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2014

Annual Activity Report

Education, Audiovisual & Culture

Executive Agency

Ref. Ares(2015)1413559 - 31/03/2015

eacea_aar_2014_draft of 117

Foreword

MESSAGE FROM BRIAN HOLMES, DIRECTOR OF THE EACEA

2014 saw the start of a new mandate for the Agency. Calls were published under the new programmes and evaluations took place according to schedule; however, some deadlines were delayed compared to previous years and this involved a challenging workload in the last few weeks of the year. The first grant agreements under the new programmes were signed and we started working with the new beneficiaries. In parallel, work continued on the previous programmes. The Agency also continued to support European policy for Education, Training and Youth with the publication of several reports giving a comparative analysis of progress in the Member States.

We strengthened project monitoring in order to ensure continuing policy relevance of the actions we manage. Moreover, we reinforced our efforts on the dissemination of outcomes and mechanisms for feedback to the parent DGs: guidelines have been produced for units to produce monitoring strategies and discussions have started with our parent DGs on their needs for information related to impact and policy achievements. We see in these activities, which are of a more political and strategic nature, a great opportunity for the Agency to increase the added value of its work.

This year again, the reservation for the LLP programme is maintained as the error rate of over 2% for the fourth consecutive year. The preventive measures implemented (i.e. use of lump-sums, kick-off meetings for new projects, etc.) were well received and are expected to have a positive impact on the error rates of the related programmes in future years.

All in all, the Agency achieved its operational objectives set out in the EACEA Work programme 2014. The internal control and management systems operated well and the performance of the internal control system was assessed as adequate.

Changes at the Commission in 2014, with the nomination of the new President and Commissioners directly affected the Agency: DG HOME and DG CNECT became parents DGs with a supervisory role. Even before the arrival of the new parents DGs, we started preparing the ground to establish a fruitful cooperation with them. Organisational changes also occurred internally, with new roles and responsibilities for the staff brought about by the arrival of the new generation of programmes. The 'Working Smarter' initiative was the starting point of a global participatory process to collect ideas bottom-up on how to improve efficiency and effectiveness at the Agency level. As a result of this initiative, a number of key actions were selected and implemented in the course of 2014. Longer-term actions will continue, notably a focus on knowledge sharing, collaboration and exchange of good practice across the Agency as a priority for next year.


Table of Contents

INTRODUCTION: 4

EACEA IN BRIEF ................................................................................................................................................................ 4 2014 IN BRIEF ................................................................................................................................................................... 4

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY 6

KEY PERFORMANCE INDICATORS (5 MOST RELEVANT) ............................................................................................................... 6 POLICY HIGHLIGHTS OF THE YEAR ........................................................................................................................................... 8 KEY CONCLUSIONS ON RESOURCE MANAGEMENT AND INTERNAL CONTROL EFFECTIVENESS (EXECUTIVE SUMMARY ON PART 2 AND 3) ..... 13 INFORMATION TO THE COMMISSIONERS ............................................................................................................................... 13

1. IMPLEMENTATION OF THE AGENCY'S ANNUAL WORK PROGRAMME 2014 14

1.1 ACHIEVEMENT OF SPECIFIC OBJECTIVES ............................................................................................................. 14 1.1.1 POLICY AREA: COMPETITIVENESS FOR GROWTH AND JOBS - ERASMUS+ (ABB ACTIVITY 15.02) ................................... 14 1.1.2 POLICY AREA SECURITY AND CITIZENSHIP - CREATIVE EUROPE (ABB 15.04) ............................................................ 26 1.1.3 POLICY AREA SECURITY AND CITIZENSHIP - EUROPE FOR CITIZENS (ABB 16.06) ....................................................... 33 1.1.4 POLICY AREA GLOBAL EUROPE - EU AID VOLUNTEERS INITIATIVE (ABB 23.04) ....................................................... 37 1.1.5 ADDITIONAL CALLS UNDER THE PREVIOUS GENERATION OF PROGRAMMES (2007-2013)........................................... 40 1.2 EXAMPLE OF EU-ADDED VALUE AND RESULTS/IMPACTS OF PROJECTS OR PROGRAMME FINANCED ................................ 47 1.2.1 PROJECTS.................................................................................................................................................... 47 1.2.2 PUBLICATIONS ............................................................................................................................................. 49 1.3 SPECIFIC EFFORTS TO IMPROVE 'ECONOMY' AND 'EFFICIENCY' OF SPENDING AND NON-SPENDING ACTIVITIES................... 51 1.3.1 EXAMPLE 1 : SIMPLIFYING THE PAYMENT PROCESS .............................................................................................. 51 1.3.2 EXAMPLE 2: GREATER USE OF IT TOOLS............................................................................................................ 51

2. MANAGEMENT OF RESOURCES 53

2.1 MANAGEMENT OF HUMAN AND FINANCIAL RESOURCES BY EACEA ........................................................................ 54 2.1.1 CONTROL EFFECTIVENESS AS REGARDS LEGALITY AND REGULARITY .......................................................................... 54 2.1.2 CONTROL EFFICIENCY AND COST-EFFECTIVENESS ................................................................................................. 59 2.1.3 FRAUD PREVENTION AND DETECTION................................................................................................................ 63 2.2 ASSESSMENT OF AUDIT RESULTS AND FOLLOW UP OF AUDIT RECOMMENDATIONS...................................................... 66

3. ASSESSMENT OF THE EFFECTIVENESS OF THE INTERNAL CONTROL SYSTEMS 70

4. MANAGEMENT ASSURANCE 72

4.1 REVIEW OF THE ELEMENTS SUPPORTING ASSURANCE ........................................................................................... 72 4.2 OVERALL CONCLUSION ON ASSURANCE AND RESERVATIONS .................................................................................. 73

DECLARATION OF ASSURANCE 76

ANNEXES 77

ANNEX 1: STATEMENT OF THE INTERNAL CONTROL COORDINATOR ...................................................................................... 77 ANNEX 2: HUMAN AND FINANCIAL RESOURCES ................................................................................................................ 78 ANNEX 3: DRAFT ANNUAL ACCOUNTS AND FINANCIAL REPORTS ........................................................................................... 80 ANNEX 4: MATERIALITY CRITERIA ................................................................................................................................ 108 ANNEX 5: INTERNAL CONTROL TEMPLATE(S) FOR BUDGET IMPLEMENTATION (ICTS) ............................................................. 111


INTRODUCTION:

EACEA in brief

Our mission is to support European projects that connect people and cultures, reach out to the world and make a difference. Working together in education, culture, audio-visual, sport, youth, citizenship and humanitarian aid, we foster innovation through the exchange of knowledge, ideas and skills in a spirit of cross-border cooperation and mutual respect. We strive to provide excellent programme management and high quality service through transparent and objective procedures, showing Europe at its best1.

The role of the Agency is to manage European funding opportunities and networks in the EU programmes Erasmus+, Creative Europe, Europe for Citizens and EU Aid Volunteers. The tasks executed by the Agency are carried out in conformity with both the delegating Decision and the legal bases of these programmes.

The Agency has a duty to ensure financial transparency, efficiency and a high quality service to applicants and beneficiaries in full co-operation and transparency with parent DGs.

2014 in brief A. Management of resources

Human resources

The staff occupation rate for available posts at the end of December was 95%. Regarding career development reviews, the evaluation exercises in 2014 for seconded officials, temporary agents and contract agents were conducted according to the corresponding modalities. Concerning the management of the Agency, the selection process for the new Director was finalised and the official nomination was announced in July: Mr B. Holmes was appointed Director after almost two years as Interim Director. In the context of the reorganisation of the Agency due to the new programming period 2014-2020, and in order to apply the sensitive posts policy, a mobility exercise for temporary agents was implemented in early 2014.

All in all, internal mobility arrangements were put in place for 75 colleagues, most of them after publishing vacancies internally.

Financial resources

As regards the operational budget, the execution of commitment credits was €602.4 million or 99% of the available budget, which is in line with the target (98%). The execution of payment credits was €613.4 million. The payments reached 98% of the

1 The Agency supports the implementation of the overall objectives and political guidelines of the European Commission by managing tasks which are carried out in conformity with Commission Implementing Decision of 2013/776/EU repealing Decision 2009/336/EC and Delegation Act C (2013) 9189 as amended by Commission Decision C(2014)4084 and the legal bases of the delegated EU programmes. This mission statement was produced in 2014 through an exercise involving all staff at the Agency.


available budget which is above the target (95%).

As regard the operating budget, the execution of commitment appropriations was €46.13 (98,26% of the available budget – €45.95 million). The execution of payment appropriations was €45.5 million (86.9% of the available budget). The financial indicators are globally in line with the forecast, in particular for the time-to-pay.

The percentage of operating costs is 7.41% (45.5/613.4 = 7.41%), see section 2.1.2 'Control efficiency and cost-effectiveness'.

IT resources

The 2014 IT Master plan was adopted by the Agency's Steering Committee and the ISPMB, and was implemented accordingly. The grant management system, Pegasus, now integrates all actions managed under the new generation of programmes. Electronic forms for the submission of the applications of all the new Programmes were deployed. The corporate tools for the management of organisations and experts (available via the education participant portal) together with the validation service of the Legal Entities were integrated in the Agency's processes. In addition, prefilled electronic forms for the reports of all actions of the Europe for the Citizens programme were made available for the beneficiaries.

B. Communication

2014 started with the organisation of an "All Staff event" on the 17th March 2014. Commissioner Vassiliou and DG EAC's Director General participated together with 500 Agency staff members. This special event saw the launch of a participatory initiative 'Working smarter' in which staff were invited to vote on the most relevant ideas for improvement to take forward into 2014. Activities, including bottom-up initiatives, were organised to promote staff participation and contribution in the definition of the Agency's mission statement, the working smarter initiative and the setting-up of programme intranets to increase awareness of common values. Communication with our stakeholders was also further improved: the new Agency website was successfully launched mid-January 2014 and approximately 2.700 requests for information from both applicants and beneficiaries were treated. Furthermore, the Agency organised 6 information events (Infodays) for the new programmes and a range of kick-off meetings, cluster meetings and coordinators' conferences.

C. Control & Audit environment

Following the reservation in the AARs of 2011, 2012 and 2013, an action plan was implemented and the error rate for the LLP programme is being closely monitored. The Internal Audit Capability of the Agency worked on the audit on the ERASMUS MUNDUS II programme and four follow-up audit reports were issued: Final Payments, Culture, Youth in Action, and Europe for Citizens.


EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

The Annual Activity Report is a management report by the Director of EACEA to the College of Commissioners. It is the main instrument of management accountability within the Commission and constitutes the basis on which the Commission takes its responsibility for the management of resources by reference to the objectives set in the management plan and the efficiency and effectiveness of internal control systems, including an overall assessment of the costs and benefits of controls.

Key Performance Indicators (5 most relevant)

Most relevant KPI 1 Time to Award *2013 Erasmus+ data is the average of the data from LLP, Youth, Tempus and Erasmus Mundus programme. Creative Europe 2013 data is the average of Culture and MEDIA data.

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Most relevant KPI 2 Time to Contract *2013 Erasmus+ data is the average of the data from LLP, Youth and Erasmus Mundus programme. Creative Europe 2013 data is the average of Culture and MEDIA data.

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Most relevant KPI 3 Monitoring activities The target of 10% was defined in the AWP 2013, but data are available since 2011

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Most relevant KPI 4 % of payments within contractual time

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Most relevant KPI 5 Residual Error rate


Policy highlights of the year

The 5 KPIs chosen measure the efficiency of implementation of the delegated programmes to the Agency in 2014. Despite the tight schedule, –the first year of implementation of the new generation of programmes was successful. Delays in the adoption of the new programmes did not affect the KPI 1 (time to award) which is even better than in 2013 (4 months). The KPI 2 (time to contract) is almost equivalent to 2013 (2.1 months) and is on track. The percentage of open projects monitored is improving from 9% in 2013 to 12% in 2014. These projects are either from the legacy programmes or projects selected under the new generation of programmes. Project monitoring is a priority in the Annual Work programme 2015 for EACEA. It will be reinforced in order to better understand the impact of the actions in relation to the policy objectives and to ensure appropriate feedback to the parent DGs. The Agency is still in line with the contractual time for payment although with a slightly lower result than last year (2013: 96%). The small difference could be explained by the lack of payment credits for certain budget lines at the end of 2013. However the Agency was able to catch up by the end of the year and was again above the set objective. The average Error Rate of the Agency is 1.5% with 2 programmes above 2%, Lifelong Learning programme 2007-2013 (LLP) and Youth programme. The reservation is maintained for the LLP programme whereas there is no need for reservation for the Youth programme. It is worth recalling the origin of the LLP reservation and the corrective measures taken to decrease the error rate below the materiality level of 2%. The first reservation for this programme was made in the AAR 2011 and was maintained in the AARs 2012 and 2013. Following the first reservation, the Agency drafted an action plan around three pillars covering all programmes and grant schemes.

- Improve the information provided to beneficiaries on financial obligations, audits and ex-post controls

- Improve the desk control strategies per unit/programme - Consolidate the audit strategy

The action plan was implemented in conformity with the timetable in 2011 – beginning of 2012. While some corrective actions were already in place during 2011 for the LLP programme, other actions will lead to improvements in later years (i.e. the audit certificates under the new desk control strategy were mandatory for projects committed as from 2013).

Notwithstanding these actions, the biggest improvement will come from further financial simplification in the "Erasmus+" programme 2014-2020. Most of grants under the LLP programme were budget-based funding schemes which are much more prone to difficulties in terms of eligibility of costs. Hence, a greater use of lump sums and/or flat rates should reduce the error rates in future years. For more details please see section 2.1.


In its Work Programme for 2014, the Agency identified 4 operational priorities. The achievements made during the reporting period for each of them are listed below.

1. Implementing the extension of the mandate

During 2014, the Agency implemented the new delegated programmes in line with its work programme. 16 calls for proposals were published as well as 5 calls for tenders. In addition, 26 restricted calls were published, two of which have no financial impact.

The Agency received approximately 10,000 proposals for the first wave of selections and around 3,500 proposals were selected.

The new system of validation of FEL, centralised in the Research Executive Agency (REA) came into force on 1st January 2014. By the end of 2014, all targets set for the time to contract were met and all payment indicators were in line with the targets.

2. Further streamlining project selection processes

Further harmonisation of the evaluation process was carried out for example across the MEDIA actions and within Erasmus+. More extensive use was made of technology to carry out expert briefings and evaluations on line. Guidelines were completed for Expert briefings and Evaluation Committees.

The average duration of the selection and contracting periods respected the fixed deadlines: the average time-to-award was 3.1 months (target 6 months) and the average time-to-contract was 2.1 months (target 3 months). For a more comprehensive and detailed view, the graphs (see.p.6 and 7) show calculations by programme.

3. Providing relevant guidance for a more efficient project implementation

The new Agency website was successfully launched mid-January 2014 and was a pioneer for the Commission digital environment, using Drupal open source content management platform. A 'News' item was added for all new documents and information uploaded on the website. The alert system with RSS feed gives the Agency website users the opportunity to be directly and quickly informed. Most of the website content is available in English, German and French. Where appropriate, links are made available to information on the parent DG's websites.

The Agency organised several information events for applicants to provide guidance on calls for proposals, the selection process and the timing.

Monitoring visits were carried out in line with a harmonised approach, as indicated in the action plan for the reservations issued in 2011, 2012 and 2013. In total, 475 projects were closely monitored through 383 monitoring missions and visits which correspond to 13% of the open projects in 2014. A specific focus was made on the participation to promotional and information events (100) organised by the Agency or by a third party as 2014 was the first year of implementation of the new programmes.

The mandatory introduction of the Participant Portal registration was the main effort in 2014 to lighten the administrative burden. Each applicant receives a Participant Identification Code (PIC) number which enable them to apply. This registration portal saves the applicant's information and allows them to re-apply for EU funding more


easily, and to change their data themselves without having to notify the Agency. With this system, the Agency project database is automatically kept up-to-date.

The audit certificates strategy, which is part of the action plan to tackle the error rate, was deployed in all calls in 2014 to reduce the percentage of suspensions of payments whether for technical reasons or for request for information, as well as to improve the control of eligible expenses and therefore decrease the error rates. The main results of this strategy will only be tangible in 2015 as they are linked to the duration of the projects. This strategy is part of the Agency's simplified global approach to financial analysis of final reports.

4. Further supporting and exploiting the achievements of EU actions, and providing policy support to the Commission

Appropriate statistics and information on selection and programme implementation as well as best practices and star projects were delivered to the relevant Commission services. In addition, the Agency drafted key documents on the success rates from the previous generation of programmes (LLP, Culture, MEDIA/ MEDIA Mundus, Youth, Europe for Citizens, Bilateral Cooperation with Industrialised countries, Erasmus Mundus and Tempus) for the parent DGs. The key findings on policy achievements were given where trends could be detected. For example, the Europe for Citizens (2007-2013) programme had a greater geographical impact over the years, notably for the projects focused on the historical memory. The objectives of the programme were fully met. The strategic measures were put in place turning transnational meetings with no linkage into more ambitious activities focused on common issues (i.e. integration of migrants, Roma issues and waste treatment).

Selection results were published on the Agency website. In addition, project results were disseminated through transfers of project information into the public domain database "EVE" of DG EAC for the first semester 2014. In addition, the Agency took an active part in the testing phase of the new tool for dissemination and valorisation "VALOR", which will be shared with the National Agencies. The aim is to enable the automatic transfer of data from Pegasus to VALOR in 2015.

The Eurydice 2014 Work Programme was implemented according to agreements with DG EAC and the wiki-based Eurypedia was regularly updated to reflect policy reforms. Analytical reports were produced for Education and Youth touching several issues For example, the feasibility report 'Learners Mobility Scoreboard' contains a set of draft proposals for 'scoreboard indicators' focusing on conditions supporting learner mobility in higher education. The report 'Modernisation of Higher Education: Access, Retention and Employability' sheds light on current national and institutional policies and practices aimed at increasing and widening access, reducing student dropout, and improving the employability of higher education graduates in Europe. The report 'Key Data on Early Childhood Education and Care – 2014 Edition' provides 61 indicators as well as a comparative analysis on Early Childhood Education and Care (ECEC) in Europe. Furthermore, the Agency supported DG EAC country desks with country-specific information in relation to Europe 2020 priorities: the Agency coordinates the update of the descriptions of national education systems by the Eurydice National Units in Eurypedia; special attention was given to the revised chapter on on-going reforms and developments in educations and training.


The results of the other indicators can be found in the dashboard below:

Indicateurs 30-juin 31-déc Yearly targetI. GESTION OPERATIONNELLECall for proposals published 3 16Call for tenders published 1 5Non-published call for proposals (designated beneficiaries) 12 26Proposals received (without designated beneficiaries and renewals) 7.971 10.058 +/- 11.000Proposals selected (IDEM) 1.103 3.502 +/- 4.000% of proposals received on line 87% 91% 70%Number of project monitored through visits (onsite or in Brussels) 235 475 400% of projects monitored compared with the number of open projects 29% 13% more than 10%Dissemination of projects results in VALOR 0 >1.000Time to Award 1,9 3,1 max 6 moisTime to Contract n/a 2,1 max 3 moisTotal Time to Award + Time to Contract n/a 5,2 max 9 moisNumber of projects opened/closed 804 / 2326 3664/4972% d'appels à proposition incluant la provision concernant le certificat d'audit n/a 100% 100%

II. BUDGET - FINANCESSuivi de l'exécution des crédits - budget opérationnelMontant total des engagements effectués (crédits C1+C5) 76,1M€ 590,8M€Taux d'exécution des crédits engagement/budget total (crédits C1+C5) 17% 100% min 99 %Montant total des engagements effectués (crédits C1, C4,C5, R0/P0)) 76,6M€ 602,4M€Taux d'exécution des crédits engagement/budget total (crédits C1, C4,C5, R0/P0) 14% 99%

min 98 %

Montant total des paiements effectués (crédits C1+C5) 247,1M€ 600,2M€Taux d'exécution des crédits paiement/budget total (crédits C1+C5) 41% 100% min 95 %Montant total des paiements effectués (crédits C1, C4,C5, R0/P0) 249,5M€ 613,4M€Taux d'exécution des crédits paiement/budget total (crédits C1, C4,C5, R0/P0) 41% 98%

min 95 %

Délai de paiement global moyen en joursPremiers préfinancements 25 13 max 20 joursPaiements intermédiaires et finaux - double délai 18 16 max 30 joursPaiements intermédiaires et finaux -délai unique 55 55 max 75 joursEnregistrement des factures dans les 7 jours 90% 93% min 90%

% des paiements à tempsTous les programmes 83% 92% min 90%

Suivi de la bonne gestion des avoirs de la Commission % d'OR nécessitant une action de l'Agence ayant été traités 90% 88% min 80%Nombre de cas de RAL anormaux clos 567 799 close min 685 PAR% d'appels reçus après analyse du rapport final ou envoi OR na 6%Suivi de l'exécution des crédits - budget de fonctionnementTaux d'exécution des crédits d'engagement 75% 98% min 97%Taux d'exécution des crédits de paiement (C1 + C8) 41% 87% min 80%Délai moyen de paiement en jours 15 14 max 30 joursIII. CONTROLETaux de mise en oeuvre des exigences de base des standards de contrôle interne n/a 100%

100%

Taux d'erreur des contrôles ex post par ABBLifelong Learning Programme n/a 4,07 max 2%

Erasmus Mundus and Intra ACP n/a 0,26 max 2%Tempus and Bilateral Cooperation n/a 0,86 max 2%

Youth n/a 2,11 max 2%Culture n/a 1,26 max 2%

MEDIA and MEDIA Mundus n/a 0,31 max 2%Europe for Citizens n/a 0,79 max 2%

Nombre de rapports d'exception 10 24 < ou = 37Nombre de recommandations IAS/IAC implémentées en 2014 n/a 43

From 1st January to 31 December 2014DashBoard of Performance Indicators


IV. RESSOURCES HUMAINESManagement of Human Resources

Effectif cible et taux d'occupation des postes (hors prestataires) 96% 95% 95%dont AT 96% 96%dont AC 96% 94%

Average training days per staff (provided on an annual basis) n/a 6,5 5 jours% CDR completed on time 90% 90% 90%

Average vacancy rate of available posts 4% 4%Less than 10% on annual

basis

Agency staff satisfaction as measured in the central Staff survey n/a n/a

No more than 2 percentage points below

Commission average

V. COMMUNICATIONInternal Communication

Organisation of lunchtime conferences, each involving +/- 60 staff members, involving 100% of staff over 2014 17 20

12 lunchtime conferences

Weekly preparation and delivery of newsmails to staff. 100% 100% 100% staff informed

Preparation and transmission of video messages on key topics to all staff 15 20+/- 8 video messages

Organisation of events/shared activities for all EACEA staff involving an average participation of 80% (targeted/Unit level/all staff activities) as well as a number of smaller events with lower participation rates. 1 5

+/- 4 events

Promotion material (posters, web, targeted emails etc…) n/a 75+/- 30 staff events and

initiatives coveredExternal communication

Provision of monthly web consultation statistics and project based online services/guidance n/a 8

8/year

Provision of support to information events organised at national and regional level n/a 30 25/year

VI. DOCUMENT MANAGEMENTOrganisation of training sessions for all newcomers and regular refresher sessions for different target groups 4 24

6/year

Information meeting with document management correspondents (new procedures, HAN updates….) 2 6

3/year

% of document filed 100% 100% 99%Management of archival space agency (number of files prepared and sent to the Historical Archives Service, number of files destroyed in compliance with e-domec rules) 2080

3 894 /10 763

sent to Historical Archives Services /

destroyed

Treatment of all requests for access to documents within the set deadlines (15 working days) 100% 100%

80% des réponses dans les délais (15 jours

ouvrables)VII. IT% projects defined in the IT Master plan to be completed within a maximum delay of 10% of the agreed planning 92% 93%

90%

Server availability (average over the year) 100% 100% >99%% changes requested and defects resolved 98% 96% 95%Electronic forms are available for all the actions (as far as the number of expected applications is above 200) 100% 100%

100%

Helpdesktickets resolved first line 61% 60% 35%re-opened tickets 1% 1% 4%respect of operational level agreements 98% 98% 83%VI. Internal AuditDegree of implementation of the audits to be reported to the APC (so-called C1 audits) according to IAC annual work plan

n/a 100% 100%

Level of acceptance by the auditees of the “critical” or “very important” audit recommendations issued by the IAC

n/a 100% 100%

% of accepted audit recommendations due which are implemented n/a 100% 90%% of accepted audit recommendations due which are implemented within the deadlines n/a 86% 80%


Key conclusions on resource management and internal control effectiveness (executive summary on part 2 and 3)

In accordance with the governance statement of the European Commission, EACEA conducts its operations in compliance with the applicable laws and regulations, working in an open and transparent manner and meeting the expected high level of professional and ethical standards.

