Changes from report parliamentary committee draft to plenary report

Change 9 under “3. MOTION FOR A EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT RESOLUTION”

Changed9.10. Notes that, at the end of 2022, the implementation rate for the JU’sJoint Undertaking’s administrative payment budget (Title 2) was low at 54 %; notes that, according to the JU’sJoint Undertaking’s report on budgetary and financial management, this was mainly due to IT and communication services provided during the last quarter of 2022 and to be paid in 2023, and reduced costs for the services provided by the Commission;

Change 10 under “3. MOTION FOR A EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT RESOLUTION”

Changed10.11. Notes, from the CAJoint JUUndertaking’s 2022 Consolidated Annual Activity Report, that in 2022, the CAJoint JUUndertaking published two open tender procedures of which the first one was launched to cover its own needs and the second one was launched on behalf of six Joint Undertakings as an inter-institutional call for tenders (Managed IT Services); notenotes in addition, that, at the beginning of 2022, the CAJUJoint Undertaking awarded and signed eleven inter-institutional framework service contracts in communicationcommunication, beingwhich were a result of the inter-institutional open tender procedure launched on behalf of three Joint Undertakings in 2021;

Change 11 under “3. MOTION FOR A EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT RESOLUTION”

Removed11. Notes that the JU establishment plan for 2022 contained a total of 44 statutory staff (TA, CA and SNE) with 40 posts filled at the end of the 2022; notes that the two SNEs posts were not filled in because the establishment plan for 2023 foresees only 41 posts and no SNEs;

Added12. Welcomes the first open call for proposals by the Joint Undertaking, resulting in 19 grant agreements by year-end, totalling EUR 654 million around three core thrusts: Hybrid Electric Regional aircraft, Hydrogen-powered aircraft and Ultra-Efficient Short and Medium Range aircraft; the call for proposals comprised 14 topics covering 13 Innovation Actions and one Coordination Support Action; in total 244 participants were selected across 24 different countries;

Added13. Welcomes the 20 projects to steer aviation towards a sustainable future; notes that the call for proposals has brought together a wide array of public and private partners, research centres and academia to find impactful solutions that can deliver sustainable aircraft and, climate-neutral aviation future, supported by a budget of EUR 654 million in Union grant funding;

Added14. Notes that the Joint Undertaking’s establishment plan for 2022 contained a total of 44 statutory staff (temporary agents, contract agents and seconded national experts) with 40 posts filled at the end of the 2022; notes that the two seconded national expert posts were not filled in because the establishment plan for 2023 foresees only 41 posts and no seconded national experts;

Change 12 under “3. MOTION FOR A EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT RESOLUTION”

Changed12.15. Notes that, for Horizon 2020 and Horizon Europe expenditure, the Common Audit Service of the Commission’s DGDirectorate-General RTDfor Research and Innovation (DG RTD) performed the ex-post audits; notes that for Horizon 2020 expenditure (clearings and final payments), the JUJoint Undertaking reported a representative error rate of 1.61,6 % and a residual error rate of 0.40,4 % and that for the Horizon Europe programme, ex-post audits have yet to be carried out, as the first interim payments are only expected in 2024;

Change 13 under “3. MOTION FOR A EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT RESOLUTION”

Changed13.16. Notes that to assess the operational payment controls of the JU,Joint Undertaking, the Court audited randomly sampled Horizon 2020 payments made in 2022, at the level of the final beneficiaries:beneficiaries; notes that, for one case, the Court found and quantified a serious error resulting from over claimedoverclaimed personnel cost because the beneficiary submitted a cost declaration based on budgeted staff costs;

Change 14 under “3. MOTION FOR A EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT RESOLUTION”

Changed14.17. NotesWelcomes that, at the end of 2022, the Joint Undertaking had developed and implemented a complete risk-based approach to ex-ante controls in line with the CICguidance guidance,of consideringthe Common Implementation Centre of the JU-specificCommission’s DG RTD, considering the risk circumstances;circumstances specific for the Joint Undertaking; notes, to this end, that the JUJoint Undertaking identified the most relevant risk criteria and designed, based on them, a risk-based monitoring approach; notes that such an approach allowed the JUJoint Undertaking to assess the risk level of each project and beneficiary during the main phases of project implementation, such as grant agreement preparation, grant agreement amendment, reporting, and payment; notes, in this regard, that the JUJoint Undertaking also drew up internal guidelines on their risk-based approach and trained and guided its staff on applying it properly and consistently;

Change 15 under “3. MOTION FOR A EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT RESOLUTION”

Changed15.18. Notes that the Court’s detailed analysis of a sample of the JU’sJoint Undertaking’s reinforced monitoring cases revealed several weaknesses, which prevented their effective and efficient monitoring; notes that upon expiry of the defined due date, the reinforced monitoring flag was neither renewed nor closed and that the risk level was not reassessed by the officer after the implementation of the control actions;

Change 16 under “3. MOTION FOR A EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT RESOLUTION”

Changed17.20. Stresses, as does the Court, that the importance for the JUJoint Undertaking to implement their specific risk-based approach to grant management has increased under Horizon Europe;

Change 17 under “3. MOTION FOR A EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT RESOLUTION”

Changed18.21. Underlines that the beneficiary and/or project structure of the Joint Undertaking is changing significantly under the Horizon Europe programme, such as the increased number of SMEs,small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), newcomers and larger consortia, as well as the requirement to only use open call procedures for Horizon Europe activities and that, as a result, the risk factors identified in previous programmes may no longer be relevant and new risk factors may emerge;

Change 18 under “3. MOTION FOR A EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT RESOLUTION”

Added22. Welcomes that in September 2022, Clean Aviation became a founding member of the Alliance for Zero-Emission Aviation (AZEA), which brings together public and private stakeholders from across the aeronautical sector to support the roll-out of hydrogen-powered and electric aircraft;

Added23. Notes the CS2 programme’s transition to the delivery phase and acknowledges the increased workload in 2022 due to simultaneous management of several CS2 projects alongside the launch of the CA programme;

Added24. Notes an independent study revealing a EUR 8,6 billion estimated socio-economic benefit for Europe from Clean Sky 2 Programme; further highlights the study’s findings that the Clean Aviation programme’s Strategic Research and Innovation Agenda is both “resilient” and “fit for purpose”; points out that this would apply even in a wide range of possible economic scenarios, potential developments and structural changes to the aviation system;

Added25. Calls to expand and foster integration of climate-neutral aviation research and innovation value chains, including academia, research organisations, industry and SMEs, exploiting synergies with national and European programmes, while facilitating the uptake of industry-related skills across the value chain;

Change 19 under “3. MOTION FOR A EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT RESOLUTION”

Changed19.26. Notes that “observations” in the Joint Undertakings specific annual reports are in fact “not timed recommendations” by the Court; notes that ECAthe Court of Auditors annually follows-up on those observations by assessing their status as “open” or “closed”;