to the summary of the opinion of 10/05/2011).

A parallel decision, adopted on the same day, approves the closure of this Agency's accounts.

The European Parliament adopted by 492 votes to 64, with 33 abstentions a decision on discharge to be granted to the Director of the Translation Centre for the Bodies of the European Union in respect of the implementation of its budget for the financial year 2009.

Noting that the Centre’s annual accounts for the financial year 2009 are reliable, and the underlying transactions are legal and regular, Parliament approves the closure of its accounts. However, it makes a number of recommendations that need to be taken into account when the discharge is granted (in addition to the general recommendations that appear in the resolution on financial management and control of EU agencies - see DEC/2010/2271 ):

performance: Parliament calls on the Centre to further develop the evaluation of its performance by improving the links between its strategic actions and those foreseen in its Work Programme. It notes that, in 2009, the Centre increased its services (in terms of. pages translated) to the EU institutions by 41% compared to 2008; financial management: Parliament calls on the Centre to ensure that commitments appropriations cover the total cost of the legal commitments entered into the current financial year; budget surplus contrary to the Regulation establishing the Centre : Parliament calls on the Centre to take more effective measures to remedy its constant rise in surplus. It notes that, for several years, the Centre has had an accumulated budget surplus and that, in 2009, the surplus amounted to EUR 24 million. This surplus is mainly linked to the lack of precision in the forecasts for translation requests received from its clients. It welcomes, nevertheless, the Centre's initiative to refund EUR 11 million to its clients in 2009; pension contributions to the Commission’s retirement scheme: Parliament observes that on 12 February 2010 the Court of Justice of the European Union judged as manifestly inadmissible the Commission’s appeal (T-456/07) which called on the Centre to pay a contribution representing the part of the financing of the Community pension scheme in connection with the budget years 1998 to 2005. It congratulates the Centre on having put efforts into finding a friendly solution concerning this conflict with the Commission by using part of its budget surplus (EUR 18.3 million) to pay the employer’s contribution to the Commission’s retirement scheme; human resources: lastly, Parliament encourages the Centre to update the implementing rules for training and define new timing for this. It supports the Centre in the steps taken by it to effectively monitor the quality of its training courses.

The Committee on Budgetary Control adopted the report by Georgios STAVRAKAKIS (S&D, EL) recommending the European Parliament to grant the Director of the Translation Centre for the Bodies of the European Union discharge in respect of the implementation of its budget for the financial year 2009.

Noting that the Centre’s annual accounts for the financial year 2009 are reliable, and the underlying transactions are legal and regular, MEPs approve the closure of the Centre’s accounts. However, they make a number of recommendations that need to be taken into account when the discharge is granted, in addition to the general recommendations that appear in the draft resolution on financial management and control of EU agencies (see DEC/2010/2271 ):

performance: Members call on the Centre to further develop the evaluation of its performance by improving the links between its strategic actions and the actions foreseen in its Work Programme and by reviewing indicators for monitoring its performance. They note that, in 2009, the Centre increased its services (in terms of. pages translated) to the EU institutions by 41% compared to 2008; financial management : Members call on the Centre to ensure that commitments appropriations shall cover the total cost of the legal commitments entered into the current financial year; budget surplus contrary to the Regulation establishing the Centre : Members call on the Centre to take more effective measures to remedy its constant rise in surplus. They note that, for several years the Centre has had an accumulated budget surplus and that, in 2009, the surplus amounted to EUR 24 million. They observe that this surplus is mainly linked to the lack of precision in the forecasts for translation requests received from its clients. Members welcome, nevertheless, the Centre's initiative to refund EUR 11 million to its clients in 2009; pension contributions to the Commission retirement scheme: Members observe that on 12 February 2010 the Court of Justice of the European Union judged as manifestly inadmissible the Commission’s appeal (T-456/07) which called on the Centre to pay a contribution representing the part of the financing of the Community pension scheme in connection with the budget years 1998 to 2005. They congratulate the Centre on having put efforts into finding a friendly solution concerning this conflict with the Commission by using part of its budget surplus (EUR 18 300 000) to pay the employer contribution to the Commission retirement scheme; accounting system : Members encourage the Centre to ensure a proper validation accounting system by the Accounting Officer. They recall that the absence of validation accounting system implies that the Centre takes over the responsibility of its Accounting Officer for the declaration of the Centre's Annual Activity Report. They also remind the Centre that as the Centre does not have the necessary expertise for maintaining SI2, there is a significant risk to continuity of its financial operations until ABAC is operational; human resources : Members encourage the Centre to update the implementing rules for training and define new timing for this. They support the Centre in the steps taken by it to effectively monitor the quality of its training courses; internal audit: Members acknowledge that the Centre has sent to the authority responsible for discharge a report drawn up by its Director summarising the content of the Internal Audit Service (IAS) recommendation and invite the Director to provide specific information on the content of recommendations opened by IAS. They encourage the Centre to further strengthen its internal control system, its monitoring system and assurance process.

Based on the observations contained in the revenue and expenditure account and the balance sheet of the European Translation Centre for the Bodies of the European Union for the financial year 2009, as well as on the Court of Auditor’s report and the Centre’s replies to the Court’s observations, the Council recommends that the Parliament grant the Director of the Centre discharge in respect of the implementation of the budget for the financial year 2009.