The Commission has adopted a set of internal control standards, based on international good practice, aimed to ensure the achievement of policy and operational objectives. As required by the Financial Regulation, the Executive Director has put in place the organisational structure and the internal control systems suited to the achievement of the policy and control objectives, in accordance with the standards and having due regard to the risks associated with the environment in which it operates.

EACEA has assessed the effectiveness of its key internal control systems during the reporting year and has concluded that the internal control standards are effectively implemented. Furthermore, EACEA has taken measures to further improve the efficiency of its internal control systems in the area of ICS 6 Risk Management process and 8 Processes and Procedures as reported in Part 3. Please refer to Part 3 for further details.

In addition, EACEA has systematically examined the available control results and indicators as well as the observations and recommendations issued by internal auditors and the European Court of Auditors. These elements have been assessed to determine their impact on the management's assurance as regards the achievement of control objectives. Please refer to Part 2 for further details

In conclusion, management has reasonable assurance that, overall, suitable controls are in place and working as intended; risks are being appropriately monitored and mitigated; and necessary improvements and reinforcements are being implemented. The Executive Director, in his capacity as Authorising Officer by Delegation has signed the Declaration of Assurance albeit qualified by a reservation concerning the Lifelong Learning Programme (LLP) 2007-2013.

Information to the Commissioners

The main elements of this report and assurance declaration, including the reservation envisaged, have been brought to the attention of the agency's Steering Committee and to the parent DGs Directors General, who have taken these into consideration in their reporting to Commissioner Tibor Navracsics, responsible for Education, Culture, Youth and Sport, Commissioner Dimitris Avramopoulos, responsible for Migration, Home Affairs and Citizenship, Commissioner Günther Oettinger, responsible for Digital Economy and Society and Commissioner Christos Stylianides, responsible for Humanitarian Aid and Crisis Management.


1. IMPLEMENTATION OF THE AGENCY'S ANNUAL WORK PROGRAMME 2014

1.1 Achievement of specific objectives

1.1.1 Policy area: Competitiveness for growth and jobs - Erasmus+ (ABB activity 15.02)

The implementation of the Erasmus+ Programme by the Agency contributes to the achievement of the specific objectives set by DG EAC as indicated in the general budget 2014 publication.

N° Specific Objectives of budget lines 15.02

1.1 - To improve the level of key competences and skills, with particular regard to their relevance for the labour market and their contribution to a cohesive society, in particular through increased opportunities for learning mobility and through strengthened cooperation between the world of education and training and the world of work

1.2 - To foster quality improvements, innovation excellence and internationalisation at the level of education and training institution, in particular through enhanced transnational cooperation between education and training providers and other stakeholders 2

1.3 - To promote the emergence and raise awareness of a European lifelong learning area designed to complement policy reforms at national level and to support the modernisation of education and training systems, in particular through enhanced policy cooperation, better use of Union transparency and recognition tools and the dissemination of good practices

1.4 - To enhance the international dimension of education and training, in particular through cooperation between Union and partner-country institutions in the field of VET and in higher education, by increasing the attractiveness of European higher education institutions and supporting the Union's external action, including its development objectives, through the promotion of mobility and cooperation between the Union and partner-country higher education institutions and targeted capacity-building in partner countries

1.5 - To improve the teaching and learning of languages and promote the Union's broad linguistic diversity and intercultural awareness

1.6 - To promote excellence in teaching and research activities in European integration through Jean Monnet activities worldwide

1.7 - To improve the level of key competences and skills of young people, including those with fewer opportunities, as well as to promote participation in democratic life in Europe and the labour market, active citizenship, intercultural dialogue, social inclusion and solidarity, notably through increased learning mobility opportunities for young people, those active in youth work or youth organisations and youth leaders, and through strengthened links between the youth field and the labour market

2 As regards breakdown by type of organisations/country/sector, the public source of the reporting on indicators stipulated in the legal basis is to be defined.


1.8 - To foster quality improvements in youth work, notably through enhanced cooperation between organisations in the youth field and/or other stakeholders

1.9 - To complement policy reforms at local, regional and national level and to support the development of knowledge and evidence-based youth policy as well as the recognition of non-formal and informal learning, notably through enhanced policy cooperation, better use of Union transparency and recognition tools and the dissemination of good practices

1.10 - To enhance the international dimension of youth activities and the role of youth workers and organisations as support structures for young people in conjunction with the Union's external action, notably through the promotion of mobility and cooperation between the Union and partner country stakeholders and international organisations and through targeted capacity-building in partner countries.

1.11 - To tackle cross-border threats to integrity of sport such as doping, match fixing, violence as well as all kind of intolerance and discrimination

1.12 - To promote and support good governance in sport and dual careers of athletes

1.13 - To promote voluntary activities in sport, together with social inclusion, equal opportunities and awareness of the importance of health-enhancing physical activity, through increased participation in, and equal access to sport for all.

2014 was the first operational year of the Erasmus+ Programme. The General Call for Proposals was published by DG EAC on 12th December 2013, considerably later than the initial planning had provided for. DG EAC also published in 2013 the initial calls that needed to be launched, including some of the invitations to designated bodies, before the Agency's delegation act was adopted on 18th December 2013. The Agency then followed up by publishing specific calls for proposal to cover the selections that were not included in the General Call and the Programme Guide, as well as restricted calls related to E+ Policy Networks. The Agency adapted deadlines accordingly to ensure that applicants would have sufficient time to prepare their proposals after the calls were published. Finally, for restricted calls addressing Designated Bodies, the first year of

3 EFTA, Third countries and EDF included 4 Temporary Agents and Detached Seconded Officials 5 Contract Agents (R0 and EDF included), Interim Staff, Prestataires de service

ABB activity: Erasmus+ + Legacy Financial resources

(€) in commitment appropriations Human resources

Operational expenditure

(Heading 1&4)

Administrative expenditure3 (managed by the service)

Total Establishment plan posts4

Estimates of external personnel

(in FTEs)5

Total

399.978.329 34.602.679 434.581.008 78 225 303


activity was affected negatively by the time required for the administrative steps to be completed for the designations of all the relevant bodies to be formalised in the programme countries. Overall the first year of operation was completed successfully despite the delays and, by the end of the year, the vast majority of grant agreements and contracts were issued and first payments processed.


State of play Selection and Contracting Phase - 31st December June 2014

Budget Lines: 15.02.01.01, 15.02.01.02, 15.02.02, 15.02.03

WPIN° of planned interventions

AMPCall N° Call Deadline

N° of Applicat° received

N° of Applicat° on-line

% Ineligible

App°

N° of selected Projects

% Selected Projects

Grant award decision

date


Mode

Time to award

in months

Time to contract

in months

Sum TTA + TTC

KA1

1.20 11 EAC S11/13 27/03/2014 61 61 5% 11 18% 23/07/2014 CFP-EA4,3 4,3 8,6

1.21 138 EACEA 42/11 28/02/2014 138 88 0% 138 100% 12/05/2014 CFP-EA2,4 3,1 5,5

1.22 42 EACEA 42/11 28/02/2014 42 42 0% 42 100% 12/05/2015 CFP-EA2,8 2,4 5,2

KA2

2.20 Knowledge Alliances 7 EAC S11/13 03/04/2014 230 229 0% 10 4% 3/10/2014 CFP-EA 6,5 2,0 8,5

2.21 Sector Skills Alliances 7 EAC S11/13 03/04/2014 48 48 70% 6 13% 19/09/2014 CFP-EA 6,3 2,2 8,5

1 EACEA 2014/03 10/04/2014 1 0 0% 1 100% 22/05/2014 PP-EA 1,0 2,0 3,0

1 EACEA 2014/11 1/09/2014 1 0 0% 1 100% 23/10/2014 PP-EA 1,0 2,0 3,0

35 EAC S10/2013 7/03/2014 35 2 3% 34 97%25/04/2014 25/06/2014 D-EA 1,8 1,5 3,3

1 EAC/S33/2013 7/03/2014 1 1 0% 1 100% 9/04/2014 D-EA 1,0 2,0 3,0

5 EACEA 21/2013 28/08/2014 4 0 0% 4 100% 15/10/2014 D-EA - - -

5 EACEA 41/2013 7/03/2014 5 0 0% 5 100% 15/04/2014

12/06/2014 D-EA 1,5 2,0 3,5

2.34 38 EACEA 14/2014 19/06/2014 31 31 3% 30 97% 2/10/2014 SPE-EA 3,8 1,4 5,2

2.32

eTwinning National Support Services (NSS) and Partner Support Agencies (PSA)

2.31

Joint Doctoral Programmes

EPALE National Support Services (platform for EU adult cooperation)

eTwinning Central Support Service (CSS)

Erasmus+

Action

Budget line 15.02.01.01: Education and Training

Joint Masters Programmes

Joint Masters Programmes -'partnerships agreements'






% Ineligible

App°


% Selected Projects


date


Mode

Time to award

in months

Time to contract

in months

Sum TTA + TTC

KA3

3.02 41 EACEA 08/2014 28/02/2014 42 42 5% 40 95% 20/05/2014 D-EA 2,9 2,4 5,3

3.07 40 EACEA 2/2014 15/10/2014 15 15 13% 13 87% 5/12/2014 MON-EA 1,9 0,1 2,0

3.08 15 EACEA 01/2014 01/07/2014 9 9 11% 8 89% 12/08/2014 MON-EA 1,6 1,4 3,0

3.21 7 EACEA 10/2014

20/05/2014 (pre proposals)

02/10/2014(full proposals) 19 0 37% 7 37% 17/11/2014 CFP-EA 1,8 0,6 2,5

3.40 36 EACEA 06/2014 30/04/2014 33 33 0% 33 100% 25/06/2014 D-EA 2,1 1,8 3,9

3.41 37 EACEA 07/2014 30/04/2014 34 34 0% 34 100% 10/06/2014 D-EA 1,6 1,6 3,2

3.42 37 EACEA 04/2014 28/11/2014 7 7 0% 5 71% - D-EA - - -

3.43 15 EAC/NAR/001/2014 19/03/2014 8 8 0% 8 100% 22/05/2014 D-EA 2,8 1,7 4,5

3.51 37 EACEA 12/2014 13/05/2014 31 31 6% 27 87% 22/09/2014 SPE-EA 4,9 1,5 6,3

3.49 37 EACEA 09/2014 30/04/2014 24 24 0% 24 100% 27/06/2014 D-EA 2,2 2,2 4,3

3.52 33 EACEA 03/2014 11/09/2014 15 15 0% 15 100% 18/11/2014 D-EA 2,5 0,7 3,2

3.55 40 EACEA 20/2014 30/09/2014 21 20 0% 20 95% 21/11/2014 SPE-EA 2,1 0,5 2,6

3.57 27 EACEA 26/2014 20/10/2014 24 0 0% 24 100% 11/11/2014 SPE-EA 0,4 0,4 0,8

3.60 750 EACEA 15/2014 22/05/2014 671 695 5% 539 80% 3/12/2014 APEL-EA - - -

3.64 15EACEA 13/2014 26/06/2014 21 21 10%

10 48% 13/10/2014CFP-EA

3,0 2,4 5,4

3.75 19

EACEA 05/14 17/03/2014 34 31 15% 19 56%10/06/201425/06/2014 (amended)

CFP-OP-EA

6,5 2,0 8,5

1.477 1.605 1.487 6% 1.109 69% 2,8 1,8 4,5

Europass National Centres

Euroguidance network Part A

Survey - ICCS

Survey - ICILS

Eurydice network

Action

Budget line 15.02.01.01: Education and Training

Initiative to support the implementation of EHEA reforms/Support to Bologna process

Network of Higher Education Reform Experts HEREs (directly through NE+O)

Erasmus Charter for Higher Education

National Authorities on Apprenticeships

European policy experimentations

NARIC (National Academic Recognition Centres)

National Coordinators for the implementation of the European Agenda for Adult Learning

Euroguidance network (Part B: databases for learning opportunities)

EQF National Coordination point (Part A)

EQF National Coordination point Qualifications data basis and registers (Part B)

Sub-totalCivil Society Cooperation: Education and Training






% Ineligible

App°


% Selected Projects


date


Mode

Time to award

in months

Time to contract

in months

Sum TTA + TTC

KA1

1.12 3 EAC S11/13 03/04/2014 10 10 10% 5 50%15/07/2014

CFP-EA3,6 0,5 4,1

KA2

2.11110

EAC S11/13 03/04/20142/09/2014

315 315 5% 79 25% 15/07/201403/12/2014

CFP-EA3,5 0,6 4,1

KA3

3.451 N/A 31/03/2014 1 0 0% 1 100% 13/05/2014 D-EA 1,7 0,4 2,1

3.7230 N/A 30/07/2014 30 0 0% 30 100% 5/09/2014 MON-EA 1,6 0,8 2,3

3.76100 EACEA 05/2014 17/03/2014 90 85 8% 79 88% 05/062014 CFP-OP-EA 2,9 0,6 3,5

3.21 7 EACEA 10/2014

20/05/2014 (pre proposals)

02/10/2014(full proposals) 2 0 0% 1 50% 17/11/2014 CFP-EA 1,8 0,6 2,5

244 446 410 5% 194 43% 2,4 0,6 3,0

4.10132 EACEA S11/2013 26/03/2014 321 321 6,9% 138 43% 22/07/2014 CFP-EA 4,7 1,7 6,3

4.1162 EACEA S11/2013 26/03/2014 143 143 5,6% 62 43% 22/07/2014 CFP-EA 4,7 2,2 6,9

4.1212 EACEA S11/2013 26/03/2014 29 29 34,5% 12 42% 22/07/2014 CFP-EA 4,7 1,9 6,6

4.202 N/A 31/12/2013 2 0 0,0% 2 100% 11/04/2014 D-EA 3,8 1,7 5,5

4.211 N/A 31/12/2013 1 0 0,0% 1 100% 11/04/2014 D-EA 3,8 1,7 5,5

4.22 1 N/A 31/12/2013 1 0 0,0% 1 100% 11/04/2014 D-EA 3,8 1,7 5,5

4.23 1 N/A 31/12/2013 1 0 0,0% 1 100% 11/04/2014 D-EA 3,8 1,7 5,5

4.24 1 N/A 31/12/2013 1 0 0,0% 1 100% 11/04/2014 D-EA 3,8 1,7 5,5

4.25 1 N/A 31/12/2013 1 0 0,0% 1 100% 11/04/2014 D-EA 3,8 1,7 5,5

500 493 8% 219 81% 4,1 1,8 5,8

Action

Sub-total

Sub-total

Special Needs Agency, Odense

CIFE, Nice

College of Europe, Bruges & Natolin

European University Institute, Florence

Academy of European Law, Trier

Institute of Public Administration, Maastricht

Jean Monnet Chairs, Centres of Excellence and Academic Modules

Budget line 15.02.01.02: Youth

Large Scale EVS Events

Policy debate with academic world

Jean Monnet Support to institutions and associations

Capacity building (Youth)

Eurodesk Brussels-link

Structured dialogue (Youth)

Civil society cooperation (Youth)

Budget line 15.02.02: Jean Monnet

European policy experimentations






% Ineligible

App°


% Selected Projects


date


Mode

Time to award

in months

Time to contract

in months

Sum TTA + TTC

5.1045 EAC S11/13 26/06/2014 305 305 6% 38 12% 5/12/2014 CFP-EA 5,6 0,2 5,9

5.11

4 EAC/S11/13 14/03/2014 37 0 41% 3 8% 10/06/2014 CFP-EA 3,2 0,4 3,6

5.143 EAC/S11/13 26/06/2014 135 135 11% 3 2% 5/12/2014 PP-EA 5,6 0,2 5,8

477 440 10% 44 9% 4,8 0,3 5,1Heading 4 Budget lines 21.02.20 ; 21.03.20 ; 19.05.20 ; 22.02.04.02

2.41

27 EACEA 26/2014 20/10/2014 24 0 0 24 100% 11/11/2014 CFP-EA 0,4 - -

24 0 0% 24 100% 0,4 - -3052 2830 7% 1590 51% 2,9 1,1 4,6

Action

TOTAL

Support the strengthening of the evidence base for policy making

Sub-total

Budget line 15.02.03: Sport

Support for collaborative partnerships

Support for non-profit European sport events, involving several programme countries and contributing to the objectives set out in Article 17.1(b) of the Regulation

Network of National Erasmus+ Offices

Sub-total


A. Education and Training activities

a) Publications of Calls • General Call for Proposals

The General Erasmus+ Call for Proposals (EAC/A04/14) was published by DG EAC in the Official Journal and on the website on 2nd October 2014. This call included for the first time all three components of the programme's international dimension (degree mobility, capacity-building and credit mobility). The participation of the Agency staff in Infodays and regional promotion events was a priority in the second semester 2014 to advertise the publication of the first calls.

• Specific calls

Additionally the Agency launched 6 specific calls under Education and Training:

− EACEA 10/2014 European Policy Experimentations (selection in 2 phases) − EACEA 30/2014 - Policy experimentation in school education sector (selection in

2 phases) − EACEA 13/2014 National Authorities on Apprenticeship − EACEA 33/2014- Forward looking cooperation projects − EACEA/31/2014 Civil Society Cooperation in the field of Education and Training

and Youth − EACEA/15/2014 Erasmus Charter for Higher education (a call with no financial

consequences) • Restricted Calls (Designated Bodies, European

Networks)

The Agency launched 15 invitations to designated bodies to submit applications in the reporting period, through restricted calls. In most of the cases, the restricted calls were streamlined, an eForm and supporting documents were designed and a helpdesk was created. The impact of the non-retroactivity of costs was limited by starting the eligibility period on the day of submission of the applications and award decisions were signed less than 3 months after the deadline for submission of the applications.

In addition, part of the legacy of Erasmus Mundus was managed through restricted calls to the beneficiaries of existing Framework Partnership Agreements supported under the Joint Masters Programmes partnership agreements, and Joint Doctoral Programmes.

• Call for Tender

In the framework of the eTwinning Central Support service (EACS33/2013), two negotiated procedures were managed by the Agency in 2014, in order to request additional services from the service provider under this contract: the first, launched in March, sought to extend the eTwinning Plus platform beyond the pilot established in 2012 and 2013 (EACEA/2014/03); the second, launched in July, requested two additional tools (course catalogue and partner finding search) to be added to the School Education Gateway (EACEA/2014/11).


b) Selection and monitoring • Selection

Call for Proposals (General, specific and restricted calls)

The first call for the new Erasmus+ Programme published on 12th December 2013 included measures covering 4 Education and Training action lines of the WP2014: Joint Masters Programmes, Knowledge Alliances, Sector Skills Alliances and European Policy Experimentation. The selections were managed according to the work programme with only small variations in terms of the number of projects selected for Joint Masters Programmes (11 instead of 9), Knowledge Alliances (10 instead of 7), Sector Skills Alliances (6 instead of 7) and Policy experimentation (8 instead of 6).

The additional projects on the whole were funded via a reallocation of funds across actions and the reallocation of extra funds from DG EAC at the end of the year to support reserve lists identified in the award decisions: Knowledge Alliances (4 projects), Civil Society Cooperation Education and Training, (1 project), Joint Master Degrees (2 projects) and European Policy experimentation (2 projects).

The selection of 4 specific calls was managed in the reporting period: European Policy Experimentations, National Authorities on Apprenticeships, Civil Society Education and Training and the Erasmus Charter for Higher Education. They were successfully completed in line with the Work Programme as far as milestones are concerned. In terms of the results of the selections, the National Authorities on Apprenticeships contracted only 10 out of 15 projects planned. On the other hand the European Policy Experimentations call resulted in 8 approved projects compared with the E+ work programme's estimate of 4 to 7. The extra funds required were allocated as above, through a reallocation of funds that were underspent in other actions.

The selections of designated bodies by restricted calls were generally managed according to the work programme with the exception of the number finally contracted, which was lower –sometimes significantly – that the number planned in the work programme. In general the reason for the reduced level of demand was related to the length of time required for the National Authorities to establish and designate the bodies concerned. As a consequence the budgets related to these action lines were not fully consumed and the savings made were reallocated to other action lines in consultation with DG EAC.

Call for Tender

A tender for Linguistic Assessment and Support (EAC/24/2013) was published by DG EAC on 14th December 20136. The Agency managed the selection as per the work programme, and the action was formally handed over to the Agency on 4th March 2014. The users of the service are involved in projects managed by National Agencies. As a

6 OJ 2013/S 243-422094


result the Agency has collaborated with DG EAC on information and training activities with the National Agencies, both face to face and through webinars. The service was launched on 1st October 2014. The Agency is managing order forms associated with the provision of language assessment and online courses provided to mobility activities through two Framework Contracts.

The call for tender for eTwinning Central Support service (EACS33/2013) was launched in 2013 by DG EAC and the award decision was signed on 9th April 2014. Two negotiated procedures took place in 2014. The contract for the first negotiated procedure was signed in June for the remaining part of the 2014. Annual renewals for the whole duration of the E+ Programme are foreseen. The contract for the second negotiated procedure was signed in November for duration of 14 months. Annual renewals for the whole duration of the E+ Programme are foreseen.

A call for tender for a centralised support structure for the network of Higher Education Reform Experts (EACEA 2014/1) was launched on 10th June 2014. The services to be provided consist of international training events for the Higher Education Reform Experts, the development and maintenance of a web portal and the provision of expert services for surveys or publications. 4 offers were received by the deadline and all of them fulfilled the exclusion and selection criteria. The contract with the selected service provider was signed in December 2014 for 3 years, with a possibility of renewal for another 3-year period.

• Monitoring

The monitoring of Erasmus+ has been mainly addressed via the organisation of 10 kick-off meetings for the first E+ projects selected in 2014. In addition, coordinators' meetings were organised for the projects selected in 2013 under the former LLP and Tempus programmes. In both type of meetings, beneficiaries and the Agency staff discussed operational, contractual and financial issues and exchanged good practices. The networking aspect was also facilitated by the meetings. Field monitoring activities of on-going projects funded under previous programmes continued to be implemented. In total, 214 on-going projects selected under the Lifelong learning programme were monitored either through missions or visit in Brussels.

c) Education and Youth Policy Support The 13 Eurydice publications foreseen in the 2014-2015 Work Programme were published and preparatory work on reports/documents included in the Work Programme 2014-2015 was carried out as agreed with DG EAC. The support to country desk officers continued via developments and the improvements of Eurypedia: Eurydice National Units annually update their national education system descriptions with a special attention to the revised chapter on on-going reforms and developments in education and training which is updated 4 times per year. 3 Eurydice Newsletters were produced to promote all Eurydice publications and Focus On articles. The activities in the field of Youth were implemented as scheduled: the Youth wiki project was presented to the Eurydice National Units and the preparation of the


implementation of this project continued. The preparation of the Agency's contribution to the 2015 EU Youth report started.

B. Youth activities

a) Publications of Calls • Call for Proposals

The General Erasmus+ Call for Proposals (EAC/04/14) was published by DG EAC in the Official Journal and on the website on 2nd October 2014. The Agency is also preparing the documentation required for the European Voluntary Service and Capacity Building Youth actions in order to launch the selection at the start of 2015. The specific call for Civil Society Cooperation in the field of Youth (EACEA/05/2014) was published on 29/01/2014 with a deadline for submission of applications of 17th March 2014. The invitation to submit to the Eurodesk Brussels Link call for designated bodies (restricted call) was sent by the Agency on 4th March 2014 with a deadline for submission of 31th March 2014.

• Call for Tender

Regarding the Insurance for European Voluntary Service participants7 due to the late adoption of the Erasmus+ programme and the extension of the Agency's mandate, it was not possible to launch the open call for tender in time to ensure coverage of the first 2014 volunteers. The Agency implemented a negotiated procedure with the existing Youth in Action programme service provider, to ensure the required insurance cover would be in place in time. This contract covers the period until the award of a new contract for insurance services, based upon an open call for tenders. In order to cover the period 2015-2022, a prior information notice was published on 9th April 2014 and the call was published on 29th September 2014. The deadline for submission of offers was 1st December 2014, and the Opening Committee was held on 08/12/2014.


General Call

The Large Scale European Voluntary Service events call, published on 12th December 2013, received 10 applications. The award decision, covering 5 projects, was signed on 11/07/2014. As a result there are 2 more projects than anticipated in the Work Programme and an increase in the grants allocated of around 17% of the initial amount.

The selection of the Capacity Building in the field of youth action was organised in 2 rounds with deadlines on 3rd April and 2nd September. Between them they attracted over 300 applications from which 79 were approved. This is a lower number than planned in the Work Programme (100) and the grants allocated represent an increase in the funding of under 5%.

