What changed between the draft committee report and the plenary report

Changed:1. Grants the Executive Director of the Clean Hydrogen Joint Undertaking discharge in respect of the implementation of the Joint Undertaking’s budget for the financial year 2024 /Postpones its decision on granting the Executive Director of the Clean Hydrogen Joint Undertaking discharge in respect of the implementation of the joint undertaking’s budget for the financial year 2024;

Changed:1. Approves the closure of the accounts of the Clean Hydrogen Joint Undertaking for the financial year 2024 / Postpones the closure of the accounts of the Clean Hydrogen Joint Undertaking for the financial year 2024;

Changed:1. Grants the Executive Director of the Europe’s Rail Joint Undertaking discharge in respect of the implementation of the Joint Undertaking’s budget for the financial year 2024 / Postpones its decision on granting the Executive Director of the Europe’s Rail Joint Undertaking discharge in respect of the implementation of the joint undertaking’s budget for the financial year 2024;

Changed:1. Approves the closure of the accounts of the Europe’s Rail Joint Undertaking for the financial year 2024 / Postpones the closure of the accounts of the Europe’s Rail Joint Undertaking for the financial year 2024;

Changed:1. Grants the Executive Director of the European Cybersecurity Industrial, Technology and Research Competence Centre discharge in respect of the implementation of the Joint Undertaking’s budget for the financial year 2024 / Postpones its decision on granting the Executive Director of the European Cybersecurity Industrial, Technology and Research Competence Centre discharge in respect of the implementation of the joint undertaking’s budget for the financial year 2024;

Changed:1. Approves the closure of the accounts of the European Cybersecurity Industrial, Technology and Research Competence Centre for the financial year 2024 / Postpones the closure of the accounts of the European Cybersecurity Industrial, Technology and Research Competence Centre for the financial year 2024;

Changed:1. Grants the Executive Director of the European High-Performance Computing Joint Undertaking discharge in respect of the implementation of the Joint Undertaking’s budget for the financial year 2024 / Postpones its decision on granting the Executive Director of the European High-Performance Computing Joint Undertaking discharge in respect of the implementation of the joint undertaking’s budget for the financial year 2024;

Changed:1. Approves the closure of the accounts of the European High-Performance Computing Joint Undertaking for the financial year 2024 / Postpones the closure of the accounts of the European High-Performance Computing Joint Undertaking for the financial year 2024;

Changed:1. Grants the Director of the European Joint Undertaking for ITER and the Development of Fusion Energy discharge in respect of the implementation of the Joint Undertaking’s budget for the financial year 2024;/ Postpones its decision on granting the Director of the European Joint Undertaking for ITER and the Development of Fusion Energy discharge in respect of the implementation of the joint undertaking’s budget for the financial year 2024;

Changed:1. Approves the closure of the accounts of the European Joint Undertaking for ITER and the Development of Fusion Energy for the financial year 2024;/ Postpones the closure of the accounts of the European Joint Undertaking for ITER and the Development of Fusion Energy for the financial year 2024;

Changed:1. Grants the Executive Director of the Global Health EDCTP3 Joint Undertaking discharge in respect of the implementation of the Joint Undertaking’s budget for the financial year 2024;/Postpones its decision on granting the Executive Director of the Global Health EDCTP3 Joint Undertaking discharge in respect of the implementation of the joint undertaking’s budget for the financial year 2024;

Changed:1. Approves the closure of the accounts of the Global Health EDCTP3 Joint Undertaking for the financial year 2024 / Postpones the closure of the accounts of the Global Health EDCTP3 Joint Undertaking for the financial year 2024;

Changed:1. Grants the Executive Director of the Innovative Health Initiative Joint Undertaking discharge in respect of the implementation of the Joint Undertaking’s budget for the financial year 2024 /Postpones its decision on granting the Executive Director of the Innovative Health Initiative Joint Undertaking discharge in respect of the implementation of the joint undertaking’s budget for the financial year 2024;

Changed:1. Approves the closure of the accounts of the Innovative Health Initiative Joint Undertaking for the financial year 2024 /Postpones the closure of the accounts of the Innovative Health Initiative Joint Undertaking for the financial year 2024;

Changed:1. Grants the Executive Director of the Chips Joint Undertaking discharge in respect of the implementation of the Joint Undertaking’s budget for the financial year 2024;/Postpones its decision on granting the Executive Director of the Chips Joint Undertaking discharge in respect of the implementation of the joint undertaking’s budget for the financial year 2024;

Changed:1. Approves the closure of the accounts of the Chips Joint Undertaking for the financial year 2024;/Postpones the closure of the accounts of the Chips Joint Undertaking for the financial year 2024;

Changed:1. Grants the Executive Director of the Single European Sky ATM Research 3 Joint Undertaking discharge in respect of the implementation of the Joint Undertaking’s budget for the financial year 2024 / Postpones its decision on granting the Executive Director of the Single European Sky ATM Research 3 Joint Undertaking discharge in respect of the implementation of the joint undertaking’s budget for the financial year 2024;

