PURPOSE: to grant discharge to the European Joint Undertaking for ITER and the Development of Fusion Energy in respect of the implementation of the Agency's budget for the financial year 2009.

NON-LEGISLATIVE ACT: Decision 2011/608/EU of the European Parliament on discharge in respect of the implementation of the budget of the European Joint Undertaking for ITER and the Development of Fusion Energy for the financial year 2009.

CONTENT: with the present decision, the European Parliament grants discharge to the Director of the European Joint Undertaking for ITER and the Development of Fusion Energy 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 468 votes to 124, with 44 abstentions, a decision to grant discharge to the Director of the European Joint Undertaking for ITER and the Development of Fusion Energy in respect of the implementation of the Joint Undertaking's budget for the financial year 2009. The decision to grant discharge is also an approval of the closure of the accounts of ITER.

Noting that the Court of Auditors stated that it has obtained reasonable assurances that the annual accounts for the financial year 2009 are reliable and that the underlying transactions are legal and regular, Parliament adopted a resolution by 487 votes to 120, with 23 abstentions in which it makes number of recommendations that need to be taken into account when the discharge is granted:

implementation of the budget: Parliament notes that the Joint Undertaking final 2009 budget was EUR 173.6 million and its overall utilisation rate for payment appropriations was 65.3%. It recognises that the Joint Undertaking is still in a start-up period and that the underspending mostly relates to delays in the progress of the Euratom fusion programme, as was also reported by the Court of Auditors in 2008. It also notes that year-end bank deposits totalling EUR 42 million represent a breach of the budgetary principle of equilibrium. It considers it to be important, in order to define the application of this derogation from the general budgetary principle of equilibrium, to specify the conditions; presentation of accounts: Parliament calls on the Joint Undertaking to harmonise its Accounts under the guidance of the Commission and acknowledges that, unlike other EU Joint Undertakings , ITER is entirely publicly funded;

internal control systems: Parliament urges the Joint Undertaking to complete the implementation of its internal controls and financial information system. It also calls on it to include in its Financial Rules a specific reference to the powers of the Internal Audit Service of the Commission as its internal auditor. In view of the size of its budget and the complexity of its tasks, the Joint Undertaking should consider establishing an audit committee; Financial Regulation: lastly, Parliament urges the Joint Undertaking to amend its Financial Regulation in order to integrate the Court of Auditors' recommendations on a certain number of points.

The Committee on Budgetary Control adopted the report by Georgios STAVRAKAKIS (S&D, EL) on discharge to be granted to the Director of the European Joint Undertaking for ITER and the Development of Fusion Energy in respect of the implementation of the Joint Undertaking's budget for the financial year 2009.

Noting that the Joint Undertakings’s annual accounts for the financial year 2009 are reliable, and the underlying transactions are legal and regular, MEPs approve the closure of the Joint Undertaking’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 ):

implementation of the budget: Members notes that the Joint Undertaking final 2009 budget was EUR 173 600 000 and its overall utilisation rate for payment appropriations was 65.3%. They recognise that the Joint Undertaking is still in a start-up period and that the underspending mostly relates to delays in the progress of the Euratom fusion programme, as was also reported by the Court of Auditors in 2008. However, they also note that year-end bank deposits totalling EUR 42 000 000 represent a breach of the budgetary principle of equilibrium. They consider it to be important, in order to define the application of this derogation from the general budgetary principle of equilibrium, to specify the conditions; presentation of accounts : Members call on the Joint Undertaking to harmonise its Accounts under the guidance of the Commission and acknowledge that, unlike other EU Joint Undertakings , ITER is entirely publicly funded; internal control systems : Members urge the Joint Undertaking to complete the implementation of its internal controls and financial information system. They also call on it to include in its Financial Rules a specific reference to the powers of the Internal Audit Service of the Commission as its internal auditor. They consider, in particular, that the role of the Commission as internal auditor should be to advise the Joint Undertaking on how to deal with risks, by issuing independent opinions and by issuing recommendations for improving the conditions of implementation of operations. In view of the size of its budget and the complexity of its tasks, the Joint Undertaking should consider establishing an audit committee; Financial Regulation : lastly, Members urge the Joint Undertaking to amend its Financial Regulation in order to integrate the Court of Auditors' recommendations on a certain number of points.