7 Negotiated procedure under Article 134(1)(f) RAP


Specific calls

The Civil Society Cooperation in the field of Youth call was a success by attracting 90 applications. The funding decision listed 79 projects were selected absorbing almost all of the money allocated to the action in the work programme.

The call Structured Dialogue (Youth) was managed through 2 deadlines as few applications were submitted initially. By the second deadline in July, 30 applications had been received. The funding decision was signed on 05/09/2014 and 30 projects were selected absorbing around 85% of the funding allocated in the work programme.

• Monitoring

A new feature of the Erasmus+ Youth monitoring strategy in 2014 was the innovative use of the Adobe Connect tool to organise online kick-off meetings with newly selected Capacity Building and Large-Scale EVS beneficiaries. This was done in the first instance on 9 October 2014: each online meeting lasted approximately two hours and the participation rates were very high (100% for large scale EVS and 92% for Capacity Building). This innovative approach has been very positive from a budget point of view but also from the feedback collected from beneficiaries. In the meantime, approximately 20 on-going projects selected under the former programme Youth in Action have been monitored.

C. Jean Monnet activities

a) Publications of Calls The General Erasmus+ Call for Proposals (EAC/A04/14) was published by DG EAC in the Official Journal and on the website on 2 October 2014. The Agency selected projects under 3 action lines covered in the General Call for Proposals: Jean Monnet Modules, Chairs and Centres of excellence; Policy debate with the Academic World and Support to Institutions and Associations. The invitations to submit for 7 Designated Institutions covering 2015 were sent on 5th November 2014.


For the Jean Monnet Action Grants and the call published on 12th December 2013, 493 applications were received of which 213 were supported in the award decision signed in July, for a total amount of EUR 11,4 mio. For the Jean Monnet Operating Grants, the 7 Designated Institutions submitted their applications to DG EAC which then were officially transferred to the Executive Agency on the 19 February 2014 for a total amount of EUR 26,6 mio.

• Monitoring

24 Jean Monnet projects were monitored in 2014. Priority was given to the Jean Monnet Centres of Excellence due to their role as a focal point for European Integration Studies at the given institution and therefore their highest potential for impact among all action types of Jean Monnet. Moreover, Information and Research Activities projects – which are based on flat-rate funding schemes - were monitored to verify the value for money and actual expenditures on the spot. The Agency participated to an Information Day in Belgrade, which was an excellent


occasion to promote all Jean Monnet Activities and to reply to questions from potential applicants and current beneficiaries mainly in European Neighbourhood Policy. A dedicated Information Day for all the Jean Monnet Designated Institutions took place in Brussels in order to exchange information on their on-going projects and their applications for 2015. Finally, the annual Jean Monnet Conference in Brussels was an opportunity to meet many of the Jean Monnet stakeholders and exchange information on on-going projects.

D. Sport activities a) Publications of Calls

• Calls for proposals

The General Erasmus+ Call for Proposals (EAC/A04/14) was published by DG EAC in the Official Journal and on the website on 2 October 2014. Linked to this, the Agency published the documentation required for applicants on 12th December 2014 for Collaborative partnerships in the sport field and Not-for-profit European sport events 2015. A highly successful Sport Info Day was organised in February with over 400 participants attending the meeting in Brussels and a further 4,500 individuals following the event by web-streaming. In addition, the Agency participated to the Sport Forum organised by DG EAC with the presence of the Commissioner in Milan on 1-2 December 2014.

• Call for tenders

Prior information notices for procurement contracts related to two studies on Sport were published in the Official Journal on 28/03/2014. The two studies are:

1) Contribution of sport to regional development through the structural funds; 2) Sport qualifications acquired through sport organisations.

For the study on "Sport qualifications acquired through sport organisations and (sport) education institutes", 4 offers were received. The opening of the tenders took place on 24 September, the meeting of the Evaluation Committee on 16 October. The award decision was signed on 16/12/2014 and the contract will be issued at the beginning of January 2015.

b) Selection The Support for Not-for-profit European Sport Events call was modified to include 2 deadlines. The award decisions were signed in June for the first round and December for the second. In total 6 projects were funded, an increase on the 4 planned in the Work Programme.

Conclusion As evidenced above, the part Erasmus+ of the policy or spending programme managed by the DG is on course to meet its multiannual objectives for this objective and has achieved the annual performance indicators or outputs and milestones in the reporting year.


1.1.2 Policy area Security and citizenship - Creative Europe (ABB 15.04)

Through its activities, the Agency contributes to the achievement of the following specific objectives set by DG EAC and indicated in the general budget 2014 publication:

Specific Objectives N°

Specific Objectives of budget lines 15.04

3.1 - To promote the transnational circulation of cultural and creative works and operators, and reach new audiences in Europe and beyond

3.2 - To support the capacity of the European cultural and creative sectors to operate transnationally and internationally

3.4 - To support transnational policy cooperation in order to foster policy development, innovation, creativity, audience building and new business models

8 EFTA, Third countries and EDF included 9 Temporary Agents and Detached Seconded Officials 10 Contract Agents (R0 included)

ABB activity: Creative Europe + Legacy Financial resources






(in FTEs)10

Total

160.979.556

12.769.760 173.749.316 25 102 127


State of play Selection and Contracting Phase - 31st December 2014

Budget Lines 15.04.01, 15.04.02 and 15.04.03

WPI

N° of planned

interventionsAMP

Call N° Call DeadlineN° of

Applicat° received

% Ineligible App°


% Selected Projects

Grant award decision date

Grant award

decision Mode

Time to award

in months

Time to contract

in months

Total TTA+TTC

MEDIA Sub-programme

2.01 80 EAC/S23/2013 23/05/2014 114 2% 59 52% 23/05/2014 CFP-EA4,67 1,5

6,1

2.02 240 EAC/S30/201328/02/201428/03/201406/06/2014

1070 10% 266 25%11/07/201416/10/201428/07/2014

CFP-EA 4,3 2,1 6,4

2.03 20 EAC/S-31/2013 28/03/2014 259 45% 29 11% 8/08/2014 CFP-EA 4,8 1,7 6,5

2.04 50 EAC/S24/2013 28/02/201413/06/2014

135 21% 53 39% 23/05/201416/10/2014

CFP-EA 4,0 1,7 5,7

2.05 25 EAC/S29/2013 21/03/2014 9 33% 5 56% 23/05/2014 CFP-EA 2,7 2,4 5,1

2.06 33 EAC/S25/2013EAC/S26/2013

07/03/201406/06/2014

92 3% 45 49% 01/07/201406/06/2014

CFP-EA 4,4 1,5 5,8

2.07 800 EAC/S28/2013 31/12/201430/04/2014

1372 9% 757 55% 28/11/201411/12/2013

CFP-EA 1,4 - -

2.08 400 EAC/S22/2013 28/02/201402/07/2014

1039 11% 421 41% 08/08/201424/10/2014

CFP-EA 4,0 - -

2.09 50 EAC/S21/2013 31/12/201418/06/2014

81 12% 39 48% 5/03/20135/03/2014

CFP-EA - - -

2.10 1 EAC/S20/2013 27/06/2014 1 0% 1 100% 9/12/2014 CFP-EA 5,7 -0,1 5,6

2.11 80 EAC/S32/2013 28/02/2014 316 24% 88 28% 28/02/201404/07/2014

CFP-EA 4,2 - -

2.12 20 EAC/S27/2013 28/03/2014 55 25% 16 29% 24/06/2014 CFP-EA 3,2 4,3 7,5

2.13 20 EACEA 16/2014 11/07/2014 54 13% 17 31% 07/11/2014 CFP-EA 4,4 0,6 5,0

4597 13% 1796 43% 4,0 1,7 6,0

Support to Television Programming

Creative Europe

Action

Support to Training

Support to the Development of Single Project and Slate Funding

Support to the Development of European Video Games

Support to Festivals

Audience Development

Online Distribution

Support to Co-production funds

Support to Market access

Support for the Distribution of non-national films – The Cinema Automatic Scheme

Support for the Distribution of non-national films – The Cinema Selective Scheme

Support to the International Sales Agents of European Cinematographic films

Cinema Networks

Sub-total


WPI

N° of planned

interventionsAMP


Applicat° received

% Ineligible App°


% Selected Projects


Grant award

decision Mode

Time to award

in months

Time to contract

in months

Total TTA+TTC

Culture Sub-programme

2.14 100 EAC/S16/2013 05/03/201419/03/2014

411 13% 63 15% 4/08/2014 CFP-EA 5,1 3,6 8,8

2.15 60 EAC/S19/2013 12/03/2014 261 11% 78 30% 12/08/2014 CFP-EA 5,6 3,1 8,7

2.16 25 EAC/S18/2013 19/03/2014 58 2% 23 40% 13/08/2014 CFP-EA 5,3 2,8 8,1

2.17 10 EAC/S17/2013 19/03/2014 24 38% 5 21% 1/08/2014 CFP-EA 4,8 3,2 8,1

754 12% 169 22% 5,2 3,2 8,4Cross-sectoral strand

2.21 37 EACEA 19/2013 31/12/2013 35 0% 34 87% 08/04/2014 D-EA 3,5 - -

5386 13% 1999 37% 4,2 2,2 6,7

Action

Sub-total

Total CREATIVE EUROPE

Support to Creative Europe Desks

Support to Cooperation projects

Support to Literary translation projects

Support to Networks

Support to Platforms


2014 was a year of significant changes and challenges with the launch of the new Creative Europe Programme, successor of the Culture and MEDIA and MEDIA Mundus programmes. The Creative Europe programme introduces new schemes, modifications in the existing ones and more deadlines to apply. The introduction of a lump sum payment for a range of actions is also a novelty to the programme.

Most of the Creative Europe calls were published in December 2013, ahead of the date previously planned in the WP 2014. Despite the late adoption of the programme and the resultant delays in Call Publications and deadlines, the overall implementation of the programme was very successful. The global success rate is 43% for the MEDIA sub programme and 22,41% for the Culture sub-programme.

The Agency managed 26 application deadlines for 19 schemes, receiving and processing over 5,000 applications and selecting some 2,000 projects with a completed contract value of over 109M€. Previous commitments for the Culture, MEDIA 2007 & MEDIA Mundus programmes were also fulfilled in a timely manner.

A. MEDIA sub-programme

a) Publications of Calls One further Call EACEA 16/2014 – Support to Online Distribution (MEDIA) was published on 13/05/2014 in accordance with the timetable of the revised 2014 Work Programme.

In line with the demand for new schemes and the policy priorities, financial resources were added to the Development (including Video Games), Cinema Selective, Festivals, Television and On Line Distribution schemes. Some additional resources were also used for Training and Market Access to accommodate the incorporation of aspects of the MEDIA Mundus Programme.

The majority of the Calls for proposals in the 2015 Work Programme of Creative Europe were published on time in the last quarter of 2014. As regards the MEDIA sub-programme, the Agency published the following:

- EACEA 17/2014 – Development - Single (19/11/2014) - EACEA 18/2014 – Development - Slate (27/11/2014) - EACEA 23/2014 – Cinema Selective (06/10/2014) - EACEA 24/2014 – Support for TV Programming (14/11/2014) - EACEA 27/2014 – Cinema Automatic (12/12/2014) - EACEA 29/2014 – Market Access (05/11/2014) - EACEA 24/2014 – Support for TV Programming (14/11/2014) - EACEA 43/2014 – Support for International Co-production funds (19/12/2014)

As regards the information campaign, the Agency participated in two major launch events for Creative Europe. The first of these was organised by the British Film Institute in London. A similar launch event took place in Berlin during the Berlin Film Festival with an audience estimated at around 400 persons. In addition, an event focusing on the international aspects of Creative Europe was hosted by the International Film Festival of Rotterdam. Usual applicant/beneficiary meetings took place during the Berlin and Cannes Film Festivals and the MIPTV market.



Despite the delays in the first few months of the year mainly due to the introduction of the new IT systems, the yearly work programme was duly completed in time before the end of the year. The budgetary execution and planning of time to award and contract targets were fully met with the exception of the Audience Development scheme for which the time to contract was longer than foreseen.

Substantial changes were introduced to the selection process with a revised expert methodology being applied to all schemes. Substantial efforts were made to greatly increase the detailed level of feedback given to both successful and unsuccessful candidates.

While all of the schemes were successful, some of them did not reach the target numbers given in the Work programme. For the actions Training, Audience Development and Online Distribution, the average amount awarded per project was higher than foreseen leading to a lower number of awards. For the Cinema Automatic and the Sales Agent, the provision of additional funds in 2013 resulted in a lower demand in a 2014. For co-production funds, the Work programme indicates the number of co-production loans while the selected projects refer to the number of contracts issued. As this is a cascade system of contracts, the number of resulting loans cannot be counted at the time of this report.

• Monitoring A specific methodology of monitoring by action has been defined in 2014 and was strictly followed. In total 88 projects from the previous programme MEDIA 2007-2013 have been visited and monitored either on site or in Brussels. Recurrent issued and best practices have been identified by strands and could guide the monitoring of the projects under Creative Europe.

B. Culture sub-programme

a) Publications of Calls

Under the Culture sub-programme, given that there will be no further calls for the Supporting the Networks until 2016, the 2014 budget dedicated to Networks was raised by €1 million in order to allow for a quality selection with a sustainable perspective.

The majority of the Calls for proposals in the 2015 Work Programme of Creative Europe were published on time in the last quarter of 2014. As regards the Culture sub-programme, the Agency published the following:

− Support to Cooperation projects EACEA 32/2014 − Support to Literary translation projects EACEA 46/2014 − Support to Platforms EACEA 47/2014


The budgetary execution and timeliness of time to award and to contract targets were fully met. More large scale co-operation projects were funded due to their high quality. Due to budget constraints, less small scale projects could be selected. The support to Platforms was less successful than expected in terms of number of applications. It was


decided to finance only the highest quality proposals as another call for proposals will be launched in 2015. The remaining budget was used to reinforce the Support to Networks.

• Monitoring A strong focus on communication and information on the new programme and its different strands marked 2014. At the same time, the Agency managed to implement a strong monitoring mission for difficult and/or high volume legacy projects as projected. Wherever possible, attendance at events for information purposes was linked to monitoring of projects on the spot.

The kick-off meeting for the 2014 Culture projects (Co-operation projects, Networks and Platforms) organised by the Agency in Brussels on 10/11/2014 gathered the 90 new coordinators while, on the following day, the majority of the projects had a desk review with project officers at the Agency.

The previous generation of projects (Culture programme 2007-2013) was closely followed up. More than 20 on-going projects were monitored either through visits on site or meetings at cultural events. The Frankfurt, Goteborg and London book fairs were also the opportunity to meet more than 30 on-going translation projects. The mission timetable was respected in terms of advance scheduling, choice of worthwhile projects (problematic, high financial support or similar) and feedback.

C. Cross-sectoral strand


2014 was a transitional period for the Creative Europe Desks as with the new Programme, MEDIA desks and Culture Contact points were asked to merge. As this implies major changes for the concerned organisations, DG EAC and the Agency had foreseen the possibility for concerned organisations to submit their applications under a restricted call for proposals with three deadlines (on 31/12/2013, on 31/03/2014 and on 30/06/2014).


The 3 deadlines enabled the selection of 32 Creative Europe Desks. 35 applications were received but the FYROM, Macedonia and Albania cancelled their participation after applying. Turkey and Bosnia did not apply as Turkey was not part of the programme in 2014 (only as from 1/01/2015) and Bosnia had difficulties in setting up the Desks (Bosnia entered the Programme as from 01/07/2014).

• Monitoring

The first common Creative Europe Desks meeting took place on 25/26 June 2014 in Marathon, Greece in the context of the Greek presidency. The main purpose of the meeting was to bring together all members of the Creative Europe Desk network to better know each other, to discuss the challenges encountered until this day and to identify synergies and common working strategies. Therefore four thematic interactive workshops were organised (Joint activities, Communication strategy, implementation of the Creative Europe Desk structure and Trans-border cooperation) in order to collect feedback and encourage closer cooperation. DG EAC and the Agency gave an overview on the first calls of the Creative Europe Programme and requested feedback from the


desks. The Agency also visited the activities of French and the Greek Desks which gave a good insight into the way they are working.

c) Risk assessment As from 2015, and due to the internal reallocation of the portfolio of the Commission's DGs, the Creative Europe programme will be under the responsibility of both DG EAC and DG CNECT. While DG EAC keeps the responsibility for the policy aspects of the Culture sub-programme, DG CNECT will be responsible for the policy aspects of the MEDIA sub-programme. A potential risk arose regarding the division of the programme and consequently, the supervision of the management of the sub-programmes. During the last quarter of 2014, specific contact was initiated with DG CNECT to ensure a smooth transition of the supervision of the MEDIA sub-programme.

Conclusion The Agency has implemented the necessary corrective actions to mitigate identified risks and how this is influencing progress in the implementation of the programme toward achieving its objectives.

As evidenced above, this part of Creative Europe managed by the EACEA is on course to meet its multiannual objectives and has achieved the annual performance indicators in the reporting year.


1.1.3 Policy area Security and citizenship - Europe for Citizens (ABB 16.06)

The implementation of the above funding actions by the Agency contributes to the achievement of the following objectives. These objectives are set by DG COMM and indicated in the general budget 2014 publication.

Specific Objectives N°

Specific Objectives of budget line 16.02

NA raise awareness of remembrance, common history and values and the Union's aim that is to promote peace, its values and the well-being of its peoples by stimulating debate, reflection and development of networks;

NA encourage democratic and civic participation of citizens at Union level, by developing citizens' understanding of the Union policy making-process and promoting opportunities for societal and intercultural engagement and volunteering at Union level

11 EFTA, Third countries and EDF included 12 Temporary Agents and Detached Seconded Officials 13 Contract Agents

ABB activity: Europe for Citizens + Legacy Financial resources






(in FTEs)13

Total

22.580.000 2.191.000 24.771.000 4 19 23



Budget line : 16.02.01


AMPCall N° Call

DeadlineN° of Applicat°

receivedN° of Applicat°

on-line% Ineligible

App°


% Selected Projects


Grant award decision Mode

Time to award

in months

Time to contract

in months

Total Time to award + Time to contract

1.1 63 EACEA 36/2014 04/06/2014 472 467 0% 36 8% 23/07/2014 CFP-EA 1,87 1,67 3,54

1.2 8 COMM C2 01/2013 17/04/2014 22 22 0% 6 27% 10/06/2014 CFP-OP-EA 2,03 0,202,23

2.1 417 EACEA 36/2014 04/06/201401/09/2014 667 663 0% 252 38% 25/07/2014

07/11/2014CFP-EA 2,47 0,80

3,27

2.2 100 EACEA 36/2014 04/06/201401/09/2014

224 221 0% 35 16% 24/07/20145/11/2014

CFP-EA 2,35 0,823,17

2.3 38 EACEA 36/2014 01/09/2014 538 536 0% 29 5% 20/11/2014 CFP-EA 3,03 2,70 5,73

2.4 27 COMM C2/01/2013 17/04/2014 139 139 0% 29 21% 10/06/2014 CFP-EA 1,20 1,072,27

3.2 33 EACEA 22/2013 17/04/2014 25 0 0% 25 100% 19/05/2014 SPEC-EA 1,30 1,432,73

686 2087 2048 0% 412 20% 2,04 1,24 3,28TOTAL

Network of twinned towns

Civil Society ProjectsStructural support for think tanks, organisations at European level (framework partnerships)

Information structures in Member States and participating countries

Europe for Citizens

Action

Remembrance projectsStructural support for think tanks, organisations at European level (framework partnerships)

Town twinning citizens meetings



The late adoption of the programme Europe for Citizens14 (2014-2020) on 14/04/2014 has affected the original calendar of the selections and consequently the management plan of the EACEA. The first deadline for Town Twinning, Networks of Twinned Towns and Remembrance (originally foreseen on 01/03) was postponed to 4/06 while the one for Civil Society Projects was fixed on 01/09. These modifications were widely advertised to programme stakeholders via the EACEA website. Therefore 2014 should be considered as an "exceptional" year in the implementation of the Programme.

Moreover, following the call for proposals COMM-C2/01/2013 for Operating Grants published on 11/11/2013, guidelines for applications from Balkan countries (for the period 2015-2017) were published in November 2014, with a deadline for submission of proposals on 29/12/2014. This call concerns the applicants from the three countries (Serbia, Montenegro, former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia) that signed the Memorandum of Understanding/International Agreement in 2014 in order to formally participate in the Programme.

b) Selection and monitoring

In general, the selections were handled in less than 2 months (time between the deadline and the Decision) and pre-financing payments were carried out in less than 5 days.

More than 400 applications were selected for grants, with an average success rate of 20%. Generally speaking, the projects selected have a developed network, a large geographical coverage and a strong focus on the EU Agenda. For all of the actions contained within this programme, the geographical spread of the selected projects including the partners is important considering that all Member States are represented within the selected projects.

The experience gained in the management of the Europe for Citizens programme 2007-2013 and clearly elaborated upon in an assessment published in 2014, allow the Unit to reach positives results towards the indicators established (i.e. Time to contract and Time to award are largely below the delays set) and to offer to applicants and beneficiaries an efficient service. The strong collaboration with the mirror DG (DG COMM) at all levels (policy officers, Heads of Unit, Directors and General Director) proved to be "the lesson to learn" for a successful implementation of the Programme.

Furthermore, following the structural reorganisation of the Commission and the transfer of the Europe for Citizens Programme into the portfolio of DG HOME, positive contacts were established with the new parent DG at the initiative of the Director of the Agency.

14 C 390/2014


c) Risk assessment

The significant decrease of payment appropriations for 2015 will lead to a decrease in pre-financing payments and therefore may generate a number of complaints from beneficiaries. To prevent such situation, the mitigating measures have been put in place:

- The ECPs (Europe for Citizens Contact Points) were informed of the decrease in pre-financing, notably via an announcement at the ECP meeting organised by DG COMM in October 2014, which allowed rapid and widespread dissemination of the information. Communication was also conducted towards stakeholders through meetings and international events. Moreover, organisations receiving operating grants for the period 2014-2017 have been informed in written.

- Any surplus in terms of payment appropriations for 2015 (e.g. through the legacy budget line) would make additional pre-financing possible. A request for additional credits through the 2015 Global Transfer could also be envisaged.

The impact of pre-financing decrease will be minimal for action grants (pre-financing payment of 40% instead of 50%), and that the Town Twinning supports (that concern about 60% of grants awarded under the Europe for Citizens Programme) are without pre-financing.

In addition, as from 2015, and due to the internal reallocation of the portfolio of the Commission's DGs, the Europe for Citizens programme will be under the responsibility DG HOME. A potential risk arose regarding the transfer of the programme and consequently, the supervision of the management of programme. During the last quarter of 2014, specific contact was initiated with DG HOME to ensure a smooth transition.

Conclusion

The Agency has implemented the necessary corrective actions to mitigate identified risks and how this is influencing progress in the implementation of the programme toward achieving its objectives.

As evidenced above, this part of Europe for Citizens programme managed by EACEA is on course to meet its multiannual objectives and has achieved the necessary annual performance indicators, outputs and milestones in the reporting year.


1.1.4 Policy area Global Europe - EU Aid Volunteers Initiative (ABB 23.04) Through its activities, the Agency contributes to the achievement of the following specific objectives set by DG ECHO and indicated in the general budget 2014 publication:

Specific objective

N°

Specific Objectives of Budget line 23.04.01 (in line with Regulation 375/2014)

NA - Building the capacity of hosting organisations and foster volunteering in third countries.

NA - Enhancement of coherence and consistency of volunteering across Member States in order to improve opportunities for Union citizens to participate in humanitarian aid activities and operations.

15 EFTA, Third countries and EDF included 16 Temporary Agents and Detached Seconded Officials 17 Contract Agents

ABB activity: EU Aid Volunteers initiative Financial resources



Administrative expenditure15

(managed by the service)



(in FTEs)17

Total

11.148.000 529.000 11.677.000 1 4 5



Budget line : 23.04.01


AMPCall N° Call

DeadlineN° of Applicat°

receivedN° of Applicat°

on-line% Ineligible

App°


% Selected Projects


Grant award decision Mode

Time to award

in months

Time to contract

in months

Total Time to award + Time to contract

1.1 - - - - - - CFP-EA - - -1.2 - - - - - - CFP-EA - - -

2 na - - - - - - PP-EA - - -3 1 EACEA 2014/06 25/02/2015 - - - - - - PP-EA - - -

- - -TOTAL

30

EU Aid Volunteers

Action

Technical Assistance for Sending Capacity Building for hosting organisationsCertificationInsurance


The EU Aid Volunteers initiative is a programme newly delegated to the Agency. It follows a successful pilot action and is integrated in the Annual Management plan of DG ECHO.