Changed:1. Approves the closure of the accounts of the Single European Sky ATM Research 3 Joint Undertaking for the financial year 2024 / Postpones the closure of the accounts of the Single European Sky ATM Research 3 Joint Undertaking for the financial year 2024;

Changed:1. Grants the Executive Director of the Smart Networks and Services Joint Undertaking discharge in respect of the implementation of the Joint Undertaking’s budget for the financial year 2024 / Postpones its decision on granting the Executive Director of the Smart Networks and Services Joint Undertaking discharge in respect of the implementation of the joint undertaking’s budget for the financial year 2024;

Changed:1. Approves the closure of the accounts of the Smart Networks and Services Joint Undertaking for the financial year 2024 / Postpones the closure of the accounts of the Smart Networks and Services Joint Undertaking for the financial year 2024;

Changed:1. Notes thatWelcomes the role of the Joint Undertakings should be toin supportsupporting research and innovation activities in the areas of transport, energy, health, circular bio-based industries, key electronic components, artificial intelligence and supercomputing, cybersecurity and network systems; urges the Joint Undertakings to facilitate the conversion of scientific knowledge into market-ready innovations and to put in place mechanisms ensuring that their activities contribute to strengthening Europe’s global strategic autonomy, sustainability,competitiveness, securitysecurity, including cybersecurity, environmental sustainability and competitiveness;climate goals in order to protect critical research, data and infrastructure; calls on the Joint Undertakings to promote regular cybersecurity training to strengthen resilience against cyber threats;

Changed:3. Stresses that, in the context of the next MFF for the period 2028–2034, Joint UndertakingswillUndertakings will remain instrumental in underpinning the Union’s strategic autonomy, sustainability, security and competitiveness; therefore calls on the Commission and the budgetary authority to ensure that Joint Undertakings are endowed with sufficient, stable and long-term financing under the future MFF, commensurate with their expanding responsibilities and their role as key drivers of innovation in strategic sectors such as energy, digital technologies, semiconductors, clean energy, health and defence-related research;

Changed:4. Notes that Joint Undertakings are based on public-private partnerships that steer investment and leverage public and private funds to support common goals; recalls, in this regard, that the contributions of private members must meet established targets in order for such partnerships to remain mutually beneficial; points out that, due to insufficient contributions from private members, some Joint Undertakings face financial difficulties in achieving their objectives; calls furthermore on the Joint Undertakings whichand allowthe Commission to avoid excessive reliance on in-kind contributions to additional activities (IKAA) as means of meeting targets, and to avoid,ensure wheretheir possible,appropriate, antransparent excessiveand relianceproportionate onuse, given that such contributionsactivities inare orderoutside the Joint Undertakings’ work programmes and budgets and are not audited by the Court; urges, therefore, strengthened transparency and Commission oversight of IKAA reporting and validation methodologies, and prioritisation of contributions linked to meetcompetitively establishedawarded targets;Joint Undertaking-funded actions;

Changed:(a) the total available budget in 2024 for the Single European Sky ATM Research 3 Joint Undertaking amounted to EUR 112,7 million in commitment appropriations compared to EUR 111,2 million in 2023 and EUR 110,6 million in payment appropriations compared to EUR 241,5 million in 2023; understands thatthat, according to the report on budgetary and financial management of the Single European Sky ATM Research 3 Joint Undertaking, its total budget execution rate for the financial year 2024 reached 42 % for commitment appropriations and 36 % for payment appropriations; notes the fact that these low rates were anticipated by the Joint Undertaking and stemmed mainly from the operational expenditure; reiterates its concern from last year on the low implementation rate of payment appropriations dedicated to infrastructure and operating expenditure, which further dropped to 45 % in 2024, compared to 55 % in 2023; further notes that in 2024, EUR 3,1 million of unused administrative payment appropriations were carried over to the 2025 budget; additionally, EUR 11,3 million in unused administrative payment appropriations were set aside in a reserve for planned future administrative expenditure; echoes the Court’s recommendation that when planning its administrative payments budget for 2027, the Single European Sky ATM Research 3 should proactively take account of the volume of unused administrative appropriations already accumulated by the end of 2024;

