Changes from report parliamentary committee draft to plenary report

Change 1

Changed1. Grants the Director of the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control discharge in respect of the implementation of the Centre’s budget for the financial year 2022 / Postpones its decision on granting the Director of the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control discharge in respect of the implementation of the Centre’s budget for the financial year 2022;

Change 2 under “2. PROPOSAL FOR A EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT DECISION”

Changed1. Approves the closure of the accounts of the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control for the financial year 2022 / Postpones the closure of the accounts of the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control for the financial year 2022;

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

ChangedA. whereas, according to its statement of revenue and expenditure, the final budget of the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control (the ‘Centre’) for the financial year 2022 was EUR 99 872 000, representing ana decrease of 40,59 % compared to 2021, as a result of changes in European Health Emergency Preparedness and Response Authority (HERA) grants; whereas the budget of theCentre’s Agencybudget derives mainly from the Union budget;

Change 4 under “3. MOTION FOR A EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT RESOLUTION”

ChangedB. whereas the Court of Auditors (the ‘Court’), in its report on the Centre’s annual accounts for the financial year 2022 (the ‘Court’s report’), states that it has obtained reasonable assurance that the Centre’s annual accounts are reliable and that the underlying transactions as regards revenue are legal and regular; whereas the Court audited four grant agreements with a total value of EUR 7,9 million and detected that three of those included VAT to the value of EUR 0,6 million (8,1 %) among the eligible costs; whereas the beneficiaries were engaging in activities as public authorities and consequently VAT is not an eligible cost under Article 186(4)(c)186(4), second subparagraph, point (c), of the Financial Regulation; whereas the estimated total amount of non-compliant expenditure based on the rate and amount of VAT found in the sample described above represents 2,8 % of the total payment appropriations available in 2022 which exceeds the materiality threshold set for the audit and, consequently, resulted in a qualified opinion on the legality and regularity of payments underlying the Centre’s accounts; whereas, except for the matter explained above, the Court concluded that the revenue and payments underlying the accounts of the Centre for the financial year that ended 31 December 2022 are legal and regular in all material respects;

Change 5 under “3. MOTION FOR A EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT RESOLUTION”

Changed1. Notes with satisfaction that the budget monitoring efforts during the financial year 2022 resulted in a budget implementation rate of current year commitment appropriations of 98,86%,98,86 %, representing an increase of 0,49 % compared to 2021; notes that the current year payment appropriations execution rate was 73,61 %, representing aan increase of 9,53 % compared to the previous year;

Change 6 under “3. MOTION FOR A EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT RESOLUTION”

Added2. Calls on the Commission to grant to the Centre the necessary resources to fulfil the objectives of the Strategy 2021-2027 and to implement the Centre’s revised mandate in accordance with Regulation (EU) 2022/2370;

Change 7 under “3. MOTION FOR A EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT RESOLUTION”

Removed2. Notes that the Centre delivered 89 % of the outputs planned in its Single Programming Document 2022–2024; notes that 8 % of the planned outputs were postponed, while 3 % were delayed or cancelled by the end of the year; takes note that most of the outputs that have been postponed or delayed were dependant on the adoption and publishing of the amended legal text of Centre mandate, which took place in November 2022;

Added3. Recalls that the mission of the Centre is to identify, assess and communicate current and emerging threats to human health posed by infectious diseases and works within the six following fields, namely surveillance, outbreak preparedness and response support, scientific advice, microbiology surveillance, public health training and communication;

Removed3. Notes that throughout 2022, for the third consecutive year, ECDC maintained its public health emergency (PHE) plan in response to the continuing COVID-19 pandemic; takes note that in June the PHE level was gradually downgraded from Level 2 (Acute Phase) to Level 1 (Maintenance Phase);

Added4. Notes that the Centre delivered 89 % of the outputs planned in its Single Programming Document 2022–2024; notes that 8 % of the planned outputs were postponed, while 3 % were delayed or cancelled by the end of the year; takes note that most of the outputs that have been postponed or delayed were dependant on the adoption and publication of the Centre’s revised mandate, which took place at the end of 2022; calls on the Centre to analyse the postponed outputs and report back to the discharge authority about its plan to deliver them;

Removed4. Notes that following Russia’s aggression in Ukraine and the influx of refugees fleeing the country, the Centre worked with the authorities of the five countries surrounding Ukraine providing technical and operational response activities within its remit, based on identified needs; takes note that in the second half of the year, the focus shifted from operational response to more medium-/longer-term and strategic response actions and the Centre’s experts were deployed to Poland and Romania in support of national authorities and WHO assisting Ukrainian displaced populations;

Added5. Notes that throughout 2022, for the third consecutive year, the Centre maintained its public health emergency (PHE) plan in response to the continuing COVID-19 pandemic; takes note that in June the PHE level was gradually downgraded from Level 2 (Acute Phase) to Level 1 (Maintenance Phase); is of the opinion that the Centre acted speedily and efficiently throughout the entire period of the pandemic; considers that there could be a larger role for the Centre in shaping the European crisis response agenda for the future;

Change 8 under “3. MOTION FOR A EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT RESOLUTION”

Removed6. Welcomes that the Centre continued its efforts towards delivering efficiency gains with the introduction of new methodologies, including the automation of support and operational processes; notes that during the year, four new administrative processes were automated through electronic workflows, a new cost-effective solution for the electronic workflows platform was also implemented to replace K2. An overall analysis of the use of the electronic workflows already shows that a significant number of users have adopted them and that they have markedly reduced processing time, due to the elimination of unnecessary steps, while ensuring legal compliance;

Added9. Recalls the importance of increasing the digitalisation of the Centre in terms of internal operation and management but also in order to speed up the digitalisation of procedures; stresses the need for the Centre to continue to be proactive in this regard in order to avoid a digital gap between the agencies; draws attention, however, to the need to take all the necessary security measures to avoid any risk to the online security of the information processed and insists on stepping up action against cyberattacks or infiltration attempts particularly originating from Russia or China;

Added10. Welcomes the fact that the Centre continued its efforts towards delivering efficiency gains with the introduction of new methodologies, including the automation of support and operational processes; notes that during the year, four new administrative processes were automated through electronic workflows and a new cost-effective solution for the electronic workflows platform was also implemented to replace K2; notes that an overall analysis of the use of the electronic workflows already shows that a significant number of users have adopted them and that they have markedly reduced processing time, due to the elimination of unnecessary steps, while ensuring legal compliance;