An open call for tenders (reference number EACEA/2014/06) was published on 31 December 2014. This open call aims to ensure that each volunteer participating in the EU Aid Volunteers initiative is covered by a complete insurance plan specifically designed to protect them during the entire duration of their project. The deadline is 25/02/2015.

The planned call for expression of interest on Certification of Sending and Hosting Organisations had been carried over to 2015. No selection following call for proposals was therefore carried out in 2014. All necessary actions have been implemented to ensure the publication of the Technical Assistance and Capacity Building call in early 2015.

Conclusion As evidenced above, the part EU Aid Volunteers Initiative managed by the EACEA is on course to meet its multiannual objectives and has achieved the annual performance indicators, outputs and milestones in the reporting year.


1.1.5 Additional Calls under the previous generation of programmes (2007-2013)

A. Erasmus Mundus II

The implementation of Action 2 by the Executive Agency contributes to the achievement of the following specific objectives set by DG DEVCO, DG FPI and DG ELARG in their 2014 Annual Actions Programmes and/or indicated in the 2014 general budget publication.

XIII DEVCO 21 06

SPECIFIC OBJECTIVE 2: Integration of the ACP countries into the world economy through economic development, trade and regional integration (DCI)

XIV DEVCO 21 06

SPECIFIC OBJECTIVE 4: Intensifying people-to-people contacts through EU academic mobility towards South Africa (ICI+)

XVII ELARG 22 02

SPECIFIC OBJECTIVE 3: Enhance regional integration and cooperation, including implementation of multi-beneficiary programmes (IPA)

XVIII FPI 19 05

SPECIFIC OBJECTIVE 2: to advance networking and awareness of the EU among industrialised and high-income partners (FPI)

XIX DEVCO 19 08

SPECIFIC OBJECTIVE 1: Furthering the conditions for close co-operation between the EU and its neighbours and for regional and multilateral integration (ENPI)

XX DEVCO 19 08

SPECIFIC OBJECTIVE 4: Strengthening the “Strategic partnership” between Russia and the EU (ENPI)

XXI DEVCO 19 09 SPECIFIC OBJECTIVE 1: Promote social cohesion in Latin America (DCI)

XXII DEVCO 19 09

SPECIFIC OBJECTIVE 3: Non ODA activities: Intensification of political cooperation and economic partnership with Latin America (ICI+)

XXIII DEVCO 19 10

SPECIFIC OBJECTIVE 1: Promote sustainable development in Asia, eradicate poverty and facilitate the integration into the world economy (DCI)

XXIV DEVCO 19 10

SPECIFIC OBJECTIVE 5: cooperation activities other than official Development assistance (Asia, Central Asia, Iraq, Iran and Yemen) (ICI+)



WPI

N° of planned

interventionsAMP


Applicat° received


% Ineligible App°


% Selected Projects

Grant award

decision date

Grant award

decision Mode

Time to award

in months

Time to contract

in months

SUM TTA + TTC

n/a 27 EACEA18/13 03/03/2014 143 142 5% 27 19% 13/06/2014 CFP-EA 3,97 1,6 5,57n/a 4 EACEA18/13 03/03/2014 16 15 0% 4 25% 13/06/2014 CFP-EA 3,97 3,67 7,64

31 159 157 2% 31 22% 3,97 2,64 6,61TOTAL

Erasmus Mundus II

Action

EMA21 Strand1EMA22-Strand 2

Budget lines : 19.05.51 ; 21.02.51.02 ; 21.02.51.03 ; 21.02.51.08 ; 21.03.51 ; 21.09.51.01 ; 21.09.51.02 ; 21.09.21.03 ; 22.02.51


Under Action 1, the Framework Partnership Agreements (FPA) amendment process was done for the transition of the scholarship/fellowship from the Erasmus Mundus programme (EMII) to the Erasmus+ programme. Under Action 2, the last selection process has been finalised. In addition, 43 Erasmus Mundus Master Courses (EMMCs) originally selected in 2010 are evaluated for Quality Review.

a) Publication of Calls

The invitation to apply for the 2015 selection of Scholarships/fellowships was launched for 88 Erasmus Mundus Master Consortia (EMMC) /29 Erasmus Mundus Joint Degree (EMJD) projects with the deadline of 27th February 2015.

The pilot action 'Quality review' restricted to the Erasmus Mundus Master Consortia (EMMCs) selected under call EACEA/04/2009 was launched in 2013 targeting the first (2010) generation of EMMCs selected under Erasmus Mundus II. Out of 50 EMMCs 43 expressed their interest to undertake the quality review. By the deadline of 15th January 2014, the Agency received 43 reports. Following this, a restricted Call for Proposals will be launched beginning of 2015 inviting those EMMCs which passed the quality review to present a shared funding proposal for scholarships. As it is a two-step selection procedure, results will be made available in 2015. b) Selection and Monitoring

• Selection

The selection of projects for the last Call for proposals under Erasmus Mundus II Action (EACEA/18/2013) was implemented accordingly and enabled the selection of 27 projects for strand 1 and 4 projects for strand 2. Considering the quality of the proposals received and the budget available, it was possible to fund 1 more proposal than foreseen under Strand 2. Following the request of DG DEVCO to use an additional budget of EUR 2 million for further student mobility from Morocco, an amendment was sent to four Erasmus Mundus partnership Action 2 projects selected in 2013 under the call EACEA/38/12 (Lot 1). This enabled the allocation of the additional funding which had to be committed before the end of February 2015.

• Monitoring

As regards the Action 1, the Agency is now managing and monitoring 180 (FPA) on-going Erasmus Mundus joint programmes (132 EMMCs and 42 EMJDs) with more than 550 related open specific grant agreements (SGA). The 2014 applications were evaluated and paid. 135 progress and final reports were assessed in 2014. In addition, 30 "Erasmus Mundus Brand Name18" projects from 2012, 2013, and 2014 editions were monitored. In addition, the administrative and financial handbooks EMMC/EMJD (for 2014 SGAs) and reporting templates were updated.

As regards the Action 2, 253 on-going partnerships were managed and monitored and

18 non-funded EMMCs carrying the EM logo


137 progress and final reports were assessed and paid. The Administrative and Financial Handbook for the call 2014 was prepared and published and reporting templates were updated. The Coordinators Conference for this action took place in October 2014 at the Agency's premises.

As regards the Action 3, 27 on-going projects were monitored (23 Promotion of European Higher Education projects and 4 grants for Erasmus Mundus National Structures) and 19 progress and final reports were assessed.

The Internal Audit Capability of the Agency carried out a programme audit for the activities related to the period 2009-2013. A detailed action plan was prepared following audit findings and several follow-up actions were already implemented in 2014.

Conclusion As evidenced above, the part of Erasmus Mundus II managed by the EACEA is on course to meet its multiannual objectives and has achieved the annual performance indicators, outputs and milestones in the reporting year.


B. Bilateral cooperation with industrialised countries The last selection for the Bilateral Cooperation programme with Industrialised countries for the 2013 allocation is on-going according to plan.

Through its activities, the Executive Agency contributes to the achievement of the following specific objective set by DG EAC and indicated in the general budget 2013 publication.

Co-operation with Japan, the Republic of Korea, Australia and New-Zealand (ICI/ECP).

FPI 19 05

SPECIFIC OBJECTIVE 2: To develop and manage the cooperation with the EU’s main industrialised and high-income partners.



Budget lines : 19.05.51


AMPCall N° Call

Deadline



% Ineligible

App°


% Selected Projects

Grant award

decision date

Grant award

decision Mode

Time to award

in months

Time to contract

in months

Sum TTA + TTC

in months

n/a 30 EACEA/24/13 15/05/2014 14 0 0% 3 21% 25/07/2014 CFP-EA 3,1 2,5 5,6

n/a 30 EACEA/24/13 15/05/2014 31 0 3% 6 19% 25/07/2014 CFP-EA 1,6 4,4 6,060 45 0 2% 9 20% 2,3 3,5 5,8

Action

Bilateral Cooperation with Industrialised Countries

Joint Degree Projects

Joint Mobility Projects

TOTAL


The last ICI call was issued on 23th December 2013 with a deadline on 15th May 2014. The joint selection committees with Korea, Japan and Australia took place on 7 July 2014 and selected 9 projects. The projects started mid-October but the pre-financing payment phase has been slightly delayed due to lack of credits. All grant agreements were issued in the autumn and first pre-financing payments were made on 18th December 2014.

A report on field and desk monitoring of the bilateral cooperation programmes with industrialised Countries has been sent to DG EAC and FPI on 3rd November 2014.

Conclusion As evidenced above, the part of Bilateral Cooperation programme managed by the EACEA is on course to meet its multiannual objectives and has achieved the annual performance indicators, outputs and milestones in the reporting year.

http://www.uaces.org/


1.2 Example of EU-added value and results/impacts of projects or programme financed

The Agency's role is also to exploit as much as possible the success of the projects and to encourage their sustainability. The publications are used to valorise the projects but also to support the Europe 2020 agenda.

1.2.1 Projects

A. Erasmus+ Jean Monnet

Under the Erasmus+ programme, the Jean Monnet project 'Teaching young people European Studies' creates synergy amongst master students, undergraduates and A-level students. The project is developed by the University Association for contemporary European Studies in the UK, London is a good example of the EU added value of the Jean Monnet Activities. The objective is to raise awareness of the workings of the EU among young people aged 17-30 and to promote the study of the European Union within all levels of higher education. A series of interrelated events over the course of two years will increase interest in European Union studies amongst master students, undergraduates and A-Level students, improve the teaching provisions for the students and equip doctoral students with the skills, confidence and knowledge to provide excellent, research-led teaching to the next generation of EU studies scholars. The benefits for students and learners of the project are an increased understanding of the EU and the role it plays in our lives, increased knowledge of European Union studies as a discipline and experience of presenting research to peers. Fostering this type of synergy in the European higher education landscape can only be achieved effectively by means of EU dedicated funding. (www.uaces.org)

e-Twinning School Gateway

During 2014, in the framework of the successful eTwinning action, an additional platform targeting schools has been developed. The new School Education Gateway (SEG) supports the participation of the different educational stakeholders (schools, teacher education institutions, student teachers, policy makers, experts, local educational authorities) in the Erasmus+ Programme related to school education and is supposed to act as a single entry point to all relevant information in the school education sector.

Some concrete examples of the support available in the School Education Gateway are: • A catalogue of the onsite courses available to teachers, with the possibility for

the users to comment and rate the courses • A partner-finding tool to facilitate the match of partners interesting in

developing school partnerships • A commented library with the relevant Communications issued by the

European Commission on policy issues in the field of education and training

This action is very cost-effective, as demonstrated in the past, and brings about a significant EU added value by the significant number of stakeholders it reaches. (http://www.schooleducationgateway.eu/en/pub/index.htm)

https://www.filmin.es/


Erasmus Mundus

The exhibition "Towards an equitable urban future/Thinking out of the Box" forms part of an established cooperation between the Deutsches Architekturmuseum (DAM) in Frankfurt and the Erasmus Mundus II course Mundus Urbano. A joint public lecture by Professor Ananya Roy from University of California, Berkeley which was organised in June 2014 marked the starting point for this collaboration. Its focus was on "Territories of Poverty: Urban Informality in a Rearranged South-North World" and attracted more than 100 listeners to the lecture. Convinced of the academic quality that Mundus Urbano students create, the DAM agreed to reserve its separate exhibition space within the museum's permanent exhibition for a temporary exhibition to go on display in autumn 2015. The exhibition draws on a conceptual framework developed by two cohorts of the Erasmus Mundus course. The exhibition is expected to travel to the partner universities in programme countries. This example shows the continuum of policy between the Erasmus Mundus II programme and the Erasmus+ programme: the European and international added value is still prominent. (http://www.mundus-urbano.eu)

B. Creative Europe MEDIA

Cooperation at EU level seeks to ensure that culture makes its full contribution to both a competitive economy and an inclusive society. The MEDIA sub-programme achieves the creation of links within a specialised industry in EU. The FILMIN project is a concrete example of synergy created by EU funding: FILMIN is a Video on Demand platform which specializes in independent author cinema and television series, with a strong focus on European works. The Spanish VOD service of FILMIN stands out for its catalogue of over 8000 titles without losing its scope on quality and curated offer. It also boasts an innovative user interface feature, including a high number of online film festivals reaching a large audience. The project can be considered a leading example of how to develop a successful VOD platform and how to become an important actor in this new and difficult market. In particular, the project shows that European films can have a good audience in the online market if presented in the correct way. The growth of European (towards Portugal) and international (South America) works outlines the competitiveness of this project and underlines their use of a sophisticated and effective marketing approach. (https://www.filmin.es/)

C. Europe for Citizens From 2007 to 2013, the Europe for Citizens programme has involved nearly 25,000 European cities and to up 350 city networks around common themes. 4,250 civil society organisations were mobilised to respond to the concerns of citizens and to address them to the various levels of public authority and over 5000 organisations were involved in remembrance actions. The continuity of the Europe for citizens' programme until 2020 will enable the creation of synergies at several levels.

Synergy created by the programme is tangible in the projects funded. A good example of this EU added value is the SUCCESS project. It is a network of young European citizens coming from different cultural, social and national backgrounds who are rethinking citizenship together in Europe. The objective is to contribute to the reversal of populist,

http://www.voicingsuccess.eu/

https://eacea.ec.europa.eu/erasmus-plus/library_en

https://eacea.ec.europa.eu/erasmus-plus/library_en

http://eacea.ec.europa.eu/llp/results_projects/documents/2014/final%20KA4_good_practice_140730_en.pdf

http://eacea.ec.europa.eu/llp/results_projects/documents/2014/final%20KA4_good_practice_140730_en.pdf

http://eacea.ec.europa.eu/tempus/tools/publications_en.php


racist and xenophobic ideas in Europe and promote the founding values of European citizenship. SUCCESS adopted a "bottom-up" approach and raised the voice of the citizens living in several multicultural disadvantaged neighbourhoods and major European cities: Montreuil (near Paris), Palermo, Oeiras (near Lisbon) and Birmingham towards a multicultural and integrated Europe (http://www.voicingsuccess.eu/).

1.2.2 Publications The added value of Union level support comes from the transnational character of the activities in the field of education and training that are additional to national or regional support structures. In addition, the European actions ensure optimal dissemination of results. Several brochures of best practice projects from the former programmes (Lifelong Learning and Tempus programme) have been produced and demonstrate that the EU actions are a lever to raise standards and create synergies:

→ "Building on Experience, Best Practices in ICT for learning" refers to the impact that the LLP-KA3 ICT projects have had in reinforcing the European dimension of education and training. The distribution of the brochure among various beneficiaries will contribute to raise the EU added value of this type of projects. The brochure is available at https://eacea.ec.europa.eu/erasmus-plus/library_en.

→ "Publication of best practices for projects LLP KA4" presents a selection of good practices for dissemination developed by projects which can be seen as a reservoir of valuable experiences and practical project results that have the potential to inspire other organisations that will be involved in the new Erasmus+ Programme. The brochure is available at http://eacea.ec.europa.eu/llp/results_projects/documents/2014/final%20KA4_good_practice_140730_en.pdf

→ a series of publications on the achievements of the Tempus IV programme in the four target regions (Western Balkans, Eastern Europe, Southern Mediterranean and Central Asia), which contains examples of successful good practice projects (see http://eacea.ec.europa.eu/tempus/tools/publications_en.php).

Furthermore, the reports delivered by Eurydice provide a stock-taking on the position of Member States regarding policies deemed desirable at EU level. The reports clearly identify areas where individual Member States can take actions and move towards policies identified as pertinent and constructive for tackling specific challenges. In that sense, the reports provide an added EU value – Member States actions are mirrored in agreed EU policies (European Parliament and the Council) – Member States can decide for themselves whether there is a need to move towards these agreed policy frameworks. Such reports show the effectiveness of the EU action: gathering data from several member states, avoiding fragmentation, revealing EU trends and showing the effectiveness of the use of EU budget. One example of this EU added value in 2014 is the report 'Tackling early leaving from education and training in Europe: Strategies, policies and measures'. Early leaving from education and training is a serious issue in many EU countries and has attracted the attention of many researchers, policy-makers and educators. EU countries are committed to reducing the proportion of early leavers to less than 10 % by 2020. The Eurydice report supports the Europe 2020 agenda on reducing early leaving from education and is a direct follow-up to the Council


recommendation on policies to reduce early school leaving. It aims to add value to Member States' individual efforts as well as to the European Commission's endeavours in this area. This will be achieved by monitoring developments in the design and implementation of evidence-based and comprehensive strategies to combat early leaving and support student learning. (http://eacea.ec.europa.eu/education/eurydice/thematic_reports_en.php)


1.3 Specific efforts to improve 'economy' and 'efficiency' of spending and non-spending activities.

According to the financial regulation (art 30), the principle of economy required that the resources used by the institution in the pursuit of its activities shall be made available in due time, in appropriate quantity and quality and the best price. The principle of efficiency concerns the best relationship between resources employed and results achieved.

The respect of these principles is continuously pursued through the implementation of internal procedures and predefined practices. These procedures ensure that activities are executed in an efficient manner (e.g. the different workflows contribute to the efficient cooperation between staff, units, etc…) and according to the principle of economy (e.g. the procurement rules ensure procurement in optimal conditions).

EACEA is continuously fine-tuning its internal arrangements in order to improve the efficiency and economy of its operations. The following two initiatives show how these principles are implemented in our Agency:

1.3.1 Example 1 : Simplifying the payment process

The development of a system of lump-sums and unit costs has simplified financial management for the beneficiaries and for the Agency. This system has been implemented for all action grants of the Europe for Citizens Programme. Under the Erasmus+ programme, the statistical analysis made in 2014 will enable the use of lump sum for Capacity-building action, both Civil Society actions (Education and Training, and Youth) in 2015. Further analyses are on-going to extend the use of this system to similar actions. Under the Creative Europe programme, the lump sum system has been put in place for 3 actions under the MEDIA sub-programme (Single Development, Selective Distribution and Film Festivals).

1.3.2 Example 2: Greater use of IT Tools

The tool for the management of the evaluations of proposals currently used at the Agency has integrated specific requirements of the E+ National Agencies. This tool is successfully used for both the centralised and decentralised actions of Erasmus+. Internally, the Agency has now a single grant management system (Pegasus) which integrates the management of all its actions. In general, it has improved economy as only one system needs to be maintained.

The Agency developed a coherent set of guidelines for the briefing of the external experts used for the evaluation of proposals. This document contains provisions for online briefings. This type of briefing has been extensively used across the programmes. The use of various IT tools (forum, collaborative workspace, video conference, etc.) guaranties the interactivity of briefings but also gives flexibility in terms of timing. Online briefings not only generated a great economy (at least 10% of savings by evaluation) but also provide a good level of satisfaction from the experts' side while the quality of the assessments of applications remained the same.


For the very first time, the online submission of applications was possible only prior to the registration to the Participant Portal. Each applicant receives a Participant Identification Code (PIC) number to apply. This registration portal saves the applicant's information and allows them to re-apply for EU funding more easily, and to change their data themselves without having to notify the Agency. The Agency project database is automatically updated. It drastically reduces the administrative burden of the projects selected. The Agency uses the portal already in place for the Research programmes.


2. MANAGEMENT OF RESOURCES Assurance is an objective examination of evidence for the purpose of providing an assessment of the effectiveness of risk management, control and governance processes. This examination is carried out by management, who monitors the functioning of the internal control systems on a continuous basis, and by internal and external auditors. Its results are explicitly documented and reported to the Director of the Agency. The reports produced are:

− the reports by AOSDs; − the contribution of the Internal Control Coordinator, including the results of

internal control monitoring at Agency's level; − the reports of the ex-post audits; − the opinion and the observations of the Internal Audit Capability (IAC); − the observations and the recommendations reported by the Internal Audit

Service (IAS); − the observations and the recommendations reported by the European Court of

Auditors (ECA). This section reports the control results and other relevant elements that support managements' assurance on the achievement of the internal control objectives19. It is structured in two separate sections: (1) the Agency’s assessment of its own activities for the management of its resources; and (2) the assessment of the results of internal and external audits, including the implementation of audit recommendations.

All the Agency's programmes are implemented under direct management mode. In addition, the Agency manages its own administrative budget.

Payments made in 2014 (in Mio EUR)

Pre-financing

Payments against cost statements

Experts payments

Total operational expenditure

Administrative expenditure

Total Operational and administrative expenditure (in € million)

502,84 107,95 2,57 613,36 45,5 658,86

As regards the operational budget, the execution of commitment credits was 602.4 Mio€ or 99% of the available budget, which is in line with the target (98%). The execution of payment credits was 613.4 Mio€. The payments reach 98% of the available budget which is above the target (95%). As regards the operating budget, the execution

19 Effectiveness, efficiency and economy of operations; reliability of reporting; safeguarding of assets and information; prevention, detection, correction and follow-up of fraud and irregularities; and adequate management of the risks relating to the legality and regularity of the underlying transactions, taking into account the multiannual character of programmes as well as the nature of the payments (FR Art 32).


of commitment appropriations was 46.13 Mio€ (98,26% of the available budget – 46.95 M€). The execution of payment appropriations was 45.5 Mio€ (86.9% of the available budget).

The total operational expenditure by programme and programming period is disclosed as follows:

Legacy (Programming period 2007-2013)

New programming period (2014-2020) in Mio €

Erasmus + (1) 279,07 139,01 418,09 Education and Training (2) 268,15 121,72 389,87

Youth (and Sport) 10,92 17,29 28,21 Creative Europe 81,77 90,01 171,78

Culture and desks 24,34 29,51 53,85 MEDIA 57,44 60,49 117,93

Europe for Citizens 10,89 12,61 23,50 TOTAL 371,73 241,63 613,36

(1) Includes Title 19 (FPI), Title 21( DEVCO) and Title 22 (ELARG). See Annex for further details.

(2) Includes LLP, Erasmus Mundus and Tempus Based on the figures above, it is worth mentioning that the legacy represents slightly more than 60% of the total operational expenditure of 2014.

2.1 Management of human and financial resources by EACEA This section reports and assesses the elements identified by management that support the assurance on the achievement of the internal control objectives. Annex 5 outlines the main risks together with the control processes aimed to mitigate them and the indicators used to measure the performance of the control systems.

2.1.1 Control effectiveness as regards legality and regularity Effective control provides reasonable assurance to the EACEA management on the achievement of objectives. Control includes all the measures that the management and the staff take in order to ensure that operational activities are effective and efficient, that legal and regulatory requirements are met and that financial and other reporting is reliable and assets and information are safeguarded. In particular, the EACEA has set up internal control processes aimed to ensure the adequate management of the risks relating to the legality and regularity of the underlying transactions, taking into account the multiannual character of programmes as well as the nature of the payments concerned.

The control objective regarding the legality and regularity of the underlying transactions is to ensure that the best estimate of the materiality of the residual error rate by management does not exceed 2% cumulative by the end of the programme implementation. The Agency relies on the best estimate of the residual error rate


because in the view of the volume of transactions by programme, managed by the Agency each year, it would not be cost effective to have a representative error rate from a fully statistically representative sample20 (cf. 95% confidence level/2% target error rate). The residual risk of error is estimated by the residual error rate obtained from an examination of a sample of randomly selected transactions, less any corrections made resulting from the control systems in place. More information can be found in annex 4.

The main indicators from the ex-ante and ex-post controls are reported below:

Indicator Results 2014 % of number of calls successfully concluded/number of calls planned in the MP/WP

100%

% of budget value implemented/budget allocated (commitments from calls)

99.9%

Ex-ante controls % and value of errors detected through the ex-ante desk

checks/total value of cost claims 1.88% on average or 8.0 million EUR in total

Detected Error Rate from random audits See below Detected Error Rate from risk-based audits 3.81%

Ex-post controls Value of corrections made by implementing audit results by

means of recoveries and/or offsetting 2.1 million EUR

Recoveries Value of "official" recoveries as per the Communication on the protection of EU financial interests

14.521 million EUR (BO report for AAR Annex 3- Table 8)

a) Ex-ante controls

The controls built in the ex-ante phase (up to the grant signature) aim at making sure that the best proposals are selected, that they answer to the conditions set in the call for proposals and that the beneficiaries are capable of completing the projects successfully and on time. To this end, controls have been built into the process:

• Eligibility checks, to make sure that the proposals are submitted according to the rules and that they are in compliance with the eligibility criteria set in the work programmes.

