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Discharge 2022: European High Performance Computing Joint Undertaking

TA-9-2024-0278 · P9_TA(2024)0278 · PE753.492

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Parliament grants the Executive Director of the European High Performance Computing Joint Undertaking discharge for the 2022 budget and approves the closure of its 2022 accounts. In its resolution, Parliament notes the Court of Auditors' finding that the accounts are fair and the underlying transactions legal and regular, but flags medium risks in recruitment and procurement. It raises concerns over low budget implementation, insufficient information on members' contributions, and the risk that private members will miss their minimum contribution target. It calls on the Joint Undertaking to set a time-scheduled action plan, disclose contributions per programme, monitor private members' contributions annually, and adopt a structured risk-based approach to ex-ante controls. It also asks the Commission to re-assess the feasibility of the private members' contribution targets under the new founding Regulation.

Key points

  1. Parliament grants the Executive Director of the Joint Undertaking discharge for the implementation of the 2022 budget and approves the closure of the 2022 accounts.
  2. It notes the Court of Auditors' finding that the 2022 accounts present fairly the Joint Undertaking's financial position and that the underlying transactions are legal and regular.
  3. It notes the Court assessed the risk to legality and regularity of recruitment procedures and to operational contract expenditure as medium.
  4. It notes that in 2022 the available payment budget was EUR 629,9 million and the committed budget EUR 1 374,5 million, and that operational commitment and payment appropriations were implemented at 79% and 24%.
  5. It agrees with the Court that the Joint Undertaking should establish a time-scheduled action plan for finalising projects approved under previous multiannual financial frameworks.
  6. It is concerned that information on members' contributions at programme level is insufficient and calls on the Joint Undertaking to disclose contributions per member category and programme.
  7. It is worried that private members will not achieve their minimum contribution target, noting they had committed only EUR 11 million against a target of EUR 420 million for Horizon 2020.
  8. It agrees with the Court that the Joint Undertaking should monitor private members' individual contribution achievements annually under the 2021-2027 multiannual financial framework.
  9. It calls on the Commission to re-assess the feasibility of the current private members' contribution targets in the new founding Regulation.
  10. It notes that the Joint Undertaking recruited only eight staff by the end of 2022 and 20 by mid-2023, missing its 2022 recruitment target, and that 70% of staff were contractual.
  11. It agrees with the Court that the Joint Undertaking should implement a structured risk-based approach to ex-ante controls and develop internal guidance on risk-based monitoring.
  12. It notes that of nine Court observations from 2020 and 2021, only two are closed, and that the Joint Undertaking will address the issues in its 2023 annual accounts.

Who is affected

  • The European High Performance Computing Joint Undertaking and its Executive Director, who receives discharge and must act on the observations.
  • The Joint Undertaking's private members, whose in-kind contributions fall short of the Horizon 2020 target.
  • The participating states, which signed contractual commitments of EUR 447,3 million for Horizon 2020 and CEF 1 activities.
  • The Commission, which is asked to re-assess the feasibility of private members' contribution targets.

Figures and deadlines

  • Available payment budget for 2022: EUR 629,9 million.
  • Available committed budget for 2022: EUR 1 374,5 million.
  • Operational commitment and payment appropriations implemented at 79% and 24% respectively.
  • Maximum Union operational contribution committed: EUR 526 million, of which around EUR 266,3 million remains to be paid.
  • Participating states' contractual commitments: EUR 447,3 million; declared financial contributions: EUR 124,8 million; in-kind contributions: EUR 38 million; direct payments: EUR 48,2 million.
  • Private members' in-kind contributions: EUR 11 million (2,6%) against a minimum target of EUR 420 million.
  • 2021-2027 projects: EUR 7 billion, of which EUR 3 billion from participating states and EUR 900 million from private members.
  • Representative error rate of 2,3% and residual error rate of 1,9% for Horizon 2020 co-financed expenditure.

Legal basis: Article 319 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union.