The Council welcomes the Court's opinion that, on the one hand, the Centre's annual accounts present fairly, in all material aspects, the financial position as at 31 December 2009 and the results of operations and cash-flows for the year then ended, in accordance with the provisions of the Centre's Financial Regulation, and that, on the other hand, the underlying transactions for the financial year ended on 31 December 2009 are, in all material respects, legal and regular.

However, the Council considers that observations made in the Court of Auditor’s report call for a certain number of observations to be taken into account when granting discharge, particularly on the following points:

irregularity of commitments : the Council calls on the Centre to ensure the correction of its irregular approach as regards commitments and to guarantee that, in line with its Financial Regulation, commitment appropriations cover the total cost of legal commitments entered into the budget of the current financial year; revenue management : the Council encourages the Centre to improve its procedure for revenue management, as expected by the Court; budgetary accounting system : the Council urges the Centre to guarantee the necessary system support during the transition from the current budgetary system SI2 towards the ABAC accounting system in order to ensure the continuity of its financial operations.

PURPOSE: presentation by the Court of Auditors of its report on the annual accounts of the Translation Centre for the Bodies of the European Union for the financial year 2009, together with the Centre’s replies.

CONTENT: in accordance with the tasks and objectives conferred on it by the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union (TFEU), the Court of Auditors, in the context of the discharge procedure, addresses to the European Parliament and the Council a Statement of Assurance on the reliability of the annual accounts, as well as of the legality and regularity of the transactions underlying them of each EU institution, body or agency, on the basis of an external, independent audit.

This audit also covered the annual accounts of the Translation Centre for the Bodies of the European Union (CdT).

In the Court’s opinion, the Centre’s annual accounts presented “fairly, in all material respects”, its financial position as of 31 December 2009 and the results of its operations and its cash flows for the year then ended, in accordance with the provisions of its Financial Regulation.

The Court also stated that the transactions underlying the annual accounts of the Centre for the financial year ended 31 December 2009 were, “in all material respects, legal and regular ”.

The report again confirmed that the Centre’s 2009 final budget amounted to EUR 62.63 million of direct EU contribution. The number of staff employed by the Centre at the end of the year was 202.

The report also included comments on the Centre’s budgetary and financial management, together with its replies. The main comments are as follows:

The Court’s comments :

· non-conformity of the establishment, validation and booking of recovery orders for translations delivered to customers;

· shortcomings as regards the ABAC accounting system.

The Centre’s replies :

· a procedure for revenue management has been included in the Annual work programme 2010 of the Administration department;

· efforts have been made to have the SI2 system supported until the implementation of ABAC, including, but not limited to, seeking an external expertise by way of subcontracting.

Lastly, the Court of Auditor’s report contained a summary of the Centre’s activities in 2009 in the following areas:

· number of pages translated: 736 008;

· number of pages by languages: EU official languages: 730 565; other languages: 5 443;

· number of pages translated by freelances: 409 788 .

PURPOSE: presentation by the Commission of the consolidated annual accounts of the European Union for the financial year 2009, as part of the 2009 discharge procedure.

Analysis of the accounts of the Translation Centre for the Bodies of the European Union (CdT) .

CONTENT: this Commission document sets out the consolidated annual accounts of the European Union for the financial year 2009 as prepared on the basis of the information presented by the institutions, organisations and bodies of the EU, in accordance with Article 129 (2) of the Financial Regulation applicable to the EU’s General Budget, including the Translation Centre for the Bodies of the European Union (CdT).

In 2009, the tasks and budget of this agency were as follows:

· description of the Centre’s tasks : the Translation Centre for the Bodies of the European Union, which is located in Luxembourg, was established by Council Regulation (EC) No 2965/94 . The Centre’s role is to provide any European Union Institutions and Bodies, which call upon its services with the translation services necessary for their activities;

· centre’s budget for the 2009 financial year : the Foundation’s 2009 budget amounted to EUR 62.6 million, compared with EUR 59.9 million the previous year. The number of staff employed by the Centre at the end of the year was 202, as compared with 189 the previous year.

The complete version of the Centre’s final accounts may be found at the following address: http://cdt.europa.eu/EN/documentation/Pages/Revenue-and-expenditure-account-and-balance-sheet.aspx

PURPOSE: presentation by the Commission of the consolidated annual accounts of the European Union for the financial year 2009, as part of the 2009 discharge procedure.

Analysis of the accounts of the Translation Centre for the Bodies of the European Union (CdT) .

CONTENT: this Commission document sets out the consolidated annual accounts of the European Union for the financial year 2009 as prepared on the basis of the information presented by the institutions, organisations and bodies of the EU, in accordance with Article 129 (2) of the Financial Regulation applicable to the EU’s General Budget, including the Translation Centre for the Bodies of the European Union (CdT).

In 2009, the tasks and budget of this agency were as follows:

· description of the Centre’s tasks : the Translation Centre for the Bodies of the European Union, which is located in Luxembourg, was established by Council Regulation (EC) No 2965/94 . The Centre’s role is to provide any European Union Institutions and Bodies, which call upon its services with the translation services necessary for their activities;

· centre’s budget for the 2009 financial year : the Foundation’s 2009 budget amounted to EUR 62.6 million, compared with EUR 59.9 million the previous year. The number of staff employed by the Centre at the end of the year was 202, as compared with 189 the previous year.

The complete version of the Centre’s final accounts may be found at the following address: http://cdt.europa.eu/EN/documentation/Pages/Revenue-and-expenditure-account-and-balance-sheet.aspx