• Evaluation of the proposals, mainly via the use of external experts. Controls ensure the quality of the experts selected to evaluate the proposals. The Agency also makes sure that the experts do not have any conflict of interest in evaluating proposals and ensures the renewal of experts by introducing rules of rotation (at least 25% of the pool of experts included in the pool should not have participated in the evaluation of the call in the previous 3 years).

20 To have a fully statistically representative sample both by programme and programme period is not justified from a cost/benefit point of view.

21 This figure includes the 2.1 Mio EURO of recovery orders resulting from the audits and around 8.9 Mio EURO of non-eligible cost claims. (See Annex 3-Table 8)


b) Ex-post audit strategy In adherence with a strict methodology, the annual audit plan (AAP) of the EACEA is built upon both a random and a risk-based selection. Each year, the Agency performs approximately 120 audits of which 2/3 randomly selected and 1/3 risk-based. The audit coverage is about 11% of all closed projects in one year. Almost all audits are contracted out to an external audit firm (PKF Littlejohn LLP) under an audit Framework Contract of DG CNECT. Only the audit results of the 'random' selection of projects are taken into account to calculate error rates.

A multi-annual error rate is calculated by programme (Lifelong Learning Programme, Erasmus Mundus, Culture, Youth, Citizenship, MEDIA and Tempus22). A further split is made between the different multi-annual financial frameworks. Most of the audits for the moment are for closed projects from the programming period 2007-2013. In line with guidance developed by DG BUDG on error rates, value at risk and materiality, the Agency decides to report or not a reservation in the AAR both per programme and per programming period.

From the 2012 Annual Activity Report onwards, the Agency calculated multi-annual error rates in order to increase the representativeness of the figures. As the audit methodology was significantly changed in 2010, the Agency opted to present the multi-annual error rates over 2 years for AAR 2012 in order to have comparable, reliable data. For AAR 2014, the Agency reports multi-annual error rates over 4 cumulative years. As in 2013, the Agency managed to contract out the 2014 annual audit plan before summer (instead of at the end of the calendar year) in order to reduce progressively to 1 year the gap between closing projects and audit results becoming available. The AAR 2014 error rate is calculated on the basis of 314 random audits. There are 89 on-going random audits, most of them (61) corresponding to the Annual Audit Plan 2014.

c) Past reservations In the context of the AAR 2010, a reservation was made concerning the two programmes for which the materiality of the error rate was above 2% in 2010, namely Culture and Youth 2007-2013. For AAR 2011, the reservation for Culture & Youth could be dropped, but another reservation was made for LLP 2007-2013. For AAR 2012 and 2013, the reservation for LLP 2007-2013 was maintained.

The analysis of the errors for the LLP programme shows that in terms of type of findings, they concern mostly the difficulty of (co-)beneficiaries or project partners to produce adequate justifying documents and the non-respect of some of the eligibility rules.

Back in early 2011, the Agency drafted an action plan around several pillars covering all programmes & grant schemes:

• improve the desk control strategies per unit/programme by producing new guidelines and by introducing two new types of audit certificates, according to the risks associated to beneficiaries or projects;

22 The new Programmes Erasmus +, Creative Europe and EU Aid Volunteers are not yet concerned by the audit process because they did not produce yet final payments to be selected in the sample.


• improve the information provided to beneficiaries on financial obligations, audits and ex-post controls (e.g. annual kick-off meetings by programme/strand, Financial Information Kit);

• continue to reinforce/improve monitoring visits, where appropriate, a session on financial reporting and eligible costs is included;

• consolidate the audit strategy (move from annual to multi-annual).

The action plan was implemented in conformity with the timetable in 2011 – beginning of 2012. While some actions, like better information to grant beneficiaries during kick-off/information meetings and strengthening of monitoring visits, were already in place during 2011 for the LLP programme, other actions lead to improvements in later years. The financial information kit started to bring benefits from 2012. The better defined, value adding audit certificates under the new desk control strategy were mandatory for projects committed as from 2013 and optional for projects committed before.

However, the results in terms of (lower) error rates are not expected before AAR 2016 as the measures described above will take time to have an impact. The reasons are twofold: a) the project duration is typically about 18 months to 2 years (and for some actions even longer) and b) there will be a minimum 1-year gap between closing projects and audit results becoming available.

Notwithstanding these actions, the biggest improvement will come from further financial simplification in the future programme "Erasmus+" during the new programming period 2014-2020. Today, most of grants under the LLP programme are budget-based funding schemes which are much more prone to difficulties in terms of eligibility of costs. Hence, a greater use of lump sums, flat rates and/or unit costs should reduce the error rates.


d) Results for AAR 2014 As illustrated in the table below, the results for AAR 2014 show that the multi-annual detected and residual error rate is still above 2% for Lifelong Learning Programme (LLP) 2007-2013 and in line with the multi-annual, detected error rate of 4.07% reported in the AAR 2012.

Programme DER RER MAT23 Reservation?

LLP 4.39% 4.07% 4.41% Yes

Erasmus Mundus and Intra ACP24 0.27% 0.26% N/A No

Tempus and Bilateral Cooperation25 0.94% 0.86% N/A No

Youth 2.18% 3.41%

2.11% 1.99% No

Culture 1.35% 1.26% 1.26% No

MEDIA and MEDIA Mundus 0.35% 0.31% 0.36% No

Europe for Citizens 0.80% 0.79% 0.87% No

(DER= multiannual detected error rate; RER= multiannual residual error rate; MAT= multiannual materiality)

The Agency monitors the multiannual detected and residual error rate on a monthly basis for each programme, for each programming period. At year end, the Agency calculates the multiannual materiality for each programme, and if the multiannual materiality is higher than 2%, then the Agency issues a reservation (see Annex 4 for more details).

Therefore, for AAR 2014, a reservation will need to be maintained for LLP as the materiality is still higher than 2%. The Agency will, like in previous years, thoroughly analyse the (most recurrent) errors found through the latest batches of audit reports and, if necessary, implement additional actions in the course of 2015 taking into account the cost-benefits of any possible corrective measures. The Youth Programme detected error rate of 2.18 % needs further clarifications. In fact, a single audit, carried out on documents related to 2009 and 2010, resulted in a lack of comprehensive information from one partner and a related scope limitation, thus making the audit result not complete. This audit result, which would increase the detected and residual error rate to 3.41%, is considered not representative and therefore, not requesting a specific

23 This corresponds to the multiannual materiality. Annual figures are considered irrelevant, and more taking into account that 2007-2013 programmes are already phasing out (except Tempus and Erasmus Mundus).

24 The Detected Error Rate for Erasmus Mundus 2007-2013 is 0.08% out of 10 audits carried out 25 The Detected Error Rate for Tempus 2007-2013 is 0.00% out of 4 audits carried out


reservation and specific corrective actions26.

The Agency is aware that the multiannual materiality of the Youth in Action 2007-2013 programme is near the 2% threshold. However, it should be kept in mind that the programme is already phasing-out. The Agency has analysed the increase of the Youth in Action multiannual error rate compared to last year (2.18% in 2014 vs. 1.23% in 2013) and concluded that this increase relates to fluctuations and, given the amounts involved27, believes that there is no need for additional specific actions.

e) What are the indications for coming years? Based on the above analysis and a prudent extrapolation, the Agency believes that the reservation for the new LLP programme 2007-2013 could be recurrent at least for another year. The action plan above should produce its full effect for projects committed in the last year of the old programming period (2013), which will not be paid before 2015 and audited before 2016. The mandatory use of audit certificates by beneficiaries, added to the improved communication on financial obligations, should allow the 2% materiality threshold to be reached for these projects. However, the impact on the multi-annual error rates could be smaller, as this improvement could be more than off-set by the higher error rates during previous years. In 2015, apart from day-to-day drive to further improve the grant management process, no additional actions or mitigating measures are probably needed.

Concerning the detected and residual error rate for the Culture and/or Europe for Citizens programmes, it is worth saying there is a risk that specific audit results currently under analysis and subsequent events, still pending at the present time, might result in an detected error rate & materiality leading to a reservation next year.

Erasmus Mundus, Tempus and MEDIA programmes have historically very low error rates and the Agency expects no changes in this respect.

2.1.2 Control efficiency and cost-effectiveness

The principle of efficiency concerns the best relationship between resources employed and results achieved. The principle of economy requires that the resources used by the institution in the pursuit of its activities shall be made available in due time, in appropriate quantity and quality and at the best price.

This section outlines the indicators used to monitor the efficiency of the control systems, including an overall assessment of the costs and benefits of controls.

26 However, it is worth mentioning that the reputation of the Agency is protected, as the corresponding recovery order has been issued at present time and it is partially paid. The Agency also verified that this was a unique case and it was confirmed that no other grants related to this beneficiary are currently pending at the Agency.

27 The total amount of errors for all random audits carried out in 2014 is 29.130 EUR meaning around 2.000 EUR of error in average per audit.


Indicator Results 2014 Average time to inform applicants (art. 128 FR max. 6 months)

3.1 months for all programmes

Average time to sign grant agreements or notify grant decisions (art. 128 FR max. 3 months)

2.1 months for all programmes

Percentage of payments on time (art. 92 FR) 92% Average evaluation benefit per proposal Non–quantifiable (preventive)

Ex-ante controls

Average project management benefit per proposal

Non–quantifiable (preventive)

Average cost of ex-post audit 9K €

Average benefit of a random audit (average grant value of project*detected error rate)

16K€

Average benefit of a risk-based audit (average grant value of project*detected error rate)

40K€

Value of corrections made by implementing audit results by means of recovery order and/or offsetting

2.1 million EUR

Ex-post controls

Expected non-monetary return of auditing projects

Non-quantifiable (preventive; dissuasive effect)

The Agency quantifies the costs of the resources and inputs required for carrying out the controls described in annex 5 and estimates, as much as possible, their benefits in terms of the amount of errors and irregularities prevented, detected and corrected by these controls.


The results are shown in the table28 below:

GRANT MANAGEMENT COSTS BENEFITS DIFFERENCE

(benefits-costs)

Staff 9.126.221 Non-quantifiable29

Stage 1: Selection External

inputs 3.450.000 Non-quantifiableNon-quantifiable

Stage 2: Contracting Staff 5.555.856 16.317.973 10.762.117

Non eligible cost claims:

7.556.811Recovery orders:

Staff 15.686.007

12.356.893

Stage 3: Monitoring and

desk review

Missions 5.037

4.222.660

Staff 574.547 2.151.641

External inputs 1.100.863

Stage 4: Ex-post control

Missions 22.141

454.090

Grand total 39.854.197

First of all, it should be noted that the Agency has particular funding schemes and/or beneficiaries under the different programmes. Their complexity and/or diversity on one hand and the large number of rather small grants to a vast population of grant beneficiaries on the other hand make the control set-up quite challenging under the given regulatory framework. Even if the grant amounts per beneficiary are in some cases an average of 150,000 EUR (or lower), the Financial Regulation foresees a minimum set of requirements which are put in place to protect the EU financial interests.

Secondly, there are a number of non-quantifiable benefits resulting from the controls operated during the control stages (e.g. selection phase, aimed to ensure that the financed projects contributed in the best manner to the achievement of the policy objectives, preventive controls through annual information/kick-off meetings with new

28 In terms of approach, the Agency used both direct and indirect costs leaving some overhead costs like HR and IT out to avoid double counting with the flat rate per full-time equivalent as per DG BUDG's guidelines. Also, the management of Eurydice was left out of the scope.

29As an example of non quantifiable benefit, but giving an indication of the workload assumed at Selection stage: the value of grant requests evaluated by the Agency but not considered for funding amounts to 1,121,477,043 € in 2014.


grant beneficiaries, monitoring missions to address problems in early stages and in a cooperative manner, and from the deterrent effect of ex-post controls). Furthermore, the Agency considers that the necessity of these controls is undeniable; as they are a regulatory requirement, the totality of the appropriations would be at (compliance) risk in case they were not in place.

For this reason, it is also necessary to consider the efficiency indicators, which reveal that the Agency allocated the appropriate quantity and quality of resources to ensure an efficient operation of controls (e.g. average time to notify grant applicants and average time to sign grant agreements are substantially below the maximum number of months as per Financial Regulation, the time to pay is kept very short while budget execution is close to 100%, etc.).

Thirdly, and more importantly, the Agency's total control & management cost (percentage of operating costs over the operational budget in terms of payments executed in 2014 namely 45.5 /613.4 million EUR = 7.41%) is considered to be cost-effective, both overall and also taking into account the relative numbers and size of grants to be processed.

The operational budget execution is 99.9% for commitment appropriations and 100% for payment appropriations. The administrative budget execution amounts to 98.26% of the available appropriations, and 86.95% for payment appropriations. All these figures are higher than the objectives set in the Agency's 2014 Annual Management plan.

Payments were conducted in line with target deadlines set by the Commission: percentage of payments within contractual time: 92% (target: 90%).

Payment time targets:

• first pre-financing payments: 13 days (target: max. 20 days) • interim and final payments with double time-limit: 16 days (target: max 30

days) • interim and final payments with a single time-limit applied for the report

approval and the payment: 55 days (target: max. 75 days).

Overall conclusion of control cost-effectiveness and efficiency In the view of the Agency's management, the relative level of efficiency and cost-effectiveness of the controls operated is adequate and no major improvements are necessary for the moment.


2.1.3 Fraud prevention and detection

The Agency has developed its anti-fraud strategy as foreseen in the Commission’s overall anti-fraud strategy30. All the resulting measures have been fully implemented by the end of 2014.

a) Anti-fraud strategy The Agency adopted an anti-fraud strategy combined with an action plan on 9 July 2012. The strategy and the related action plan were updated in 2014. The implementation of a number of actions has been delayed as the EACEA anti-fraud resources have been concentrated on the management of a major sensitive fraud case for which a number of un-preceded measures were adopted.

The following actions have been implemented so far:

− Under the ex-ante desk control strategy, audit certificates (both light and full) have been introduced since March 2013 and a guidance note on financial capacity assessment has been adopted in July 2014;

− The anti-fraud data mining tool has been further improved; − Note on the development of a common approach at Agency level to detect

duplicate project applications and prevent a possible double funding of beneficiaries under the Erasmus+ Programme;

− The anti-fraud trainings (“How to detect anomalies” & “Signalization of fraud & irregularities”) have been redefined and are mandatory for all management staff and all financial & operational officers;

− Note on termination of a grant agreement or of the participation of a partner/co-beneficiary is finalized;

− An anti-fraud section on the Agency's intranet offers relevant information such as the Agency's anti-fraud strategy, the Agency's anti-fraud procedure, relevant templates, etc.;

− Red flags: A list of fraud indicators as described in the anti-fraud procedure are listed in the anti-fraud procedure and being instructed to staff during trainings.

The following actions have not been implemented and are rescheduled for 2015 as follows:

− Guidance on the recovery context for reduced payment and/or recoveries issued further to the transfer of a suspicion of fraud to OLAF and/or further to OLAF recommendations within an OLAF investigation. This action shall be implemented before 30 April 2015.

30 COM(2011) 376 24.06.2011.


− Guidance on reinforced monitoring of projects/beneficiaries/contractors in case of fraud. Although the guidance could not be produced in 2014, EACEA anti-fraud coordinator works closely with the operational units to define the appropriate measures to adopt in each case of suspicion of fraud. This action shall be implemented before 31 December 2015.

b) Monitoring of results in 2014

In principle, the controls aimed at preventing and detecting fraud are not unlike those intended to ensure the legality and regularity of the transactions (the unintentional errors). Still, the Agency screens the population of transactions/grant agreements/projects/beneficiaries in order to identify those at a higher risk of fraud and subjects them to more in-depth monitoring controls or specifically adjusted controls/control tools.

During the reporting year, 5 beneficiaries for an estimated value of EUR 1.5 million were subject to in-depth controls; the results will be known at a later stage. 3 cases were transmitted to OLAF for investigation. During the same period, OLAF has sent to EACEA 10 requests for information and has initiated 2 cases which concern the activities of the Agency based on other sources of information.

2014 has also been marked by the analysis and implementation of an OLAF report received end of December 2013 concerning a fraud case on which the Agency had been working since 2009, and, in which its exposition was potentially critical.

EACEA carried out a risk analysis, together with an external legal counsel, and in cooperation with OLAF, the Legal Service, DG Budget and the parents DGs. The results of this analysis confirmed the existence of serious irregularities and fraud, consisting among others, in the provision of false declarations with regard to staff costs, and leading to undue payments. As a result, EACEA adopted an action plan consisting in corrective and preventive measures against a number of entities.


Indicator Results

Participation to mandatory anti-fraud trainings (staff) in 2014 14 (OLAF-EWS) & 20 (Anomalies)

Number of audits (risk-based) having led to the identification of serious irregularities/fraud in 2014 1

Number of ad hoc audits carried out in 2014 2 Number of ad hoc audits having led to the identification of serious irregularities/fraud in 2014 1

Number of projects submitted to monitoring measures as a result of suspicious of irregularities/fraud in 201431

52 projects (8 entities)

Amount of those projects32 8 M € Number of grant agreements terminated for serious irregularities/fraud in 2014 0

Number of cases where the participation of a co-beneficiary has been terminated for serious irregularities/fraud in 2014 16

Number of recoveries launched for serious irregularities/fraud in 2014 2 OR (29 conventions)

Amount of those RO in 2014 1,847,253€ Number of cases sent to OLAF in 2014 3 New EWS in 2014 0

31 Among the 52 projects, 31 were already under vigilance in 2013 32 This amount consists mostly of the part of the subvention the entity could receive


2.2 Budget implementation tasks entrusted to other DGs and entities

Not applicable for Executive Agencies

2.3 Assessment of audit results and follow up of audit recommendations

This section reports and assesses the observations and conclusions reported by auditors which could have a material impact on the achievement of the internal control objectives, and therefore on assurance, together with any management measures taken in response to the audit recommendations.

The Agency has been audited until the end of 2014 by both internal and external independent auditors: its internal audit capability (IAC), the Commission's internal audit service (IAS) and the European Court of Auditors (ECA).

a) European Court of Auditors (ECA) (1) Administrative budget – Specific Annual Report (SAR) 2012

In July 2014, the European Court of Auditors issued its opinion related to the audit of the Agency's 2013 annual accounts for the administrative expenditure. The audit is performed each year in order to obtain reasonable assurance that the Agency's annual accounts are free of material misstatement and that the transactions processed by the Agency are legal and regular. The audit carried out by the Court consisted of analytical audit procedures, direct testing of transactions and an assessment of key controls of the Agency's supervisory and control systems. The Specific Annual Report for the financial year 2013 provides the Court's opinion on the reliability of the accounts and the legality and regularity of the underlying transactions:

Opinion on the reliability of the accounts

In the Court's opinion, the Agency's annual accounts present fairly, in all material respects, its financial position as at 31 December 2013 and the results of its operations and its cash flows for the year then ended, in accordance with the provisions of its Financial Regulation and the accounting rules adopted by the Commission's accounting officer.

Opinion on the legality and the regularity of the transactions underlying the accounts

In the Court's opinion, the transactions underlying the annual accounts for the year ended 31 December 2013 are legal and regular in all material respects.

Following the audit on the administrative expenditure, the Court made a comment on the budgetary management observing that although carry-overs of committed appropriations were relatively high for administrative expenditures, they mainly related to IT services and equipment ordered and partly received in 2013 for which


invoices had not been issued at year-end and to the multi-annual nature of activities (experts project reviews and project audits).

Similarly to the previous year, the Agency has taken note of the Court's report. As a result, no specific contradictory procedure was needed between the Court and the Agency.

(2) Operational budget – Statement of Assurance (DAS) 2013

The audit work on legality and regularity of transactions in relation to the Statement of Assurance (DAS 2013) started in May 2014. In total, 10 transactions or grant projects were sampled so far. To date, 4 audits were completed. The observations raised concerned Tempus (one quantifiable and one non-quantifiable finding) and Erasmus Mundus programmes (two non-quantifiable findings). In relation to DAS 2013, ECA has issued the following 6 document requests: two related to LLP (Erasmus and Leonardo), one related to Youth in Action, one linked to Erasmus Mundus and two regarding Tempus Programme. None of the requests resulted in a finding so far

b) Internal Audit Service (IAS) During the period of reference, the year 2014, the IAS conducted a follow up audit related to its audit on the LLP programme performed in 2012. The target of the original IAS audit was to check if the procedures and control systems in place for the processing of final payments of the LLP programme were in compliance with the applicable rules, regulations and the principle of sound financial management. The recommendations related to a) the ex-ante controls, b) the non-retroactivity rule and c) payments delays and suspension assessed by the Agency as ready for review. Therefore, the IAS assessed said recommendations concluding that that they have been adequately and effectively implemented. The Agency was invited to continue the action plan implementation concerning the last open important recommendation (Manual of procedure) which should be completed by the end of 2014.

c) Internal Audit Capability (IAC) Furthermore, the IAC carried out a total of 5 audit assignments, in accordance with its multiannual audit planning, which covers the Agency's management processes, on a risk basis, over a period of five years.

In 2014, the Internal Audit Capability (IAC) of the Agency finalised one new audit on the ERASMUS MUNDUS II (EM II) programme and five follow up audits. Nine very important recommendations were issued during the ERASMUS MUNDUS II audit.

• Audit on the Erasmus Mundus II programme The final report was issued in November 2014. Based on the results of the audit, the internal control system in place provides reasonable assurance regarding the achievement of the business objectives set up for the EM programme, except for nine very important recommendations. They are related to time lag and potential overspending, de-commitment rate, operational desk and field monitoring of projects, recurrent beneficiaries, projects selection documentation, students' complaints, grants payment, eligible activities and conditions ruling the geographical lots and Doctorates' employment contracts.


• The IAC also finalised five follow-up audits in 2014: − Final Payments − Youth in Action − Culture

− Europe for Citizens − MEDIA

All the concerned recommendations were assessed as adequately implemented or closed for these audits.

• IAC's opinion on the state of control of EACEA Based on the results of the IAC audits as described in the objectives and scope of the engagements carried out by the IAC during year 2014, the internal control system in place in the Education, Audiovisual & Culture Executive Agency provides reasonable assurance33 regarding the achievement of the business objectives set up for the activities audited, except for the following issues: → ERASMUS MUNDUS II34, where improvements are still needed to manage time lag

and potential overspending, to reduce the de-commitment rate, to improve operational desk and field monitoring of projects and recurrent beneficiaries. Also a better projects selection documentation and a more effective students' complaints management is necessary. Finally, grants payments, eligible activities and conditions ruling the geographical lots and Doctorates' employment contracts should be given much higher level of attention and precision.

Management has accepted all the auditors’ recommendations in 2014 and submitted the corresponding action plans which have been assessed favourably by the auditors. The various management measures included in these action plans have been or are being implemented as foreseen.

• Follow-up of audit recommendations As regards the implementation of recommendations issued in previous years, the relevant action plans are (being) implemented as planned and are on schedule. There is no significant delay in the implementation of audit recommendations. In detail, the activity of the IAC ended in 2014, with the handover to the IAS (at the beginning of 2015) taking over the audit activity on the Agency. The open recommendations to be followed up in the future relate to the Erasmus Mundus II audit, Monitoring Mission audit and Public Procurement second follow up. While for Erasmus Mundus II audit, time is needed before the assessment of the action plan implantation, for the rest of the audits the recommendations are mainly ready for review. As a result of the assessment of the risks underlying the auditors' observations together with the management measures taken in response, the management of the Agency believes that the recommendations issued do not raise any assurance implications and are being implemented as part of continuous efforts to improve its management and control systems and value for money.

33 Even an effective internal control system, no matter how well designed and operated, has inherent limitations – including the possibility of the circumvention or overriding of controls – and therefore can provide only reasonable assurance to management regarding the achievement of the business objectives and not absolute assurance.

34 Final report issued on 5 November 2014


3. ASSESSMENT OF THE EFFECTIVENESS OF THE INTERNAL CONTROL SYSTEMS The Commission has adopted a set of internal control standards, based on international good practice, aimed to ensure the achievement of policy and operational objectives. In addition, as regards financial management, compliance with these standards is a compulsory requirement.

EACEA has put in place the organisational structure and the internal control systems suited to the achievement of the policy and control objectives, in accordance with the standards and having due regard to the risks associated with the environment in which it operates.

The Agency annually assesses the effectiveness of its key internal control systems in accordance with the applicable guidance from the Commission.

The assessment relies on a number of monitoring measures and sources of information including a survey-based self-assessment by management and staff; reported instances of exceptions and/or non-compliance events and internal control weaknesses; relevant audit findings; and the risk management process. Furthermore, the 'bottom-up‘ information on internal control issues received through the Head of Unit's management reports has been checked for confirmation or any counter-indications.