Based on the observations contained in the revenue and expenditure account and the balance sheet of the European Joint Undertaking for ITER and the Development of Fusion Energy for the financial year 2009, as well as on the Court of Auditor’s report and the Joint Undertaking’s replies to the Court’s observations, the Council recommends that the Parliament grant the Director of the Joint Undertaking 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 Joint Undertaking'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 Joint Undertaking'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:

budget implementation : the Council calls on the Joint Undertaking to pay due attention to proper budget implementation, thus avoiding underspending, and to accurate presentation of the accounts reflecting its members' contributions; deficiencies of the internal control systems : the Council notes with concern the Court's findings on the various deficiencies of the internal control systems, in particular as regards their implementation, the assessment of the management systems, the separation of financial and operational functions and the authorisation of financial transactions. It calls upon the Joint Undertaking to remedy these shortcomings without delay; completion of the ITER’s Financial Regulation : the Council also urges the Joint Undertaking to complete its Financial Regulation in order to reinforce its financial framework. This is particularly important in the area of internal audit, where some inconsistencies as regards the prerogatives of the Commission's internal auditor persist; membership contributions : the Council calls for special attention to be given to the question of late payment of membership contributions, in order to avoid them to occur in the future; governance : the Council urges the Joint Undertaking to implement the Court's observations with a view to improving its governance and achieving cost savings.

PURPOSE: presentation by the Court of Auditors of its report on the annual accounts of the European Joint Undertaking for ITER for the financial year 2009, together with the Joint Undertaking’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 European Joint Undertaking for ITER (also called F4E “Fusion for Energy”).

In the Court’s opinion, F4E’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 F4E for the financial year ended 31 December 2009 were, “in all material respects, legal and regular ”.

The report again confirmed that total resources deemed necessary for the period 2007 to 2041 were EUR 9 653 million. The total contribution from Euratom was set at EUR 7 649 million, of which a maximum of 15% for administrative expenditure. Other resources consist of contributions from the ITER host State (France), the annual membership contributions, voluntary contributions from members other than Euratom, and additional resources to be received under terms approved by the Governing Board. The Court draws attention to the need for substantially increased resources for the ITER project

The report also included comments on F4E’s budgetary and financial management, together with its replies. The main comments are as follows:

The Court’s comments :

shortcomings in the implementation of the joint enterprise’s budget (the overall utilisation rate for payment appropriations was 65.3%); shortcomings in the internal control and financial information systems (at the end of 2009, several of F4E’s key activities had not been sufficiently formalised and appropriate tools for the management of operational contracts were not in place); shortcomings in the internal audit system; late payment of membership contributions; shortcomings in the financial control systems.

The Agency’s replies:

in 2010, an improved payment profile is being implemented with more rigorous reporting and control mechanisms on budget execution;

· throughout 2009 and 2010, substantial progress has been achieved in the development of the non- financial control framework, especially concerning: processes and procedures, business continuity, document management and internal audit. A contract management tool is under consideration;

regarding membership contributions, the Commission presented guidelines which should improve the situation very shortly; as regards financial controls, F4E’s internal audit now complies with the main financial management standards since its reorganisation, which took place in April 2009.

Lastly, the Court of Auditor’s report contained a summary of F4E’s activities in 2009 in the following areas:

the award of contracts for the ITER project; the award of grants and signature of various administrative contracts; the building up of the organisation (recruitment of 58 official or temporary agents, as well as 34 contractual agents).

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 European Joint Undertaking for ITER.

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 European Joint Undertaking for ITER and the Development of Fusion Energy.

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

description of joint undertakings’s tasks: the joint undertaking is located in Barcelona, while the main fusion facilities are to be developed at Cadarache, in France. It was set up under Council Decision 2007/198/Euratom , for a period of 35 years. Its tasks include providing the contribution of Euratom to the ITER International Fusion Energy Organisation, as well as complementary joint fusion research activities with Japan for the rapid development of fusion energy; the joint undertaking’s budget for the 2009 financial year: the total contribution from Euratom for the period 2007 to 2041 was set at EUR 9 653 million. For 2009, the budget allocation was EUR 173.61 million in payment appropriations.

The complete version of the joint undertaking’s final accounts may be found at the following address:

http://fusionforenergy.europa.eu/mediacorner/annualreport.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 European Joint Undertaking for ITER.

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 European Joint Undertaking for ITER and the Development of Fusion Energy.

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

description of joint undertakings’s tasks: the joint undertaking is located in Barcelona, while the main fusion facilities are to be developed at Cadarache, in France. It was set up under Council Decision 2007/198/Euratom , for a period of 35 years. Its tasks include providing the contribution of Euratom to the ITER International Fusion Energy Organisation, as well as complementary joint fusion research activities with Japan for the rapid development of fusion energy; the joint undertaking’s budget for the 2009 financial year: the total contribution from Euratom for the period 2007 to 2041 was set at EUR 9 653 million. For 2009, the budget allocation was EUR 173.61 million in payment appropriations.

The complete version of the joint undertaking’s final accounts may be found at the following address:

http://fusionforenergy.europa.eu/mediacorner/annualreport.aspx