Changed:(b) the total available budget in 2024 for the Clean Aviation Joint Undertaking amounted to EUR 172,0 million in commitment appropriations compared to EUR 269 million in 2023 and EUR 302,6 million in payment appropriations compared to EUR 486,0 million in 2023; understands furthermore that according to the report on budgetary and financial management of the Clean Aviation Joint Undertaking, its total budget execution rate for the financial year 2024 reached 99,9 % for commitment appropriations and 84,4 % for payment appropriations (excluding the unused appropriations),appropriations); indicatingnotes that therethe werelower nopayment severerate issuesof related84.4 % was mostly due to services delivered but not yet invoiced and frontloaded for 2025 activities; acknowledges the overall good pace of implementation of the budget; nevertheless stresses the low execution rate of payment appropriations dedicated to infrastructure and operating expenditure and Horizon Europe payments budget which reached only 67 % and 52 % respectively in 2024; notes that the Clean Aviation Joint Undertaking is piloting the European Commission’s new budgetary, accounting, and financial system (SUMMA) which is not yet fully operational; calls, in this regard, on theonthe Joint Undertaking to ensure the reliability of the data through appropriate manual processing and additional verification controls where necessary;

Changed:(g) the total available budget in 2024 for the Europe's Rail Joint Undertaking amounted to EUR 114,6 million in commitment appropriations compared to EUR 102,6 million in 2023 and EUR 120,8 million in payment appropriations compared to EUR 120,3 million in 2023; understands that according to the report on budgetary and financial management of the Europe's Rail Joint Undertaking, its total budget execution rate for the financial year 2024 reached 70 % for commitment appropriations and 64 % for payment appropriations; acknowledges that the 2024 implementation rate for EU-Rail’s active operational budget reached 99,9 % in commitment appropriations and 87,9 % in payment appropriations; nevertheless is concerned by the overall low execution rate; notes the explanation of the Joint Undertaking for these low rates, relating to the need to preserve a budget to finance the second wave of flagship areas’ projects whose grant agreements will be signed in 2026; nevertheless is concerned by the low execution rate and calls on the Joint Undertaking to ensure a healthy pace of execution for each section of its budget; emphasises, in this regard, the importance of maintaining support for the Joint Undertaking and of ensuring the proper implementation of its activities, givenin light of rail’s comparative advantages in terms of environmental performance, land use, energy consumption and safety;

Changed:(j) the total available budget in 2024 for the Global Health EDCTP3 Joint Undertaking amounted to EUR 224,6 million in commitment appropriations compared to EUR 136,4 million in 2023 and EUR 80,3 million in payment appropriations compared to EUR 2,2 million in 2023; understands that according to the report on budgetary and financial management of the Global Health EDCTP3 Joint Undertaking, its total budget execution rate for the financial year 2024 reached 98 % for commitment appropriations and 96 % for payment appropriations indicating that there were no severe issues related to the pace of implementation of the budget; notesnotes, howeverhowever, the low rate of payment appropriations for part of its administrative budget, namely the infrastructure and operating costs, which only reached 37 %;% of payment appropriations; notes the explanation of the Joint Undertaking and calls on it when planning its administrative payments budget for 2027 to take measures to ensure better implementation of this part of its administrative budget;budget, including by proactively taking account of the volume of unused administrative appropriations already accumulated by the end of 2024;

Changed:(l) the total available budget in 2024 for the European Joint Undertaking for ITER and the Development of Fusion Energy amounted to EUR 811,8 million in commitment appropriations compared to EUR 807 million in 20242023 and EUR 693,7 million in payment appropriations compared to EUR 631,5 million in 2023; understands furthermore that according to the report on budgetary and financial management of the European Joint Undertaking for ITER and the Development of Fusion Energy, its total budget execution rate for the financial year 2024 reached 92 % for commitment appropriations and 93 % for payment appropriations, indicating that there were no longer serious issues related to the pace of implementation of the budget;budget as compared to 73 % execution rate in 2023 for commitment appropriations; notes an improvement in the rate of implementation of operational expenditure which reached 92 % in commitment appropriations and 93 % for payment appropriations compared to 2023 when the execution rate of commitment appropriations dedicated to operational expenditure was 70 %;

Changed:22. Echoes the Court’s concerns about the persistently low use of appropriations by certain Joint Undertakings in the implementation of their operational and administrative budgets; calls on the Joint Undertakings concerned to accelerate the adoption and effective implementation of corrective measures in full compliance with the Court’s recommendations in order to prevent the recurrence of these identified shortcomings; stresses that the accumulation of unused appropriations creates cash surpluses that cannot be redeployed to other Union activities and programmes; considers that persistently increasing cash surpluses reflect weaknesses in budget realism and programme delivery capacity; calls on the Commission to require an annual plan for surplus reduction for Joint Undertakings with persistent surpluses, including measurable milestones and a clear link to delayed implementation factors; expresses particular concern with:with regard to the following:

Changed:(c) the situation of the European High-Performance Computing Joint Undertaking, which did not improve compared to last year and whosefor which contributions from private members under Horizon Europe and Digital Europe at the end of 2024 stood unchanged at 0.3 % of the 2021-2027 MFF target of EUR 900 million; stresses once again that reaching contribution targets should be considered as a duty of the Joint Undertaking; reiterates the previous year's recommendation that the European High-Performance Computing Joint Undertaking should work closely with the Commission in the process of reassessing the current target for private members’ contributions under Horizon Europe and Digital Europe in order to ensure its feasibility; calls on the Commission to reassess the current target and welcomes the ongoing process in this regard;