Finally, the IAC's opinion has been taken into account as well. This analysis had enabled the Internal Control Coordinator to report the state of internal control and any recommendations to the Director of the Agency (including suggestions for any ICS to be prioritised during 2015). The purpose of the assessment based on the reported information is to identify (1) any cases of ineffective implementation of a standard or lack of compliance with the requirements; and (2) any standards for which, despite compliance and effective implementation, management takes the view that additional measures are necessary to increase efficiency. These internal control standards are to be prioritised in the management plan for the following year.

The inherent risks of the Agency are associated primarily with sound financial management. The control standards that are most important to the Agency's environment generally are thus ICS 6, 8, 12 and 13. The Agency is particularly concerned with keeping error rates in spending programmes down to a tolerable level while balancing trust and control. While error rates for most of the spending programmes managed by the Agency are well below the materiality threshold of 2%, current error rates are around 4% on a multi-annual basis for one of the Agency's funding programmes (Lifelong Learning Programme in programming period 2007-2013). More information can be found in Part 2.

An analysis of the main causes of errors has led the Agency to focus its efforts and lean support towards a) simplifying legislation/implementing rules and its own processes and procedures and b) adopting a solid communication policy towards both internal and external stakeholders. Concerning the overall state of the internal control system, the Agency generally complies with the three assessment criteria for effectiveness; i.e. (a) staff having the required knowledge and skills, (b) systems and procedures designed and implemented to manage the key risks effectively, and (c) no instances of ineffective


controls that have exposed the Agency to its key risks.

In its 2014 work programme, the Agency had foreseen a number of measures to improve the efficiency of ICS 5 on Objectives and performance, ICS 8 on Processes and procedures and ICS 12 on Information and communication. By the end of the reporting year, these measures were fully and satisfactorily implemented for ICS 5 on Objectives and performance and ICS 12 on Information and communication. For ICS 5 on Objectives and performance, new programmes for the multi-annual financial framework 2014-2020 have come into force on 01/01/2014 and relevant objectives and performance indicators have been defined and followed up throughout 2014. For ICS 12 on Information and Communication, an All Staff event took place beginning of 2014.

A staff consultation ("working smarter") was also organised in order to gather staff opinions and suggestions on a number of issues. Substantial improvement has been made as regards the design of the Agency's procedure interface. As a result of these initiatives, the feedback from staff on ICS 12 (as expressed in the survey-based assessment carried out end 2014) was very positive.

For ICS 8 on Processes and procedures, new simplified procedures (i.e. for amendments) as well specific guidances were adopted in the course of 2014. The new design of the Agency's procedures interface, for an easier and more user-friendly access to procedures, was almost finished by the end of 2014.

The work on up-dating the Agency's general procedures manual also started. However, at the end of 2014, some challenges were still ahead: drafting the specific procedure manuals for each programme and finalizing both the up-date of the Agency's general procedures manual and the revamp of the intranet. The survey-based assessment carried out at the end of 2014 on the effectiveness of ICS also demonstrated that there was room for improvement for ICS 6 Risk management process. In particular, risk assessment should be better integrated in the decision process and a "risk assessment culture" should be promoted within the Agency. ICS 8 on Processes and procedures and ICS 6 Risk management process will be prioritised for 2015. The 2014 action plan for ICS 8 will be updated and further rolled out. For ICS 6, new actions will be defined. ICS 5 and 12 will no longer be kept as priority standards.

In conclusion, the internal control standards are effectively implemented. In addition, the Agency is taking measures to further improve the efficiency and/or cost-effectiveness of its internal control systems in the area of ICS 6 and 8.


4. MANAGEMENT ASSURANCE This section reviews the assessment of the elements reported in Parts 2 and 3 and draw conclusions supporting of the declaration of assurance and namely, whether it should be qualified with reservations.

4.1 Review of the elements supporting assurance

The information in Parts 2 and 3 stems from the reported results of monitoring by both the Agency's management and several audit bodies (ECA, IAS and IAC) for all significant budget areas managed by the Agency. All these reports result from a systematic analysis of the evidence available. This approach provides sufficient guarantees as to the completeness and reliability of the information reported and results in a complete coverage of the budget delegated to the Director of the Agency.

The Director assesses the information provided in the above Parts 2 and 3 as complete. The administrative and operational budgets have been covered by appropriate performance indicators, by audits from ECA, IAS and IAC and the results from ex-post audits.

The Director believes that the information provided is reliable. Most of the indicators mentioned in Parts 2 and 3 have been closely monitored since the set-up of the Agency back in 2006. New indicators have been added to improve the coverage of the declaration of assurance (for example for prevention, detection and correction of irregularities and fraud).

While the control results show that a significant level of errors (above the 2% materiality threshold) still affect some of the transactions under the LLP programme, these errors have been analysed and their underlying causes have been identified. The action plan which addressed these weaknesses was fully operational.

The Director concludes that adequate corrective measures have been taken and should produce their full effect for LLP projects committed from 2013 onwards. However, the impact on the multi-annual error rate could be smaller, as this improvement could be more than off-set by the higher error rates in previous years.

In summary, the Director can provide reasonable assurance as of the adequate management of the risks related to a) the legality and regularity of the underlying transactions, taking into account the multi-annual character of the programmes as well as the nature of payments concerned, b) sound financial management and c) prevention, detection and correction of irregularities and fraud except for the reservation for the LLP programme 2007-2013.


4.2 Overall conclusion on assurance and reservations

No Title Type (Financial or

Reputational) 2014 amount at risk

(in million euros)

ABB amount concerned in 2014 i.e. scope

(in million euro) 1 LLP 2007-2013 Financial 4,4 million euros 57.4 million euros

Reservation 1 LLP 2007-2013

DG/service EACEA

Title of the reservation, including its scope

Multiannual materiality of the amount at risk resulting from the multi-annual residual error rates detected through ex-post audits in grant payments being above 2% of the programme budget for the Lifelong Learning Programme (LLP) 2007-2013

Domain Direct management – grants ABB activity and amount

affected (="scope") LLP programme (2007-2013): 15 02 51 Scope: 57,4 million euros

Reason for the reservation

Occurrence of significant errors in the underlying transactions (legality and regularity) found through ex-post controls. The multiannual materiality of the amount at risk related to those residual multiannual error rates is 4.41% for the LLP programme 2007-2013. The errors concern mainly the difficulty for some beneficiaries to produce adequate justifying documents and the non-respect of some eligibility rules.

Materiality criterion/criteria The materiality criterion in terms of the legality and regularity of underlying transactions of 2% of the ABB activity was breached.

Quantification of the impact

(= actual exposure")

The amount at risk is calculated for the LLP programme concerned by multiplying the value of the closed grants for which a final payment has been made in 2014 by the multiannual detected error rate taking into account corrections on the audited population. It amounts to €4,440,047 (multiannual detected error rate of 4.39% times €113,924,441 minus the corrections of the year: €194,389).

Impact on the assurance

Although the materiality is above 2% for the legality and regularity of the financial transactions at stake under the LLP programme 2007-2013 resulting in this reservation, its effect on the overall declaration of assurance is limited given the weight (1.19%) of the amount at risk compared to the total budget execution in terms of payments related to the programming period 2007-2013 in 2014 within theAgency (4.4Mio/371.7Mio = 1,19%) or 0.72% compared to the total budget execution in terms of payments in 2014 within the Agency (4.4Mio/613,4Mio = 0.72%)

Responsibility for the weakness

The errors occur at the level of final grant beneficiaries and the ex-ante controls within the Agency failed to sufficiently prevent, detect and correct erroneous payments.

Responsibility for the corrective action

The Agency will, like in previous years, thoroughly analyse the (most recurrent) errors found through the latest batches of audit reports and, if necessary, implement additional actions in the course of 2015 taking into account the cost-benefits of any possible corrective measures. Based on the above analysis and a prudent extrapolation, the Agency believes that the reservation for the LLP programme 2007-2013 could be recurrent at least for a couple of years. The implementation of the action plan described in Part 2 should produce its full effect for projects committed in 2013. The mandatory use of audit certificates by beneficiaries, added to the improved communication on financial obligations, should allow the 2% materiality threshold to be reached for these projects. However, the impact on the multi-annual error rates could be smaller, as this improvement could be more than off-set by the higher error rates during previous years.


Moreover, in the context of the next programmes for 2014-2020, action is being taken together with the Commission to further implement financial simplification. Concerning the impact of the errors affecting the LLP programme on the declaration of assurance, it must be stressed that the amount at risk only represents 0.72% of the total payments processed by the Agency in 2014. It therefore does not significantly affect the legality and regularity of the total transactions managed by the Agency.

According to the Standing instructions for the 2014 Annual Activity Report, a weighted average of the error rates needs to be calculated. This rate should encompass all the expenditures of the Agency.

On 2014 the split of payments made by the Agency were 56% related to the legacy programmes, 37% related to the newly delegated programmes and 7% related to the administrative budget of the Agency.

The weighted average detected error rate of the legacy programmes, based on the Agency's multi-annual ex-post strategy is calculated at 1.5%. The weighted error rate is applied also to the payments related to the new programmes as they are subject to an identical internal control environment. However, the new programmes (Creative Europe and Erasmus+) have successfully introduced lump sums and unit costs where possible which are considered to be of a lower risk. Applied to the operational payments made in 2014 (613.3 M€) this results in an amount at risk of 9.3 M€, for the both programming periods.

As far as the administrative budget is concerned, given the fact that it has been continuously audited by the European Court of Auditors without producing any material findings, the Agency considers the risk of error as low (around 0.1%) applied to the administrative payments (45.5 M€). This results in an amount at risk of 0.045M€.

Taking into consideration the above elements the final weighted average error rate (AER) of the total payments performed (operational and administrative) by the Agency in 2014 is 1.4%.

DG BUDG has provided the overall average corrective capacity of EACEA at 2.75% of the average payments concluded by the Agency. The corrective capacity based only on the random ex-post controls conducted by the Agency on final payments over the period 2009-2014 is on average 0.06%. Applied to the operational final payments made in 2014, this results in an indication about the expected ex-post corrections of 0.3 M€. The corrective capacity based only on the risk-based ex-post controls conducted by the Agency on final payments over the period 2009-2014 is on average 0.12%. Applied to the operational final payments made in 2014, this results in an indication about the expected ex-post corrections of 0.67 M€.


Overall Conclusion

Taking into account all the above considerations, the overall risk relating to the legality and regularity of the underlying transactions of the Agency in 2014 remain lower than the materiality threshold of 2%.

Based on the information and the assessment of the elements reported in Parts 2 and 3, and taking into account the nature and the scope of the reservation on the LLP 2007-2013 programme, the Agency concludes that there reasonable assurance that the resources assigned to the activities have been used for their intended purpose and in accordance with the principles of sound financial management, and that the control procedures put in place give the necessary guarantees concerning the legality and regularity of the underlying transactions.


DECLARATION OF ASSURANCE

I, the undersigned,

Executive Director of the Executive Agency for Culture, Education and Audiovisual

In my capacity as authorising officer for the operating budget and authorising officer by delegation for the operational budget

Declare that the information contained in this report gives a true and fair view35.

State that I have reasonable assurance that the resources assigned to the activities described in this report have been used for their intended purpose and in accordance with the principles of sound financial management, and that the control procedures put in place give the necessary guarantees concerning the legality and regularity of the underlying transactions.

This reasonable assurance is based on my own judgement and on the information at my disposal, such as the results of the self-assessment, ex-post controls, the work of the internal audit capability, the observations of the Internal Audit Service and the lessons learnt from the reports of the Court of Auditors for years prior to the year of this declaration.

Confirm that I am not aware of anything not reported here which could harm the interests of Education, Audiovisual and Culture Executive Agency or those of the Commission here.

However the following reservations should be note

Considering that the materiality36 of the amount at risk is at 4.41% for one of the programmes delegated to the Agency (Lifelong Learning Programme 2007-2013), a reservation is warranted for this programme.

Although the materiality is above 2% for this programme, its effect on the overall assurance and declaration is limited given the weight of the amount at risk which corresponds to 0.72% of the 2014 total payments done by the Agency. Consequently, despite the reservation, the overall assurance can be maintained.

Place Brussels, 31/03/2015 signed

Brian Holmes

35 True and fair in this context means a reliable, complete and correct view on the state of affairs in the Executive Agency.

36 This materiality rate is calculated on a multiannual basis. Taking into consideration that the 2007-2013 LLP Programme is phasing out, the Agency considers the multiannual rate to be more accurate.


ANNEXES

ANNEX 1: Statement of the Internal Control Coordinator I declare that in accordance with the Commission’s communication on clarification of the responsibilities of the key actors in the domain of internal audit and internal control in the Commission37, I have reported my advice and recommendations to the Director-General/Executive Director on the overall state of internal control in the DG/Executive Agency. I hereby certify that the information provided in Parts 2 and 3 of the present AAR and in its annexes is, to the best of my knowledge, accurate and exhaustive.”

31/03/2015

Corinne Mimran

Signed

37 Communication to the Commission: Clarification of the responsibilities of the key actors in the domain of internal audit and internal control in the Commission; SEC(2003)59 of 21.01.2003.


ANNEX 2: Human and Financial resources

Human Resources by ABB activity Code ABB Activity ABB Activity Establishment Plan

posts External Personnel Total

15.02 Erasmus+ 53 180 233

15.04 Creative Europe 20 83 103

16.02 Europe for Citizens 4 14 18

23.04 EU Aid Volunteers 1 3 4

Administrative support 19 45 64

Coordination and communication

4 11 15

Total 101 336 437


Financial Resources by ABB activity (EUR Million)

implementation of Commitment Appropriations (CA)

Code ABB Activity ABB Activity Operational

expenditure Administrative expenditure Total

15 02 01 01 Erasmus+ Education and training 180.757.420

15 02 01 02 Erasmus+ Youth 20.364.636

15 02 02 Erasmus+ Jean Monnet 38.169.991

15 02 03 Erasmus+ Sport 21.234.390

15 04 01 Creative Europe - Desk 4.702.673

15 04 02 Creative Europe - Culture 52.442.698

15 04 03 Creative Europe - MEDIA 110.141.782

16 02 01 Europe for Citizens 22.686.004

19 05 20 Erasmus+ partnership Instrument

600.853

19 05 01 ICI/ECP 11.427 19 05 51 Legacy ICI/ECP 7.381.100 21 02 20 Erasmus+ DCI 74.606.756 21 02 51 Legacy DCI 46.085.150 21 03 20 Erasmus+ ENI 53.117.754 21 03 51 Legacy ENI 5.477.086 21 09 51 Legacy ICI+ 11.511.725 22 02 04 02 Erasmus+ IPA 12.377.397

22 02 51 Legacy Western Balkans 19.746.985

23 04 01 EU Aid Volunteers Initiative 11.148.000

Total 692.563.829 46.127.438 738.691.267

For Budget titles 19, 21 and 22, the commitments indicated for year N in the above table as legacy are relating to the level 2 (individual) commitments made by the Agency on the basis of level 1 (global) commitments made by the Commission in year N and N-1


ANNEX 3: Draft annual accounts and financial reports

Table 11 : Negotiated Procedures (excluding Building Contracts)

Table 12 : Summary of Procedures (excluding Building Contracts)

Table 13 : Building Contracts

Table 14 : Contracts declared Secret

Table 5 : Statement of Financial Performance

Table 6 : Average Payment Times

Table 7 : Income

Table 8 : Recovery of undue Payments

Table 9 : Ageing Balance of Recovery Orders

Table 10 : Waivers of Recovery Orders

Annex 3 Financial Reports - DG EACEA - Financial Year 2014

Table 1 : Commitments

Table 2 : Payments

Table 3 : Commitments to be settled

Table 4 : Balance Sheet


Commitment appropriations

authorised

Commitments made

%

1 2 3=2/1

15 15 02 Erasmus+ 264,29 260,53 98,58 %

15 04 Creative Europe 169,26 167,29 98,83 %

433,55 427,81 98,68%

16 16 02 Fostering European citizenship 23,00 22,69 98,64 %

23,00 22,69 98,64%

19 19 05 Cooperation w ith third countries under the Partnership Instrument (PI)

0,92 0,61 66,41 %

0,92 0,61 66,41%

21 21 02 Development cooperation instrument (DCI) 76,20 74,61 97,91 %

21 03 European Neighbourhood Instrument (ENI) 53,49 53,12 99,30 %

21 09Completion of actions implemented under Industrialised Countries Instrument (ICI+) Programme

0,00 0,00

129,69 127,72 98,48%

22 22 02 Enlargement process and strategy 13,15 12,38 94,10 %

13,15 12,38 94,10%

23 23 04 Union Aid Volunteers 11,15 11,15 100,00 %

11,15 11,15 100,00%

611,46 602,36 98,51 %

Title 21 Development and Cooperation

Total Title 21

Title 22 Enlargement

Total Title 22

Title 23 Humanitarian Aid and Civil Protection

TABLE 1: OUTTURN ON COMMITMENT APPROPRIATIONS IN 2014 (in Mio €)

Title 15 Education and culture

Total Title 15

Title 16 Communication

Total Title 16

Title 19 Foreign Policy Instruments

Total Title 23Total DG EACEA

Total Title 19

*Commitment appropriations authorised include, in addition to the budget voted by the legislative authority, appropriations carried over from the previous exercise, budget amendments as well as miscellaneous commitment appropriations for the period (e.g. internal and external assigned revenue).

** For budget titles 19, 21 and 22, the commitments indicated for year N in the above table, do not include the legacy figures relating to the level 2 (individual) commitments made by the Agency on the basis of level 1 (global) commitments made by the Commission in year N and N-1.


P ayment appro priat io ns autho rised

*

P ayments made %

1 2 3=2/ 1

15 15 02 Erasmus+ 237,01 232,08 97,92 %15 04 Creative Europe 175,83 171,78 97,70 %

412,84 403,86 97,82%

16 16 02 Fostering European citizenship 23,80 23,50 98,72 %

23,80 23,50 98,72%

19 19 05 Cooperation w ith third countries under the Partnership Instrument (PI)

7,44 7,26 97,61 %

7,44 7,26 97,61%

21 21 02 Development cooperation instrument (DCI) 50,24 46,43 92,43 %21 03 European Neighbourhood Instrument (ENI) 100,40 99,89 99,48 %

21 09 Completion of actions implemented under Industrialised Countries Instrument (ICI+) Programme

3,45 3,45 100,00 %

154,09 149,77 97,20%

22 22 02 Enlargement process and strategy 29,24 28,97 99,09 %

29,24 28,97 99,09%

23 23 04 Union Aid Volunteers 0,00 0,00

0,00 0,00

627,41 613,36 97,76 %

Total Title 22

Title 23 Humanitarian Aid and Civil Protection

Total Title 23

Total DG EACEA

Total Title 16

Title 19 Foreign Policy Instruments

Total Title 19

Title 21 Development and Cooperation

Total Title 21

Title 22 Enlargement

TABLE 2: OUTTURN ON PAYMENT APPROPRIATIONS IN 2014 (in Mio €)

C hapter

Title 15 Education and culture

Total Title 15

Title 16 Communication

* Payment appropriations authorised include, in addition to the budget voted by the legislative authority, appropriations carried over from the previous exercise, budget


amendments as well as miscellaneous payment appropriations for the period (e.g. internal and external assigned revenue).


Commitments to be settled from

Total of commitments to be sett led at end

Total of commitments to be sett led at end

Commitments 2014 Payments 2014 RAL 2014 % to be settled financial years

previous to 2014

of f inancial year 2014(incl correct ions)

of f inancial year 2013(incl.

corrections)

1 2 3=1-2 4=1-2/1 5 6=3+5 7

15 15 02 260,53 136,42 124,11 47,64 % 145,29 269,40 254,87

15 04 167,29 90,01 77,28 46,20 % 77,89 155,17 166,03

427,81 226,42 201,39 47,07% 223,18 424,57 420,90

16 16 02 22,69 12,61 10,08 44,41 % 8,62 18,69 21,01

22,69 12,61 10,08 44,41% 8,62 18,69 21,01

19 19 05 0,61 0,01 0,60 98,13 % 13,19 13,79 20,99

0,61 0,01 0,60 98,13% 13,19 13,79 20,99

21 21 02 74,61 0,51 74,10 99,32 % 108,64 182,74 167,53

21 03 53,12 1,64 51,48 96,92 % 149,54 201,02 252,16

21 09 0,00 0,00 0,00 #DIV/0 15,63 15,63 19,74

127,72 2,14 125,58 98,32% 273,81 399,39 439,43

22 22 02 12,38 0,44 11,94 96,43 % 42,13 54,07 73,62

12,38 0,44 11,94 96,43% 42,13 54,07 73,62

23 23 04 11,15 0,00 11,15 100,00 % 0,00 11,15 0,00

11,15 0,00 11,15 100,00% 0,00 11,15 0,00

602,36 241,63 360,73 59,89 % 560,93 921,66 975,95

Total Title 23

Total DG EACEA

Total Title 21

Title 22 : Enlargement

Enlargement process and strategy

Total Title 22

Title 23 : Humanitarian Aid and Civil Protection

Union Aid Volunteers

Cooperation w ith third countries under the Partnership Instrument (PI)

Total Title 19

Title 21 : Development and Cooperation

Development cooperation instrument (DCI)

European Neighbourhood Instrument (ENI)

Completion of actions implemented under Industrialised Countries Instrument (ICI+) Programme

Creative Europe

Total Title 15

Title 16 : Communication

Fostering European citizenship

Total Title 16

Title 19 : Foreign Policy Instruments

TABLE 3 : BREAKDOWN OF COMMITMENTS TO BE SETTLED AT 31/12/2014 (in Mio €)

2014 Commitments to be settled

Chapter

Title 15 : Education and culture

Erasmus+


2014 2013

36.823.061,02 82.628.305,97

36.823.061,02

0,00 82.628.305,97

319.469.225,57 343.361.507,10

308.583.288,45 335.212.043,38

10.038.979,34 7.336.282,72

1.089.242,43 1.055.465,65

-242.284,65 -242.284,65

356.292.286,59 425.989.813,07

-98.028.560,54 -100.073.032,35

-14.353.108,93 -14.187.510,81

-83.675.451,61 -85.885.521,54

-98.028.560,54 -100.073.032,35

258.263.726,05 325.916.780,72

650.241.416,87 67.560,00

-908.505.142,92 -325.984.340,72

0,00 0,00

Non-allocated central (surplus)/deficit*

TOTAL

TABLE 4 : BALANCE SHEET

NET ASSETS (ASSETS less LIABILITIES)

P.I.2. Accumulated Surplus / Deficit

P.III.5. Accrued charges and deferred income

LIABILITIES

ASSETS

P.III. CURRENT LIABILITIES

P P.III.4. Accounts Payable

A.II.4. Exchange Receivables

A.II.5. Non-Exchange Receivables

A.II.7. Cash and Cash Equivalents

A.I.7. OLD LT Pre-Financing

A.II. CURRENT ASSETS

A A.II.2. Current Pre-Financing

BALANCE SHEET

A.I. NON CURRENT ASSETS

A A.I.6. Non-Current Pre-Financing

It should be noted that the balance sheet and economic outturn account presented in Annex 3 to this Annual Activity Report, represent only the (contingent) assets, (contingent) liabilities, expenses and revenues that are under the control of this Directorate General. Significant amounts such as own resource revenues and cash held in Commission bank accounts are not included in this Directorate General's accounts since they are managed centrally by DG Budget, on whose balance sheet and economic outturn account they appear. Furthermore, since the accumulated result of the Commission is not split amongst the various Directorates General, it can be seen that the balance sheet presented here is not in equilibrium.

Additionally, the figures included in tables 4 and 5 are provisional since they are, at this date, still subject to audit by the Court of Auditors. It is thus possible that amounts included in these tables may have to be adjusted following this audit.


STATEMENT OF FINANCIAL PERFORMANCE 2014 2013

II.1 REVENUES -4.344.412,73 -1.994.256,93

II.1.1. NON-EXCHANGE REVENUES -3.995.488,27 -1.503.529,03

II.1.1.5. RECOVERY OF EXPENSES -2.148.235,17 -1.503.529,03

II.1.1.6. OTHER NON-EXCHANGE REVENUES -1.847.253,10

II.1.2. EXCHANGE REVENUES -348.924,46 -490.727,90

II.1.2.1. FINANCIAL INCOME -461.444,46 -490.727,90

II.1.2.2. OTHER EXCHANGE REVENUE 112.520,00

II.2. EXPENSES 673.204.216,42 652.168.113,80

II.2. EXPENSES 673.204.216,42 652.168.113,80

11.2.10.OTHER EXPENSES 838.374,92 2.560.896,78

II.2.2. EXP IMPLEM BY COMMISS&EX.AGENC. (DM) 672.344.689,83 649.586.411,05

II.2.8. FINANCE COSTS 21.151,67 20.805,97

STATEMENT OF FINANCIAL PERFORMANCE 668.859.803,69 650.173.856,87

TABLE 5 : STATEMENT OF FINANCIAL PERFORMANCE


Additionally, the figures included in tables 4 and 5 are provisional since they are, at this date, still subject to audit by the Court of Auditors. It is thus possible that amounts included in these tables may have to be adjusted following this audit.

