Changes between two versions
What changed between the plenary report and the adopted text
From · plenary report· 12 Mar 2024
on discharge in respect of the implementation of the budget of the Europe’s Rail Joint Undertaking for the financial year 2022
+6 added · −8 removed · 13 changed paragraphs, packaging included.
Part 4 of 4: Paragraphs 101–108
44. Notes that the EU-Rail Joint Undertaking would like to underline that the risk of errors in Horizon 2020 grant payments was highly mitigated by the use of lump-sums;
Change 12
Changed:45. Notes, in particular, that the EU-Rail Joint Undertaking ensured reasonable lump sums by using financial experts during the call evaluation procedures and carefully investigated and negotiated all cost items questioned by the financial experts during the grant agreement preparation phase, in accordance with Commission Decision C(2017) 7151C(2017)7151 of 27 October 2017 on authorising the use of reimbursement on the basis of a lump sum for the eligible costs of actions under the Horizon 2020 Framework Programme;
6 unchanged paragraphs
46. Notes, with satisfaction, that the Joint undertaking, while having embedded procedures for the ex-ante identification of high-risk factors for Horizon 2020 grant agreements, it recognises that these procedures could be better aligned with the Commission guidance on risk-based ex-ante controls;
Follow-up of previous years’ observations
47. Notes that observations in the EU-Rail Joint Undertaking’s specific annual reports are in fact “not timed recommendations” by the Court; notes that ECA annually follows-up on those observations by assessing their status as “open” or “closed”;
48. Notes that, as regards two Court’s observations for 2021, one is still open, it concerned the low implementation rate for the EU-Rail Joint Undertaking’s 2021 operational payment budget available, including operational unused and reallocated appropriations (fell to 61 % (compared to 2020: 76 %));
49. Notes that this situation was mainly caused by the poor quality of the beneficiaries’ technical reports and the need of additional evidence confirming the achievement of the project results and the fact that the delay of a single beneficiary affects the payment of the whole lump-sum amount;
50. Appreciates that, in 2022, the EU-Rail Joint Undertaking developed an action plan to improve the beneficiaries’ financial reporting, which is important in particular for reimbursements on the basis of a lump-sum for the eligible costs of actions where the delay of a single beneficiary affects the payment of the whole lump-sum amount.