Changed:25. Notes that the Court did not signal in its report for the year 2024 specific issues related to procurement and tenders; nevertheless, stresses the importance of procurement as a tool to advance policy objectives such as strategic autonomy, innovation, environmental and social agenda;agenda, callscompetition onand legal certainty; encourages the Joint Undertakings to strengthen in their procurements the inclusion of strategic criteria on social responsibility, lifecycle sustainability, security of supply, cybersecurity robustness, resilience ofand supply,innovation etc;capacity; congratulates some Joint Undertakings which are already implementing such practices (e.g. the European Joint Undertaking for ITER and the Development of Fusion Energy which in 2024 included sustainability requirements in more than 50 % of its procurements);

Changed:27. UrgesCalls on all Joint Undertakings to reinforce their actions to advance gender equality at all levels, with a view to mainstreammainstreaming gender balance across all activities related to procurement, grants and tenders,tenders in line with the principles of merit, excellence and toequal justifyopportunities, anywhile failureensuring tothat achieveperformance genderis balance;duly considered in selection and funding decisions;

Removed:28. Urges all Joint Undertakings to mainstream geographical balance in all procurement and grant procedures and to duly justify cases where adequate geographical distribution is not ensured;

Added:28. Urges all Joint Undertakings to mainstream geographical balance in all procurement and grant procedures, while preserving competition, quality and excellence, and to duly justify cases where adequate distribution is not achieved; calls for specific attention to be paid to Member States and regions with lower income levels or limited innovation capacity in order to support these areas and ensure that Joint Undertakings contribute to reducing development disparities, while guaranteeing that technological and energy transitions are carried out in a fair and just manner and preserving regional cohesion; stresses that funding should continue to deliver clear European added value, with particular consideration for SMEs;

Changed:29. Stresses the need for a fair and equitable geographical distribution of the Jointfunding Undertaking’sof funding,the Joint Undertakings, with particular attention to regions with lower innovation capacity and to SMEs;SMEs, while preserving open competition and ensuring that funded projects deliver clear European added value;

Changed:31. Expresses seriousTakes concernnotes withof the level of perceived dissatisfaction among staff within the European Joint Undertaking for ITER and the Development of Fusion Energy, as revealed by a recent staff survey;survey and its implications for staff well-being; stresses that members of staff should be able to work in a physically and psychologically safe environment; further underlines the importance of retaining institutional knowledge; in this regard, notes with regret the continued high reliance of the Joint Undertaking on external service providers; calls on the Joint Undertaking to promptly take measures to address boththese issues;

Changed:32. Repeats its call for a coherentcoherent, transparent and fair staffing policy across all Joint Undertakings, ensuring inclusive working conditions, career development, work-life balance, and mental health support; urgeswelcomes the adoptionuse of measuresflexible working arrangements and highlights that it should aim to limitensure temporaryorganisational flexibility meeting the staffing needs of the Joint Undertakings; urges to improve the ability to attract highly specialised talent while ensuring decent and precariousstable contractsworking conditions and promotepromoting transparent internal career advancement;

Changed:34. Calls on all Joint Undertakings to adopt concrete measures to enhanceencourage genderbalanced balancerepresentation in leadership and decision-making positions, includingin thefull establishmentrespect of gendercompetence-based balanceselection targetsprocedures, and regularto monitoringmonitor ofprogress progress;in a proportionate and transparent manner; stresses the need toimportance tackleof genderaddressing pay gaps and to ensurepromoting equal opportunities for career progression; highlightsnotes, in this regard theregard, positive developments in the European High-Performance Computing Joint Undertaking, where 72.5 % of staff are female and 27.5 % malemale, and where, among thewhere extended40 management% team,of the genderextended balancemanagement isteam 40%are male and 60%60 % female;

Changed:35. Underlines that the Joint Undertakings shall ensure that funded projects contributecomply towith socialapplicable wellbeingsocial and inclusivity,labour respectstandards, workers’contribute rightsto sustainable economic growth, innovation, competitiveness and labourhigh-quality conditionsemployment in the Union and alignare aligned with the principles of a just transition to sustainable technologies;transition;

Changed:36. Urges the Joint Undertakings to develop structured cooperation with European universities in order to improve outreach to young graduates and to reinforce their future recruitmentrecruitment; capacity;further encourages the Joint Undertakings to promote university, research, and professional mobility and to enact measures aimed at developing human capital, particularly young workers, engineers, and researchers, including the integration of investment projects within education, training, and work-based learning to ensure sustainable innovation, workforce continuity, and the long-term competitiveness of the European economy;