PercentageAverage Payment

Times (Days)

Nbr of Late Payments Percentage

89,60 % 10,3 466 10,40 %97,69 % 13,2 16 2,31 %

85,71 % 26,2 1 14,29 %92,99 % 27,1 194 7,01 %93,17 % 50,2 109 6,83 %

95,00 % 65,3 1 5,00 %

91,77 % 787 8,23 %

22,3

Total Number of Payments

9.566 8.779

Average Payment Time

25,8 63,9

105 20 19 120,0

60 2.768 2.574 72,590 1.597 1.488 119,5

45 693 677 109,350 7 6 70,0

Maximum Payment

Time (Days)


Nbr of Payments

within Time Limit

Average Payment

Times (Days)

30 4.481 4.015 45,6

TABLE 6: AVERAGE PAYMENT TIMES FOR 2014 - DG EACEA

Legal Times



Times (Days)


86,22 % 8,6 493 13,78 %

89,35 % 10,9 74 10,65 %79,32 % 45,0 328 20,68 %

75,00 % 55,7 5 25,00 %

84,69 % 900 15,31 %

18,2Average Payment Time

25,0 62,4


5.879 4.979

75 1.586 1.258 94,490 20 15 104,8

20 3.578 3.085 42,030 695 621 53,4

Target Times

Target Payment

Time (Days)


Nbr of Payments

within Target Time

Average Payment

Times (Days)

% of Total Number


Amount of Suspended Payments

% of Total Amount

22,39 % 9.566 134.254.344,98 21,88 %

Average Report

Approval Suspension

Average Payment

Suspension Days

Number of Suspended Payments

Total Paid Amount

4,6 30,8 2.142 613.605.677,03

Suspensions

EACEA 65010100 Interest on late payment of charges New FR 20 204,2121 151,67

Late Interest paid in 2014

DG GL Account Description Amount (Eur)EACEA 65010000 Interest expense on late payment of charges 947,46

Outstanding

Chapter Current year RO Carried over RO Total Current Year RO Carried over RO Total balance

1 2 3=1+2 4 5 6=4+5 7=3-6

52 REVENUE FROM INVESTMENTS OR LOANS GRANTED, BANK AND OTHER INTEREST

471.002,03 29.551,38 500.553,41 467.632,89 25.724,61 493.357,50 7.195,91

60 CONTRIBUTIONS TO UNION PROGRAMMES 190.239,93 18.616,92 208.856,85 78.613,21 15.513,32 94.126,53 114.730,32

61 REPAYMENT OF MISCELLANEOUS EXPENDITURE 920.898,83 4.758.056,28 5.678.955,11 -239.719,12 822.346,44 582.627,32 5.096.327,79

66 OTHER CONTRIBUTIONS AND REFUNDS 12.550.136,15 4.139.566,57 16.689.702,72 8.969.692,09 1.381.090,91 10.350.783,00 6.338.919,72

14.132.276,94 8.945.791,15 23.078.068,09 9.276.219,07 2.244.675,28 11.520.894,35 11.557.173,74

TABLE 7 : SITUATION ON REVENUE AND INCOME IN 2014

Revenue and income recognized Revenue and income cashed from

Total DG EACEA


INCOME BUDGET RECOVERY ORDERS

ISSUED IN 2014

Year of Origin (commitment) Nbr RO Amount Nbr RO Amount Nbr RO Amount Nbr RO Amount Nbr RO Amount Nbr RO Amount

2004 4 40.718,72 4 40.718,72 4 40.718,72 100,00% 100,00%

2006 5 36.590,75 2 254.806,29 7 291.397,04 7 291.397,04 100,00% 100,00%

2007 1 426,22 25 304.801,18 3 563.985,10 29 869.212,50 29 869.212,50 100,00% 100,00%

2008 4 127.991,75 34 498.925,14 1 63.074,04 39 689.990,93 40 690.133,77 97,50% 99,98%

2009 19 991.499,74 43 922.441,94 2 97.030,10 64 2.010.971,78 93 2.521.865,16 68,82% 79,74%

2010 8 77.659,91 49 1.313.000,52 10 492.602,97 67 1.883.263,40 82 2.185.967,65 81,71% 86,15%

2011 10 67.917,19 84 1.389.537,73 7 167.296,73 101 1.624.751,65 219 3.722.365,49 46,12% 43,65%

2012 18 156.775,47 116 1.407.254,13 8 230.519,36 142 1.794.548,96 188 2.578.798,42 75,53% 69,59%

2013 11 451.917,94 145 1.044.426,88 156 1.496.344,82 174 1.625.682,57 89,66% 92,04%

Sub-Total 71 1.874.188,22 505 6.957.696,99 33 1.869.314,59 609 10.701.199,80 836 14.526.141,32 72,85% 73,67%

EXPENSES BUDGET

Nbr Amount Nbr Amount Nbr Amount Nbr Amount Nbr Amount Nbr AmountINCOME LINES IN INVOICESNON ELIGIBLE IN COST CLAIMS

267 885.281,63 1389 8.045.368,06 1656 8.930.649,69 1662 9.230.091,17 99,64% 96,76%

CREDIT NOTES

Sub-Total 267 885.281,63 1389 8.045.368,06 1656 8.930.649,69 1662 9.230.091,17 99,64% 96,76%

GRAND TOTAL 338 2.759.469,85 1894 15.003.065,05 33 1.869.314,59 2265 19.631.849,49 2498 23.756.232,49 90,67% 37,59%

Error Irregularity OLAF Notified TOTAL Qualified OTAL RC(incl. non-qualified % Qualified/Total RC

TABLE 8 : RECOVERY OF UNDUE PAYMENTS(Number of Recovery Contexts and corresponding Transaction Amount)

Error Irregularity OLAF Notified TOTAL Qualified OTAL RC(incl. non-qualified % Qualified/Total RC

Number at 01/01/2014

2001 3

2002 8

2003 21

2004 12

2005 4

2006 4

2007 8

2008 25

2009 27

2010 22

2011 19

2012 43

2013 137

2014

333 337 1,20 % 8.945.791,15 11.557.173,74 29,19 %

137 4.856.057,87

-12,00 % 763.489,98 705.828,56 -7,55 %

-25,58 % 856.619,09

10 -47,37 % 742.733,47 481.939,39 -35,11 %

18 -18,18 % 1.865.754,53 1.780.343,50 -4,58 %

6 -25,00 % 241.289,74 216.492,50 -10,28 %

4 0,00 % 457.398,36 457.398,36 0,00 %

EvolutionOpen Amount

(Eur) at 01/01/2014

Open Amount (Eur) at 31/12/2014 Evolution

-16,67 % 298.060,50

12 -42,86 % 582.544,66 259.250,00 -55,50 %

7 -12,50 % 205.512,50 200.143,39 -2,61 %

59 -56,93 % 2.173.552,60 1.061.179,74 -51,18 %

32 735.661,75 -14,12 %

15 -44,44 % 644.818,37 443.857,81 -31,17 %

22

3 -25,00 % 89.934,03 67.434,03 -25,02 %

10 270.753,52 -9,16 %

2 -33,33 % 24.083,32 20.833,32 -13,49 %


TABLE 9: AGEING BALANCE OF RECOVERY ORDERS AT 31/12/2014 FOR EACEA


Waiver Central Key

Linked RO Central Key Comments

Number of RO waivers

Total DG

TABLE 10 : RECOVERY ORDER WAIVERS IN 2014 >= EUR 100.000

RO Accepted Amount (Eur) LE Account Group Commission

Decision

Negotiated Procedure Legal base Number of Procedures Amount (€)

Art. 134.1(e) 2 2.551.581,84

Art. 134.1(f) 1 3.000.000,00

Total 3, 5.551.581,84

TABLE 11 : CENSUS OF NEGOTIATED PROCEDURES - DG EACEA - 2014

Procurement > EUR 60,000

Procedure Type Count Amount (€)Exceptional Negotiated Procedure without publication of a contract notice (Art. 134 RAP)

3 5.551.581,84

Open Procedure (Art. 127.2 RAP) 3 99.124.500,00

TOTAL 6 104.676.081,84

TABLE 12 : SUMMARY OF PROCEDURES OF DG EACEA EXCLUDING BUILDING CONTRACTS

Internal Procedures > € 60,000

Additional comments

This annex refers to the operational budget of the Commission managed by the Agency. The same annex has also been prepared for the administrative budget. The figures refer to the number of procurement contracts award in 2014, taking into account the value of the award decisions and not the amount of the yearly contracts.


Report on negotiated procedures (Article 66 FR and Article 53 RAP)

The general average, calculated in value, of negotiated procedures in relation to the contracts awarded by the various DGs and Commission services is 9.5%, whereas the equivalent value for the EACEA is 5%38. Nonetheless the proportion of exceptional negotiated procedures in relation to the number of contracts awarded by the Agency is approximately 43%. Compared to 2013, this represents a rise of about 10%. This increase is unusual and primarily results from the new policy directions to be pursued under the new Erasmus+ programme, which entered into force on 1st of January 2014, and from the transition from the previous to the new generation of programmes. It is expected that the proportion of exceptional negotiated procedures in relation to the number of contracts awarded by the Agency will be reduced in 2015.

The negotiated procedure on the basis of Article 134(1)(f) RAP was needed to prevent any discontinuity of services in the insurance of volunteers taking part in the European Voluntary Service (EVS) between the former Youth programme and the new Erasmus+ programme.

The two negotiated procedures on the basis Article 134(1)(e) RAP were launched to add functionalities to the eTwinning platform and to develop the School Gateway. The launch of the call for tenders for the initial eTwinning contract is dated from 2012. A European gateway for schools had been envisaged at the time of tendering the original contract but, it was limited as no political decision had been made on the shape of the future programme and policies in school education. In 2012, the Erasmus+ programme was still being developed. With the adoption of this programme in December 2013, and the Commission's declared political strategy to develop the eTwinning School Gateway into the main tool around school education, it became evident that the scope of the services provided in the frame of the original eTwinning contract should be extended to reflect the new policy directions.

Total number of contracts :

Total amount :

Legal baseContrac

t Number

Contractor Name Description Amount (€)

TABLE 13 : BUILDING CONTRACTS

38 As specified in the note of DG BUDG, 'Rapport sur les procédures négociées en 2014 (Art. 53 RAP)', sent to the EACEA on 25th February 2015 (Ares(2015)811298).


No data to be reported

Total Number of Contracts :

Total amount :

Legal baseContract Number Contractor Name

Type of contract Description Amount (€)

No data to be reported

TABLE 14 : CONTRACTS DECLARED SECRET


Table 11 : Census of negotiated procedures

Table 12 : Summary of procedures of EACEA excluding building contracts

Table 10 : Waivers of Recovery Orders

Annex 3 Financial Reports - EACEA - Financial Year 2014

Administrative Budget

Table 1 : Commitments

Table 2 : Payments

Table 3 : Commitments to be settled

Table 4 : Balance Sheet

Table 5 : Statement of Financial Performance

Table 6 : Average Payment Times

Table 7 : Income

Table 8 : Recovery of undue Payments

Table 9 : Ageing Balance of Recovery Orders


Commitment appropriations

authorised *

Commitments made %

1 2 3=2/1

1111 Agents temporaires 11,00 10,69 97,24 %

1112 Fonctionnaires mis à disposition 0,05 0,05 92,35 %11,05 10,74 97,22%

1121 Agents contractuels 15,82 15,60 98,63 %15,82 15,60 98,63%

1131 Intérimaires 3,12 3,12 100,00 %

1132 Stagiaires 0,28 0,28 99,89 %3,40 3,40 99,99%

1211 Gestion administrative du personnel 0,37 0,37 98,39 %0,37 0,37 98,39%

1221 Cours de langues, recyclage et perfect professionn 0,33 0,33 98,71 %0,33 0,33 98,71%

1231 Service médical 0,07 0,07 100,00 %

1232 Mobilité 0,05 0,05 100,00 %

1233 Services sociaux et autres interventions 0,57 0,57 100,00 %0,68 0,68 100,00%

1241 Frais de représentation, réunions int et évènement 0,05 0,05 100,00 %0,05 0,05 100,00%

2111 Loyers, usufruits et frais accessoires 2,15 2,15 99,99 %

2112 Charges relatives aux immeubles 3,07 3,07 100,00 %5,22 5,22 99,99%

Title 12-4 Développement professionnel et dépenses sociales

Total Title 12-4Title 21-1 Dépenses d'immeubles

Total Title 21-1

Total Title 12-1Title 12-2 Développement professionnel et dépenses sociales


Total Title 12-3

Title 11-2 Rémunérations, indemnités et charges

Total Title 11-2Title 11-3 Rémunérations, indemnités et charges


TABLE 1: OUTTURN ON COMMITMENT APPROPRIATIONS IN 2014 (in Mio €)

Chapter


Total Title 11-1


2121 Aménagements des locaux et autres dépenses 0,01 0,01 100,00 %0,01 0,01 100,00%

2211 Équipement de traitement de données et télécomm 0,38 0,38 99,63 %

2212 Applications informatiques 0,70 0,70 99,94 %1,08 1,07 99,83%

2221 Autres services ext pour le traitement des données 2,63 2,63 99,91 %2,63 2,63 99,91%

2311 Achat, location, entretien et rép mob, mat et inst 0,02 0,02 90,91 %

2312 Frais de manutention et déménagements 0,01 0,01 100,00 %0,03 0,03 92,54%

2321 Papeterie et fournitures de bureau 0,09 0,09 100,00 %

2322 Affranchissement et frais de port 0,05 0,05 100,00 %0,14 0,14 100,00%

2331 Biblio, abon publications, acq et archi de documen 0,05 0,04 92,36 %0,05 0,04 92,36%

2341 Frais bancaires et autres frais financiers 0,00 0,00 0,11 %

2342 Frais de contentieux, dommages et intérêts 0,14 0,12 89,11 %0,14 0,12 88,45%

2351 Assurances et autres dép diverses de fonct courant 0,01 0,01 100,00 %0,01 0,01 100,00%

3111 Réunions 0,20 0,15 76,95 %0,20 0,15 76,95%

3121 Information, communication et publication 0,76 0,75 99,79 %0,76 0,75 99,79%

3131 Traduction et interprétation 0,68 0,63 93,24 %0,68 0,63 93,24%

3141 Audits 1,35 1,33 98,68 %1,35 1,33 98,68%

3151 Frais de missions, déplacements et autres dép acce 0,67 0,57 85,86 %0,67 0,57 85,86%

3161 Informatique spécifique 2,10 2,08 98,80 %2,10 2,08 98,80%

3171 Autres dépenses liées à la gestion des programmes 0,22 0,19 88,40 %0,22 0,19 88,40%

46,95 46,13 98,26 %

Total Title 31-4Title 31-5 Dépenses liées à la gestion des programmes




Total Title 31-7

TOTAL EACEA

Title 31-1 Dépenses liées à la gestion des programmes



Total Title 23-3Title 23-4 Biens meubles et dépenses de fonctionnement couran


Total Title 23-5

Title 23-1 Biens meubles et dépenses de fonctionnement couran



Total Title 21-2Title 22-1 Dépenses de technologie de l'info et communication

Total Title 22-1Title 22-2 Dépenses de technologie de l'info et communication

Total Title 22-2

Title 21-2 Dépenses d'immeubles


* Commitment appropriations authorised include, in addition to the budget voted by the legislative authority, appropriations carried over from the previous exercise, budget amendments as well as miscellaneous commitment appropriations for the period (e.g. internal and external assigned revenue).


Payment appropriations

authorised *

Payments made %

1 2 3=2/1

1111 Agents temporaires 11,00 10,69 97,24 %1112 Fonctionnaires mis à disposition 0,05 0,05 92,35 %

11,05 10,74 97,22%

1121 Agents contractuels 15,82 15,60 98,63 %15,82 15,60 98,63%

1131 Intérimaires 3,12 2,44 78,05 %1132 Stagiaires 0,28 0,28 99,89 %

3,40 2,72 79,86%

1211 Gestion administrative du personnel 0,37 0,33 89,98 %0,37 0,33 89,98%

1221 Cours de langues, recyclage et perfect professionn 0,33 0,12 36,70 %0,33 0,12 36,70%

1231 Service médical 0,07 0,04 60,89 %1232 Mobilité 0,05 0,04 81,24 %1233 Services sociaux et autres interventions 0,57 0,56 99,49 %

0,68 0,64 94,31%

1241 Frais de représentation, réunions int et évènement 0,05 0,04 85,83 %0,05 0,04 85,83%

2111 Loyers, usufruits et frais accessoires 2,15 2,15 99,99 %2112 Charges relatives aux immeubles 3,07 2,79 91,00 %

5,22 4,94 94,70%


Total 12-4


Total 21-1

Total 12-1


Total 12-2


Total 12-3


Total 11-2


Total 11-3


TABLE 2: OUTTURN ON PAYMENT APPROPRIATIONS IN 2014 (in Mio €)

Chapter


Total 11-1


2121 Aménagements des locaux et autres dépenses 0,01 0,00 0,00 %0,01 0,00

2211 Équipement de traitement de données et télécomm 0,38 0,21 55,02 %2212 Applications informatiques 0,70 0,49 70,65 %

1,08 0,70 65,16%

2221 Autres services ext pour le traitement des données 2,63 1,98 75,23 %2,63 1,98 75,23%

2311 Achat, location, entretien et rép mob, mat et inst 0,02 0,01 23,22 %2312 Frais de manutention et déménagements 0,01 0,00 34,96 %

0,03 0,01 25,32%

2321 Papeterie et fournitures de bureau 0,09 0,07 77,83 %2322 Affranchissement et frais de port 0,05 0,04 82,72 %

0,14 0,11 79,64%

2331 Biblio, abon publications, acq et archi de documen 0,05 0,04 79,25 %0,05 0,04 79,25%

2341 Frais bancaires et autres frais financiers 0,00 0,00 0,08 %2342 Frais de contentieux, dommages et intérêts 0,14 0,12 86,51 %

0,14 0,12 85,88%

2351 Assurances et autres dép diverses de fonct courant 0,01 0,00 39,55 %0,01 0,00 39,55%

3111 Réunions 0,20 0,09 47,45 %0,20 0,09 47,45%

3121 Information, communication et publication 0,76 0,22 28,99 %0,76 0,22 28,99%

3131 Traduction et interprétation 0,68 0,31 44,97 %0,68 0,31 44,97%

3141 Audits 1,35 0,30 22,17 %1,35 0,30 22,17%

3151 Frais de missions, déplacements et autres dép acce 0,67 0,50 74,77 %0,67 0,50 74,77%

3161 Informatique spécifique 2,10 0,90 42,94 %2,10 0,90 42,94%


Total 31-6

Total 31-3


Total 31-4


Total 31-5


Total 31-1


Total 31-2


Total 23-3


Total 23-4


Total 23-5


Total 23-1


Total 23-2


Total 21-2

Title 22-1 Dépenses de technologie de l'info et communication

Total 22-1

Title 22-2 Dépenses de technologie de l'info et communication

Total 22-2



3171 Autres dépenses liées à la gestion des programmes 0,22 0,19 88,40 %0,22 0,19 88,40%

A01115 Fonctionnaires europ, nation, int, détachés à l'ag 0,00 0,00 31,86 %A01170 Intérimaires 0,28 0,25 87,23 %A01178 Autres services externes (y compris coûts pour SLA 0,03 0,02 69,08 %A01185 Frais divers de recrutement du personnel 0,00 0,00 100,00 %A01300 Frais de missions administratives 0,08 0,05 62,49 %A01420 Restaurants, Cantines 0,00 0,00 18,31 %A01430 Service Médical 0,04 0,04 100,00 %A01440 Cours de langue, formation, training 0,17 0,15 89,04 %A01490 Autres interventions 0,00 0,00 92,12 %A01630 Centre la petite enfance 0,00 0,00 0,00 %

0,61 0,51 83,33%

A02010 Assurances 0,00 0,00 0,00 %A02020 Eau, gaz, électricité, chauffage 0,03 0,03 100,00 %A02030 Nettoyage et entretien 0,02 0,01 40,94 %A02050 Sécurité et surveillance des immeubles 0,63 0,61 97,48 %A02090 Autres dépenses 0,16 0,16 99,87 %A02100 Équipement de traitement de données 0,25 0,25 99,61 %A02101 Développement logiciels (software + office aut.) 0,45 0,45 99,54 %A02102 Prest. extér. pour traitement des données 0,98 0,98 99,90 %A02200 Achat de matériel et installations techniques 0,00 0,00 100,00 %A02202 Location et leasing de matériel et installations t 0,01 0,01 78,55 %A02203 Entretien, exploitation et réparation de matériel 0,03 0,02 60,49 %A02232 Location, leasing matériel de transport et frais d 0,01 0,00 69,70 %A02252 Abonnements aux journaux et périodiques 0,01 0,01 86,32 %A02300 Papeterie et fournitures de bureau 0,02 0,01 76,62 %A02320 Frais bancaires 0,00 0,00 100,00 %A02330 Frais de contentieux 0,02 0,00 26,05 %A02350 Assurances diverses 0,00 0,00 5,58 %A02352 Frais divers de réunions internes 0,01 0,01 62,41 %A02353 Travaux de manutention et déménagement 0,00 0,00 93,55 %A02354 Archivage de documents 0,00 0,00 0,00 %A02355 Tenues de service 0,00 0,00 94,22 %A02400 Affranchissement correspondance et frais de port 0,02 0,02 100,00 %A02410 Redevances de télécommunications 0,00 0,00 0,00 %A02600 Frais d'experts 0,41 0,31 76,24 %A02601 Frais de réunions liés activités opération. 0,32 0,30 93,83 %A02620 Information, Communication & Publication 0,27 0,25 90,84 %A02630 Frais de traduction 0,13 0,12 94,80 %A02640 Frais d'audits 0,98 0,83 84,66 %

4,78 4,40 92,11%

52,34 45,51 86,95 %


Total 31-7

Title A-1 FRAIS DE PERSONNEL

Total A-1

Title A-2 FRAIS DE FONCTIONNEMENT

Total A-2

TOTAL EACEA

* Payment appropriations authorised include, in addition to the budget voted by the legislative authority, appropriations carried over from the previous exercise, budget amendments as well as miscellaneous payment appropriations for the period (e.g. internal and external assigned revenue).