Changed:37. Welcomes the work of the Court on the examination of operational expenditure of the research and innovation of the Joint Undertakings, which comprised a sample of 33 randomly selected grant agreement transactions from 2024 (interim or final payments and clearings of advances) at the level of the final beneficiaries; is concerned withby the results of this examination which showed that there were persistent systematic errors,errors; especiallynotes that these errors mainly relate to incorrect declarations of staff costs by beneficiaries, including the calculation of hourly or daily rates, inclusion of indirect costs in unit costs, declaration of subcontracting costs as regardsstaff declaredcosts, personneland inclusion of ineligible equipment costs; calls foron correctionthe Joint Undertakings to address these shortcomings; further calls on the Commission and the Common Audit Service to provide the discharge authority with a consolidated analysis of the systematicroot errors;causes of recurring staff-cost errors across the Joint Undertakings, and to support harmonised preventive guidance, targeted ex-ante checks for high-risk beneficiaries, and financial corrections where similar errors are detected;

Changed:38. Welcomes the work of the Court on the examination of the European Joint Undertaking for ITER and the Development of Fusion Energy’s expenditure, which comprised a sample of 30 random transactions; notes that the Court found only one error with financialidentified impacta resultingcase fromwhere a substantial modification toof buildingstwo building contracts withoutwas not addressed by a new procurement procedure; calls on the European Joint Undertaking for ITER and the Development of Fusion Energy to ensure compliancethat withmaterial themodifications applicableof legalcontracts frameworksystematically ontrigger a procurement inreassessment, orderincluding tolegal ensurereview transparencyand publication of a clear justification, and bestto valuereport forto money;the discharge authority on corrective measures taken;

Changed:39. Expresses concern about the Court’s finding that, by December 2024, only four Joint Undertakings (Europe’s Rail Joint Undertaking, Clean Aviation Joint Undertaking, Innovative Health Initiative Joint Undertaking and the Chips Joint Undertaking) had finalised a risk-based control framework for Horizon Europe grant payments, despite the expected rise in such payments; recalls that a robust, systematic, and centralised risk-based control framework is essential for ensuring ex-ante controls of high-risk beneficiaries, effective follow-up of audit findings, and reliable director’s declarations of assurance; callsstresses onthat theaudit restand control work should concentrate on areas of higher financial and performance risk, while low-risk, recurring transactions should benefit from simplified verification methods; underlines that such an approach can improve assurance and significantly reduce the administrative burden for beneficiaries and participating states; calls on all remaining Joint Undertakings to adoptfinalise promptlyand orimplement toa finaliserisk-based thecontrol implementationframework for Horizon Europe/Digital Europe grant payments, including: (i) clear risk scoring of internalbeneficiaries and projects, (ii) intensified ex-ante controls for high-risk cases, (iii) systematic feedback of ex-post audit results into future control frameworks;planning, and (iv) consistent reporting in the Executive Director’s declaration of assurance;

Changed:40. Expresses concern that the risk management system of the European Joint Undertaking for ITER and the Development of Fusion Energy does not sufficiently reflect the material risks arising from the 2024 revision of the ITER baselinesbaselines, norincluding the horizontal human-resource implications arising from the new baselines; furtherimplications; notes that the Joint Undertaking’s IT risk-management tool lacks complete,complete and up-to-date information on key risksrisks, (incidence,including incidence, likelihood and financial impact),impact, whichthereby underminesundermining support for management’s decision making and their ability to quantify exposure and toadopt prioritiseeffective mitigations; calls on the Joint Undertaking to address the above-mentioned issuesthoseissues by implementing appropriate measures in a timely manner;

Changed:43.43 CallsNotes that Joint Undertakings manage EUR 38.5 billion for 2021–2027, more than double the amount managed in the previous period, and stresses that such significant resources require robust monitoring of results in order to ensure value for money; calls on allthe Joint Undertakings to strengthenadopt theira transparencycommon frameworks,framework infor particularmeasuring performance and impacts, ensuring reporting on outcomes beyond compliance with regardfinancial torules; stresses that effective performance oversight must be complemented by strong transparency of the preventionJoint Undertakings’ activities and by conflict of conflictsinterest safeguards for the members of interest;their governing bodies; urges themin tothis ensureregard the systematic publication of declarations of interest for members of governing bodies, covering any financial, professionalprofessional, or personal links with entities benefiting from Joint Undertaking’sUndertakings’ funding; calls for the introduction of a mandatory “cooling-off” period for senior staff of the Joint Undertakings before they take uptaking new positions in organisations receiving support from these Joint Undertakings; further calls on the Jointsupported Undertakingsorganisations toand ensurerequires that members of scientific committees, independent expertsexperts, orand evaluation committee members duly sign declarations on the absence of conflictconflicts of interest;

Changed:45. UnderlinesAcknowledges that ITER is a project of unprecedented scale and ambition, involving 35 international partners, in which the Union, as host and largest contributor, plays a central role in advancing Europe’s long-term energy vision and scientific leadership; underlines that in June 2024, the ITER organisation submitted a revised project plan to the ITER Council, introducing new baselines to replace those approved in 2016, postponing the end of the assembly phase from 2025 (first plasma) to 2035 (start of research operations) and extending the overall project completion from 2042 to 2059; notes that the Joint Undertaking’s delivery obligations of European Joint Undertaking for ITER and the Development of Fusion Energyto ITER are therefore rising from EUR 21,6 billion to EUR 25,8 billion in 2024 values, implying an additional EUR 4,2 billion in contributions from Euratom and France to the Joint Undertaking’s operational budget; notes with concern that the estimated cost increase stemming from the revised ITER baselines proposed by ITER-IO in July 2024, have yet to be formally adopted by the ITER Council; underlines in this regard that in order to maintain the Union’s leadership in fusion research, timely and full formalisation and implementation of the revised ITER baselines is needed;

Changed:46. Shares the concerns expressed by the Court that the proposed revised baselineITER proposedbaselines bysubstantially ITER-IOincrease substantiallythe heightenexposure of the European Joint Undertaking for ITER and the Development of Fusion Energy’sEnergy exposure to atechnical, rangelegal ofand financial risks; notes that the project’s long-term sustainability may be undermined by cost increases, continued delays to key milestones andas well as by intensifying competition from fusion initiatives in third countries, which together risk eroding ITER’s relevance and leadership; underlines that at the same time, significant legal and governance uncertainties persist, notably the possibility that members may decline to approve an extension of the ITER Agreement beyond 2042, or that the French hosting decree could lapse before reactor operations begin;begin, risking legal clarity and accountability; further notes with concern that the scale of the technical modifications now envisaged could have far-reaching implications for the project’s innovative capacity and economic viability; believes that these concerns are compounded by increasing financial pressures, as the higher contributions required from the Union and from France raise doubts about whether such funding can be sustained under future MFFs or by the host state.state; highlights therefore the need for robust financial planning, strong and coherent management, rigorous oversight and clear performance metrics by the Joint Undertaking, reinforced risk management, and continued improvements in accountability and transparency between the Joint Undertaking, the ITER Organisation and the Union budgetary authority; underlines the need to further strengthen cost control, milestone-based funding and independent performance oversight, and to address legal uncertainties through binding commitments on the post-2042 framework and host-state obligations; stresses that, in light of the scale, duration and cost escalation of the ITER project, continued Union funding must be assessed not only against technical milestones but also against opportunity costs and climate additionality in order to ensure European added value and strategic autonomy;

Added:47 Emphasises the Court’s recommendation that the European Joint Undertaking for ITER and the Development of Fusion Energy should improve effectiveness of its risk management, including by enhancing its IT tool for risk management so as to have complete information on all relevant key risks stemming from the 2024 baselines; stresses the overall importance of strategic governance of the Joint Undertaking to ensure that ITER remains scientifically and economically relevant by systematically benchmarking progress against global competitors and safeguarding innovation capacity within a sustainable long-term financing model; highlights in this regard the need to restructure the Joint Undertaking and reallocate human resources, to reduce the disproportionate use of external service providers, to ensure better resource planning and management in line with the Joint Undertaking’s ethical framework;

Changed:48.49. DeploresReiterates its concerns about the continued participation of Russia in the ITER project; calls on the European Joint Undertaking for ITER and the Development of Fusion Energy to ensure astrict and full enforcement of the Union’s sanctions against Russia, including the procurement restrictions of components for European supplies to ITER; exhorts the European Joint Undertaking for ITER and the Development of Fusion Energy to minimise all remaining dependence on Russia and to avoid any bilateral contacts and engagements with it;it that could compromise the Union's strategic interests and values; notes with satisfaction the fact that Russia has not assumed the chairmanship of the ITER Council for the past two years when it was due in accordance with the chair rotation principle; notes with satisfaction that the intellectual property rules in the ITER Agreement guarantee that the project has all the intellectual resources it needs for successful development and operation, ensuring full independence from Russian intellectual property rights; notes that Russia has fulfilled all its in-kind contributions under the ITER Agreement,Agreement; thereforestresses reducingthat dependencythe onactivities Russiaof inthe thisUnion regard;Joint Undertakings should contribute to the diversification of supply chains to achieve complete technological sovereignty;

Changed:6. Calls on all Joint Undertakings to exercise the utmost vigilance in their cooperation with international partners, in fullwhile respectfully ofrespecting the Union’s restrictive measures regime in force and the objective of safeguarding Europe’s strategic autonomy;

Changed:7. Recognises the substantial contributions of the Joint Undertakings to advancing research, innovation,innovation and technological development across sectors such as aviation, rail, and air traffic management; affirms their essential role in supporting the Union’s priority objectives on strategic autonomy, sustainability, digital transformation, security and competitiveness.competitiveness;

Changed:8. Acknowledges that the European Union Joint Undertakings constitute a critical instrument for strengthening the Union’s research and innovation capacity by fostering large-scale public-private partnerships in strategic industrial domains; acknowledges that through their ability to pool resources, coordinate cross-border collaboration and bridge the gap between scientific research and market deployment, the Joint Undertakings help accelerate technological progress that individual actors could not achieve independently; reiterates the importance of ensuring transparency, accountability and efficient management of public resources by the Joint Undertakings;

Changed:9. Recognises that by mobilising industry, academia, SMEs,small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), and public authorities around shared objectives, the Joint Undertakings ensure efficient use of Union funds, promote Europe’s leadership in strategic key technologies, support value-based innovation, the Union’s strategic autonomy, and contribute directly to sustainable economic growth and high-quality employment across the Union;

Changed:11. Welcomes the Court’s annual report on the European Union Joint Undertakings for the financial year 2024 (the ‘Court’s report’) which contains a specific statement of assurance for each of the Joint Undertakings as regards their annual accounts and underlying transactions; emphasises that the mission of the Court is crucial to the sound implementation of the Union budget and to the oversight of the budget; calls for the continuation of this good practice; welcomes the good cooperation of the Joint Undertakings with the Court during the drafting of the Court’s report and notes the explanations provided on some of the observations and emphases of matter made in the replies provided by the Joint Undertakings;

Changed:(a) the activities of certain Joint Undertakings continued to be heavily impacted by Russia’s war of aggression against Ukraine; such impacts are particularly evident in disruptions to supply chains, delays in project implementation,implementation and increases in operational costs;

Changed:(b) the United States of America cancelled a very large share of the programmes managed by the United States Agency for International Development, including programmes in the area of global health, which may result in reduced co-financing and partnership opportunities for the two European Union Joint Undertakings operating in this field (the Innovative Health Initiative Joint Undertaking and the Global Health European & Developing Countries Clinical Trials Partnership 3 Joint Undertaking), as well as supply chain and implementation risks, and increased financial pressure and uncertainty for the Union; points out however that the timing of this cancellation could also represent a strategic opportunity for the Union to strengthen its global health role, increase resilience,resilience and assert its leadership;

Changed:(c) the European Union’s Artificial Intelligence Regulation entered into force on 1 August 2024, establishing a common legal framework for highrisk artificial intelligence systems and transparency obligations; many Joint Undertakings, particularly those engaged in digital, innovation,innovation and artificial intelligence-related partnerships will need to adapt to this framework, which may entail increased compliance requirements, regulatory risk assessment,assessment and adjustments to project scopes, calls for proposals, and to the responsibilities of the different actors involved in the implementation of the projects;

Changed:15. Recalls that the Joint Undertakings must conduct their operations according to sound financial management, thereby contributing effectively to the Union’s policy objectives as well as to the sound implementation of the Union budget; nevertheless, expresses concern about certain elements,elements which emerged in the findings of the Court, as presented in this resolution;

Changed:20. Notes that in 2024 the total available payment budget for the twelve Joint Undertakings, which wereUndertakings audited by the Court,Court amounted to EUR 3,2 billion; notes that the Court considers that the total available payment budget includes unused appropriations from previous years which the Joint Undertakings entered again in the budget of the current year and assigned revenues and reallocations to the next year; notes more precisely that:

Changed:(h) the total available budget in 2024 for the European High-Performance Computing Joint Undertaking amounted to EUR 307,1 million in commitment appropriations compared to EUR 1 136 million in 2023 and EUR 347,7 million in payment appropriations compared to EUR 1 058 million in 2023; understands that according to the report on budgetary and financial management of the European High-Performance Computing Joint Undertaking, its total budget execution rate for the financial year 2024 reached 72 % for commitment appropriations and 59 % for payment appropriations, indicating that there are still issues related to the pace of implementation of the budget; in particular, stresses the low execution rate of payment appropriations dedicated to operational expenditure, which reached 59 %; notes the explanation of the Joint Undertaking; recalls in this context that the implementation rate of Horizon Europe grant payments fell to 27 % in 2024 (compared to 36 % in 2023), mainly due to delays in the completion of ex-ante technical and financial controls of beneficiaries’ reports; underlines also the low execution rate of its payment appropriations dedicated to administrative expenditure, which reached 61 %; notes the explanation of the Joint Undertaking provided in its written replies to the Court’s report; takes due account of the additional information presented by the Joint Undertaking during its hearing before the Committee on Budgetary Control and generally calls on it to ensure a healthy pace of implementation for each section of its budget;

Changed:(k) the total available budget in 2024 for the European Cybersecurity Industrial, Technology and Research Competence Centre Joint Undertaking amounted to EUR 313,3 million in commitment appropriations and EUR 101,6 million in payment appropriations; understands furthermore that according to the report on budgetary and financial management for the period between 24 September 2024, when the Joint Undertaking achieved financial autonomy, until the end of 2024, its total budget execution rate reached 90,5 % for commitment appropriations and 82 % for payment appropriations, indicating that no major issues were observed related to the pace of budgetary implementation; notesnotes, howeverhowever, the low rate of payment appropriations for part of its administrative budget, namely the section on buildings, IT and others, which only reached 27,1 % of payment appropriations; notes the explanation of the Joint Undertaking and calls on it to ensure better implementation of this part of its administrative budget;

Changed:21. Underlines the need for all Joint Undertakings to reinforce their internal financial controls and transparency frameworks,frameworks in order to ensure that funds are allocated efficiently and in line with the Union’s strategic objectives;

Changed:(b) thatthe fact that the European High Performance Computing Joint Undertaking’s cash surplus also increased during 2024 reaching EUR 904,7 million at the end of the year, compared with EUR 840,7 million at the end of 2023; notes the corrective measuresmeasures, whosethe implementation of which started in 2024; nevertheless,nevertheless repeats its call for the European High-Performance Computing Joint Undertaking to streamline its efforts to avoid the reoccurrence of similar situations;

Changed:24. Echoes the Court’s concerns regarding the persisting delays in members’ contributions to certain Joint Undertakings, particularly in view of the risk that some Joint Undertakings may fail to meet their contribution targets; calls on the Joint Undertakings concerned to continue to implement measures to prevent such situations from occurring in the future; recalls that meeting contribution targets is the responsibility and obligation of the Joint Undertakings concerned and that failing to meet contribution targets goes against the founding idea of the Joint Undertakings; is concerned, more precisely, with:by the following:

Changed:(a) the situation of the Single European Sky ATM Research 3 Joint Undertaking, whosethe operational contribution target of its member Eurocontrol only reached a level of 70 %, which resulted in the Joint Undertaking not having the planned contributions at its disposal to fully implement its part of Horizon 2020; notes that Eurocontrol’s contributions were also below the Horizon Europe target for 2024, reaching only 16% of the EUR 500 million target; echoes the Court’s recommendation that the Single European Sky ATM Research 3 Joint Undertaking should cooperate with Eurocontrol to increase their contributions and monitor the progress on a yearly basis;

Changed:(b) the situation of the Global Health EDCTP3 Joint Undertaking where at the end of 2024 the level of contributing partners’ cash contributions was very low, at EUR 15,6 million representing 4% of the EUR 400 million target; notes that the current shortfall in contributions may substantially diminish the leverage effect of the Joint Undertaking’s activities, thereby posing a risk to the achievement of its programme objectives; echoes the Court’s recommendation that the Global Health EDCTP3 Joint Undertaking should establish a comprehensive action plan to identify and attract additional contributing partners from Europe and beyond, with a view to strengthening its research and innovation capacity, securing further financial contributions,contributions and ensuring the attainment of its programme objectives;

Changed:33. Welcomes the Joint Undertakings’ progress in improving the quality and accessibility of data on gendergender-balanced balancerepresentation and geographical distribution across staff and governance structures; highlights that enhanced data strengthens accountability and enables more targeted actions to foster diversity, ensure fair representation of members, and support healthy and productive working environment across the Joint Undertakings;

Changed:55.56. Welcomes the fact that the Joint Undertakings have produced a follow-up report to the European Parliament’s resolutions with observations forming an integral part of the decisions on discharge in respect of the implementation of the budget of the Joint Undertakings for the financial year 2023; notes that these reports provide the views of the Joint Undertakings on the issues underlined by the European Parliament to a satisfactory extent;

Changed:56.57. Welcomes the fact that the Court’s report also includes an analysis of the follow-up of Joint Undertakings to previous observations and recommendations for actions published by the Court; notes in this regard that by the end of 2024, fewer than half of previous years’ observations had been addressed: 18 of 44 were closed, while 26 remained open; regarding the Court’s recommendations from the period 2021–2023, most have been implemented at least partially; furthermore, out of the four recommendations with a 2024 target date, two were fully implemented by all Joint Undertakings, one was fully implemented by some of them and partially by others, and one partially implemented; of the remaining eight with later target dates, one was fully implemented, six partially, and one has not yet been implemented, as it depends on the Commission; calls on all Joint Undertakings to continue the implementation of the Court’s recommendations and to report on the progress to the Court and the European Parliament;

Changed:57.58. Calls on each Joint Undertaking considered for the granting of discharge for the financial year 2024 to produce an individual follow-up report on all actions taken to address the specific issues mentioned in this resolution and to submit this follow-up report signed by the (Executive) Director of the Joint Undertaking to the European Parliament by no later than 30 September 2026;

Changed:58.59. Underlines that follow-up reports can reflect the Joint Undertakings’ general opinions on this resolution and on other matters relevant to the discharge authority; calls on the Joint Undertakings to prepare these reports thoroughly, covering all issues raised by the European Parliament regarding their activities, and to do so in a cooperative and trustworthy manner.