Commitments 2014

Payments 2014 RAL 2014 % to be

settled1 2 3=1-2 4=1-2//1

1111 10,69 -10,69 0,00 0,00 %

1112 0,05 -0,05 0,00 0,00 %

10,74 -10,74 0,00 0,00%

1121 15,60 -15,60 0,00 0,00 %

15,60 -15,60 0,00 0,00%

1131 3,12 -2,44 0,68 21,95 %

1132 0,28 -0,28 0,00 0,00 %

3,40 -2,72 0,68 20,14%

1211 0,37 -0,33 0,03 8,54 %

0,37 -0,33 0,03 8,54%

1221 0,33 -0,12 0,20 62,82 %

0,33 -0,12 0,20 62,82%

1231 0,07 -0,04 0,03 39,11 %

1232 0,05 -0,04 0,01 18,76 %

1233 0,57 -0,56 0,00 0,51 %

0,68 -0,64 0,04 5,69%

1241 0,05 -0,04 0,01 14,17 %

0,05 -0,04 0,01 14,17%

2111 2,15 -2,15 0,00 0,00 %

2112 3,07 -2,79 0,28 9,00 %

5,22 -4,94 0,28 5,30%

2121 0,01 0,00 0,01 100,00 %

0,01 0,00 0,01 100,00%

Aménagements des locaux et autres dépenses

Total 21-2


Loyers, usufruits et frais accessoires

Charges relatives aux immeubles

Total 21-1


Services sociaux et autres interventions

Total 12-3

Title 12-4 Développement professionnel et dépenses socialesFrais de représentation, réunions int et évènement

Total 12-4

Cours de langues, recyclage et perfect professionn

Total 12-2


Service médical

Mobilité

Total 11-3


Gestion administrative du personnel

Total 12-1


Agents contractuels

Total 11-2


Intérimaires

Stagiaires


Agents temporaires

Fonctionnaires mis à disposition

Total 11-1


TABLE 3 : BREAKDOWN OF COMMITMENTS TO BE SETTLED AT 31/12/2014 (in Mio €)

2014 Commitments to be settled

Chapter


2211 0,38 -0,21 0,17 44,78 %

2212 0,70 -0,49 0,20 29,31 %

1,07 -0,70 0,37 34,73%

2221 2,63 -1,98 0,65 24,71 %

2,63 -1,98 0,65 24,71%

2311 0,02 -0,01 0,02 74,45 %

2312 0,01 0,00 0,00 65,04 %

0,03 -0,01 0,02 72,64%

2321 0,09 -0,07 0,02 22,17 %

2322 0,05 -0,04 0,01 17,28 %

0,14 -0,11 0,03 20,36%

2331 0,04 -0,04 0,01 14,20 %

0,04 -0,04 0,01 14,20%

2341 0,00 0,00 0,00 28,57 %

2342 0,12 -0,12 0,00 2,91 %

0,12 -0,12 0,00 2,91%

2351 0,01 0,00 0,00 60,45 %

0,01 0,00 0,00 60,45%

3111 0,15 -0,09 0,06 38,33 %

0,15 -0,09 0,06 38,33%

3121 0,75 -0,22 0,53 70,95 %

0,75 -0,22 0,53 70,95%

3131 0,63 -0,31 0,33 51,76 %

0,63 -0,31 0,33 51,76%

3141 1,33 -0,30 1,03 77,53 %

1,33 -0,30 1,03 77,53%

3151 0,57 -0,50 0,07 12,92 %

0,57 -0,50 0,07 12,92%

3161 2,08 -0,90 1,17 56,54 %

2,08 -0,90 1,17 56,54%

3171 0,19 -0,19 0,00 0,00 %

0,19 -0,19 0,00 0,00%

46,13 -40,59 5,53 12,00 %

Title 31-7 Dépenses liées à la gestion des programmesAutres dépenses liées à la gestion des programmes

Total 31-7

TOTAL EACEA

Frais de missions, déplacements et autres dép acce

Total 31-5


Informatique spécifique

Total 31-6

Total 31-3


Audits

Total 31-4



Information, communication et publication

Total 31-2


Traduction et interprétation

Assurances et autres dép diverses de fonct courant

Total 23-5


Réunions

Total 31-1


Frais bancaires et autres frais financiers

Frais de contentieux, dommages et intérêts

Total 23-4


Affranchissement et frais de port

Total 23-2

Title 23-3 Biens meubles et dépenses de fonctionnement couranBiblio, abon publications, acq et archi de documen

Total 23-3

Achat, location, entretien et rép mob, mat et inst

Frais de manutention et déménagements

Total 23-1


Papeterie et fournitures de bureau

Total 22-1

Title 22-2 Dépenses de technologie de l'info et communicationAutres services ext pour le traitement des données

Total 22-2


Title 22-1 Dépenses de technologie de l'info et communicationÉquipement de traitement de données et télécommApplications informatiques


2014 2013

1.896.329 1.328.904

A. 1.400.041 866.184

496.288 462.720

7.717.634 9.061.277

A. 0 0

1.343.002 2.180.604

9.943 20.382

6.364.689 6.860.291

9.613.963 10.390.181

-4.664.453 -5.689.765

P. 0 -270.019

-1.522.267 -2.472.633

-3.142.186 -2.947.113

-4.664.453 -5.689.765

4.949.510 4.700.416

TOTAL 0 0

TABLE 4 : BALANCE SHEET EACEA

-4.746.305

Non-allocated central (surplus)/deficit* -249.094 45.889

P.III.4. Accounts Payable

P.III.5. Accrued charges and deferred income

LIABILITIES

A.II.2. Current Pre-Financing

NET ASSETS (ASSETS less LIABILITIES)

P.I.2. Accumulated Surplus / Deficit -4.700.416

A.II.4. Exchange Receivables

A.II.5. Non-Exchange Receivables

A.II.7. Cash and Cash Equivalents

ASSETS

P.III. CURRENT LIABILITIES

P.III.2. Short-term provisions

BALANCE SHEET

A.I. NON CURRENT ASSETS

A.I.1. Intangible Assets

A.I.2. Property, plant and equipment

A.II. CURRENT ASSETS


Additionally, the figures included in tables 4 & 5 are provisional since they are, at this date, still subject to audit by the Court of Auditors. It is thus possible that amounts included in these tables may have to be adjusted following this audit.


STATEMENT OF FINANCIAL PERFORMANCE 2014 2013

II.1 REVENUES -45.652.789 -49.284.960

II.1.1. NON-EXCHANGE REVENUES -45.245.982 -48.614.316

II.1.1.6. OTHER NON-EXCHANGE REVENUES -45.245.982 -48.614.316

II.1.2. EXCHANGE REVENUES -406.807 -670.644

II.1.2.2. OTHER EXCHANGE REVENUE -406.807 -670.644

II.2. EXPENSES 45.403.695 49.330.849

II.2. EXPENSES 45.403.695 49.330.849

11.2.10.OTHER EXPENSES 18.929.789 24.708.229

II.2.6. STAFF AND PENSION COSTS 26.473.901 24.622.619

II.2.8. FINANCE COSTS 6 0

STATEMENT OF FINANCIAL PERFORMANCE -249.094 45.889

TABLE 5 : ECONOMIC OUTTURN ACCOUNT EACEA


Additionally, the figures included in tables 4 & 5 are provisional since they are, at this date, still subject to audit by the Court of Auditors. It is thus possible that amounts included in these tables may have to be adjusted following this audit.


TABLE 6: AVERAGE PAYMENT TIMES FOR 2014 - DG EACEA

Legal Times

Maximum Payment Time

(Days)

Nbr of Paymen

ts within


Times (Days)


Average Payment

Times (Days)

30 1.057 97,33 % 12,7 29 2,67 % 43,3

40 2 100,00 % 7,5

43 1 100,00 % 12,0

45 21 100,00 % 15,7

46 1 100,00 % 47,0

50 2 100,00 % 9,0

Total Number of Payments 1.083 97,30 % 30 2,70 %

Average Payment Time 12,8 43,513,6

21

1

2

1.113


1.086

2

1

Target Times

Target Payment Time

(Days)

Nbr of Paymen

ts within Target


Times (Days)


Average Payment

Times (Days)

Total Number of PaymentsAverage Payment Time


Suspensions

Average Report

Approval Suspension

Days

Number of

Suspended

Paymen

% of Total Number


Amount of Suspended Payments

% of Total Amount

Total Paid Amount

0 29, 2,61 % 1.113, 321.647,74 1,23 % 26.125.140,53

EACA 65010000 Interest expense on late payment of charges 4,53 4,53

11

Late Interest paid in 2014

Agency GL Account Description Amount (Eur)

Average Payment

Suspension Days


Title Description Year of Origin

Revenue and Income

recognized

Revenue and Income cashed

Outstanding Balance

1111 Subv:DG EAC(Erasmus+) 2014 26.934.480,00 26.934.480,00 0,00

1112 Subv:DG EAC(Europe Creative)

2014 12.491.000,00 12.491.000,00 0,00

1113 Subv:DG COMM (Europe pour les Citoyens)

2014 2.191.000,00 2.191.000,00 0,00

1114 Subv:DG DEVCO (ENI-DCI) 2014 3.515.920,00 3.515.920,00 0,00

1115 Subvention: DG FPI (PI) 2014 249.060,00 249.060,00 0,00

1116 Subvention: DG ELARG (IPA)

2014 753.540,00 753.540,00 0,00

1117 Subvention: ECHO (EU AID) 2014 454.000,00 454.000,00 0,00

1121 Subvention: FED 2014 356.000,00 356.000,00 0,00

2311 Remboursement de dépenses diverses

2014 19.150,38 19.150,38 0,00

2311 Remboursement de dépenses diverses

29.531,93 29.531,93 0,00

46.993.682,31 46.993.682,31 0,00

TABLE 7 : SITUATION ON REVENUE AND INCOME IN 2014

TOTAL EACEA

INCOME BUDGETRECOVERY ORDERS ISSUED IN

2014Year of Origin (commitment) Nbr RO Amount Nbr Nbr RO Amount

Sub-Total

EXPENSES BUDGET

Nbr Amount Nbr Amount Nbr Amount Nbr Amount Nbr Amount Nbr AmountINCOME LINES IN INVOICESNON ELIGIBLE IN COST CLAIMS 6 627,50

CREDIT NOTES 17 266.311,55

Sub-Total 23 266.939,05

GRAND TOTAL 23 266.939,05

TABLE 8 : RECOVERY OF UNDUE PAYMENTS(Number of Recovery Contexts and corresponding Transaction Amount)

Error Irregularity OLAF Notified TOTAL Qualified % Qualified/Total RC

TOTAL Qualified TOTAL RC(incl. non-qualified) % Qualified/Total RC

RO Amount

TAL RC(incl. non-qualifi


Year of Origin


Totals

TABLE 9: AGEING BALANCE OF RECOVERY ORDERS AT 31/12/2014 FOR EACEA

Number at 31/12/2014 Evolution

Open Amount (Eur) at

01/01/2014

Open Amount (Eur) at

31/12/2014Evolution

Waiver Central Key

Linked RO Central Key

RO Accepted amount (Eur) LE Account Group Commission

Decision Comments

1,

TABLE 10 : RECOVERY ORDER WAIVERS IN 2014 >= EUR 100.000

Total EACEA

Number of RO waivers

Negotiated Procedure Legal base Number of Procedures Amount (€)

Total

TABLE 11 : CENSUS OF NEGOTIATED PROCEDURES - EACEA - 2014

Procurement > EUR 60,000

Procedure Type Count Amount (€)Exceptional Negotiated Procedure without publication of a contract notice (Art. 134 RAP) 1 171.000,00

TOTAL 1 171.000,00

TABLE 12 : SUMMARY OF PROCEDURES OF EACEA EXCLUDING BUILDING CONTRACTS

Internal Procedures > € 60,000

Additional comments This annex refers to the administrative budget of the Commission managed by the Agency. The same Annex has also been prepared for the operational budget. The figures refer to the number of procurement contracts awarded in 2014, taking into account the value of the award decisions and not the amount of the yearly contracts.


ANNEX 4: Materiality criteria

The materiality criteria are judged in both qualitative and quantitative terms. In qualitative terms, when assessing the significance of any weaknesses, the following factors are taken into account:

− The nature and scope of the weakness; − The duration of the weakness; − The existence of compensatory measures (mitigating controls which reduce the

impact of the weakness); − The existence of effective corrective actions to correct the weaknesses (action

plans and financial corrections) which have had a measurable impact.

In quantitative terms, in order to make a judgement on the significance of a weakness, it is essential to quantify the potential impact in monetary terms or the amount considered at risk. As regards the legality and regularity of the underlying transactions, the Agency uses the standard quantitative materiality threshold of 2% of the payment budget of the ABB activity.

However, the Commission's 'standard' breakdown per ABB activities at 4-digit level being too broad (especially in the education area) and covering programmes/activities for which there are significant differences in the size and types of projects, the Agency assesses the materiality per programme managed by the Agency (AAB at 6-digit level). It concerns the following programmes: Lifelong Learning (LLP), Erasmus Mundus, Culture, Youth, Citizenship, MEDIA and Tempus.

The Agency relies on the "best estimate" of the error rate because in view of the volumes and sizes of transactions (= grants) by programme managed by the Agency, it would not be cost-effective to have a representative error rate from a fully statistically representative sample for each individual programme.

In 2012, the Agency has calculated for the first time multi-annual, cumulative error rates in order to increase the representativeness of the figures and to be in line with the new guidance issued by DG BUDG in November 2011. While for the Annual Activity Report (AAR) 2012 the calculation covered 2 consecutive years, the Agency calculates the error rates over a 3-year period for reporting in the AAR 2013 and over a 4-year period for reporting in the AAR 2014.

In determining the need to make a potential reservation, the Agency follows the so-called "3+1 steps" approach; i.e. the four stages of analysis needed to come to a sound conclusion on whether to qualify the AOD's declaration with a reservation and, if so, to estimate its impact in monetary terms:

− Step 1: calculating the multi-annual representative detected error rate in a random39 sample of transactions (i.e. value of a closed grant project) and taking account of any corrections made for the calculation of the cumulative residual error rate in the population over the reference years;

39 Random selection is done by means of Monetary Unit Sampling (MUS).


− Step 2: estimating the actual exposure as 'amount at risk' to the value of the projects closed during the reporting year, based on those error rates calculated for a population of projects mostly closed through final payment or recovery order;

− Step 3: assessing the materiality, by relating the 'amount at risk' for the activity considered to the payments made during the reporting year of the relevant programme managed by the Agency, for determining whether a reservation would be due;

− Step 4: if a reservation is entered, then assessing its relative impact on the AOD's overall assurance and declaration.

1. A multi-annual, cumulative 'detected' and 'residual' error rate is calculated for each of the programmes managed by the Agency over the reference years.

In order to check the legality and regularity and sound financial management for EACEA's underlying transactions, EACEA requests an external audit firm to conduct ex-post controls (i.e. financial audits on-the-spot) on a 'random' selection of closed projects40. The project can be closed by either final payment and/or recovery order and in some cases a zero payment to clear the pre-financing.

The multi-annual error rate is calculated as follows for all audits finalised in the reference years.

Detected error (amount) = A-B

Detected error rate (%) = (A-B)/A

Where

A = the Agency-share of the eligible costs initially accepted after ex-ante controls, on the basis of which the final payment or recovery order was calculated and paid (and on the basis of which the pre-financing was cleared)

B = the Agency-share of eligible costs finally accepted after ex-post controls (audits)

To arrive at the 'residual' error rates, one takes into account the fact the 'detected' error rates remain for the non-audited part but these error rates are cleaned from the audited part through 'corrections', meaning the issuance of recovery orders by the Agency. In terms of timing, the correction is deemed to have been effected at the time when the recovery order has been authorised or when the amount due has been recorded in the local accounting system for offsetting from a future payment to the same beneficiary.

2. The financial impact of the multi-annual, cumulative errors in terms of 'amount at risk' as exposure to the budget during the reporting year is calculated.

Even in case the detected and residual error rates are considered to be representative for the population of closed projects under the programme, it is necessary to establish a link between these control results and the actual payments made during the reporting year. Indeed, the audits have examined costs declared in support of projects closed in previous years.

40 Value of the closed projects includes pre-financing, interim/final payment and any recovery orders.


The amount at risk is the amount that may have been paid in excess to beneficiaries assuming that the projects closed during the reporting year are affected by the same error rates as found above.

The amount at risk is calculated by multiplying the 'residual' error rate by the value of the closed projects41 for which a final payment and/or recovery order was done within the same period used for the calculation. As far as projects managed by the Agency are concerned, the "value of the closed project" paid in year x is equal to the amount of the final payment and/or recovery order done in year x plus the amount of the related pre-financing(s) paid during the same or previous year(s) and 'cleared' when the final payment or recovery order is done.

3. The materiality of the amount at risk is calculated by programme.

The materiality of the amount at risk is calculated by comparing the amount at risk with the total amounts of payments made within the same period used for the calculation of the error rate for each the programmes.

4. The impact of a reservation on the overall declaration is calculated (if applicable) by assessing its 'weight' on the overall operational budget in terms of payments done managed by the Agency in the reporting year.

41 Although pre-financing payments can be considered not yet "at risk" (e.g. because they are still accounts receivable 'owned' by the EACEA and any errors can still be rectified at the time of the final payment or recovery order), they become "value at risk" at the time of the transfer of ownership when the pre-financing is cleared together with the related final payment or recovery order.


ANNEX 5: Internal Control Template(s) for budget implementation (ICTs)

Grants – direct management Stage 1 – Programming, evaluation and selection of proposals A - Preparation and publication of the calls for proposals42 Main control objectives: Ensuring that the Agency selects the proposals that contribute the most towards the achievement of the policy or programme objectives (effectiveness); compliance (legality & regularity); prevention of fraud (anti-fraud strategy).

Main risks It may happen (again) that… Mitigating controls How to determine coverage,

frequency and depth How to estimate the costs and

benefits of controls Control indicators43

The calls for proposals do not adequately reflect the policy objectives, priorities, are incoherent and/or the essential eligibility, selection and award criteria are not adequate to ensure the evaluation of the proposals.

Coordination with mirror units in parent DGs Hierarchical validation within the authorising department (i.e. at Director's level) (1) Explicit allocation of responsibility to 2nd level ex-ante verification in central financial unit (reflected in task assignment and/or function descriptions) (2) Centralised checklist-based verification (3) Ex-post monitoring

If risk materialises, all grants awarded during the year under this call would be irregular. Possible impact 100% of budget involved and significant reputational consequences.

Coverage / Frequency: 100%

Depth: Checklist includes a list of the requirements of the regulatory provisions identified.

Costs: estimation of cost of staff involved in the preparation and validation of the calls. Cost of contracted services, if any. Benefits: The (average annual) total budgetary amount of the calls with significant errors detected and corrected.

Effectiveness: Number of control failures; budget amount of the calls concerned. Success ratios; % of number/value proposals received over number expected/budget available.

Efficiency: Average cost (*) of preparation, adoption and publishing a call for proposals, compared with benchmarks and evolution over time.

42 The parent DGs adopts and publishes the Annual Work Programme. 43 Information on these indicators (*) is not available for the whole of the reporting year; the Agency will check feasibility and added value and then decide to report (or not) in AAR

2014.


B - Selecting and awarding: Evaluation, ranking and selection of proposals Main control objectives: Ensuring that the most promising projects for meeting the policy objectives are among (a good balance of) the proposals selected (effectiveness); compliance (legality & regularity); prevention of fraud (anti-fraud strategy).

Main risks It may happen (again) that… Mitigating controls How to determine coverage


benefits of controls Control indicators

Assignment of staff (e.g. project officers) and selection and appointment of expert evaluators (if foreseen as deviation from FR)

100% vetting for technical expertise and independence of experts (e.g. conflicts of interests, nationality bias, ex-employer bias, collusion, rotation)

Assessment by staff (e.g. project officers) and by independent experts (contractors)

100% of proposals are evaluated. Depth may be determined by screening of outline proposals (two-step evaluation).

Review (e.g. by a evaluation committee) and hierarchical validation by the AO at unit level of ranked list of proposals

In addition: publication.

Coverage: 100% of ranked list of proposals. Supervision of work of evaluators.

Depth depends of risk factors: e.g. conflicts of interests, nationality bias, ex-employer bias, collusion, rotation)

Internal/external legal remedies 100% of contested decisions are analysed

The evaluation, ranking and selection of proposals is not carried out in accordance with the established procedures, the policy objectives, priorities and/or the essential eligibility, or with the selection and award criteria defined in the annual work programme and subsequent calls for proposals.

Guidelines for evaluation Committees

100% of the Evaluation Committee should respect the new guidelines.

Costs: estimation of cost of staff involved in the evaluation and selection of proposals. Cost of the appointment of experts and of the logistics of the evaluation.

Benefits: Compare selected list with a random allocation of the available budget. Benefit equals to % of the value of deserving projects otherwise not selected plus % of the value of non-deserving projects that would have been selected (=amount redirected to better projects).

Effectiveness: % of proposals (successfully) challenged. No litigation cases. Number of candidate expert evaluators barred.(*) Amount of budget of calls concerned.

Efficiency Indicators: total (average) annual cost of expert evaluation. Average cost per call and/or per (selected) proposal.

(*) % cost over annual amount disbursed in grants. Time-to-publication of selection results.


Stage 2 - Contracting: Transformation of selected proposals into legally binding grant agreements

Main control objectives: Ensuring that the actions and funds allocation is optimal (best value for public money; effectiveness, economy, efficiency); compliance (legality & regularity); prevention of fraud (anti-fraud strategy).

Main risks

It may happen (again) that… Mitigating controls How to determine coverage, frequency and depth

How to estimate the costs and benefits of controls Control indicators

The description of the action in the grant agreement includes tasks which do not contribute to the achievement of the programme objectives and/or that the budget foreseen overestimates the costs necessary to carry out the action.

The beneficiary lacks operational and/or financial capacity to carry out the actions.

Procedures do not comply with regulatory framework.

Verification of the tasks by external experts during the evaluation process.

Validation of beneficiaries (operational and financial viability).

Signature of the grant agreement by the AO at unit level.

In-depth financial verification and taking appropriate measures for high risk beneficiaries.

100% of the selected proposals and beneficiaries are scrutinised.

Coverage: 100% of draft grant agreements.

Depth may be determined after considering the type or nature of the beneficiary and/or of the modalities and/or the total value of the grant.

Costs: estimation of cost of staff involved in the contracting process.

Benefits: Difference between the budget value of the selected proposals and that of the corresponding grant agreements.

Effectiveness: Amount of proposed costs rejected.

Efficiency Indicators: Value of grant agreements completed over budget requested in the corresponding proposals (%). Time-to-grant.


Stage 3 - Monitoring the execution. This stage covers the monitoring the operational, financial and reporting aspects related to the project and grant agreement

Main control objectives: ensuring that the operational results (deliverables) from the projects are of good value and meet the objectives and conditions (effectiveness & efficiency); ensuring that the related financial operations comply with regulatory and contractual provisions (legality & regularity); prevention of fraud (anti-fraud strategy); ensuring appropriate accounting of the operations (reliability of reporting, safeguarding of assets and information).

Main risks



Operational and financial checks in accordance with the financial circuits.

Operation authorisation by the AO at unit level.

For riskier operations, ex-ante in-depth and/or on-site verification.

100% of the projects are controlled, including only value-adding checks.

Riskier operations subject to in-depth and/or on-site controls.

The depth depends on risk criteria.

For high risk operations, reinforced monitoring.

Recommended: consider an ex-ante verification on-the-spot – e.g. monitoring visit.

Earmark projects for risk-based ex-post audit.

High risk operations identified by risk criteria. Red flags: delayed interim deliverables, suspicion of plagiarism, requesting many amendments, EWS or anti-fraud flagging, etc.

The actions foreseen are not, totally or partially, carried out in accordance with the technical description and requirements foreseen in the grant agreement and/or the amounts paid exceed that due in accordance with the applicable contractual and regulatory provisions.

If needed: application of suspension/interruption of payments, penalties or liquidated damages. Referring grant to OLAF.

Depth: depends from results of ex-ante controls.

Costs: estimation of cost of staff involved in the actual management of running projects.

Benefits: budget value of the costs claimed by the beneficiary, but rejected by the project officers. Budget value of the part of the grant not paid out as pre-financing for projects that have been stopped by the Commission. Budget value of penalties and liquidated damages.

Effectiveness: Number of control failures; budget amount of the errors concerned. Number of projects with cost claim errors; budget amount of the cost items rejected. Number of penalties damages; amount of the penalties damages. Success ratios; % of value of cost claims items adjusted over cost claims value.

Efficiency Indicators: Cost/benefit ratio Average cost per open project. % cost over annual amount disbursed.(*) Time-to-payment.


Stage 4 - Ex-Post controls

A - Reviews, audits and monitoring

Main control objectives: Measuring the effectiveness of ex-ante controls by ex-post controls; detect and correct any error or fraud remaining undetected after the implementation of ex-ante controls (legality & regularity; anti-fraud strategy); addressing systemic weaknesses in the ex-ante controls, based on the analysis of the findings (sound financial management); ensuring appropriate accounting of the recoveries to be made (reliability of reporting, safeguarding of assets and information)

Main risks



The ex-ante controls (as such) fail to prevent, detect and correct erroneous payments or attempted fraud.

Ex-post control strategy: carry out audits of a representative sample of operations to determine effectiveness of ex-ante controls (+ consider ex-post findings for improving the ex-ante controls).

Multi-annual basis (programme’s lifecycle) and coordination with other AOs concerned (to detect systemic errors).

Validate audit results with beneficiary.

If needed: referring the beneficiary or grant to OLAF.

Representative sample: MUS random sample sufficiently representative to draw valid management conclusions

Risk-based sample: determined in accordance with the selected risk criteria, aimed to maximise error correction (either higher amounts or expected error rate).

Costs: estimation of cost of staff involved in the coordination and execution of the audit strategy. Cost of the appointment of an external audit firms for the outsourced audits.

Benefits: budget value of the errors detected by the auditors.

.

Effectiveness: representative/best estimate error rate. Residual error rate below tolerable threshold. Amount of budget of errors concerned. Number of projects with errors; budget amount of the errors detected.

Efficiency: total (average) annual cost of audits compared with benefits (ratio).

Marginal cost-benefit: expected return of auditing one additional beneficiary ranked by expected error (total grant(s) value * expected error rate) over the average cost of one audit


B - Implementing results from ex-post audits/controls

Main control objectives: Ensuring that the (audit) results from the ex-post controls lead to effective recoveries (legality & regularity; anti-fraud strategy); Ensuring appropriate accounting of the recoveries made (reliability of reporting)

Main risks It may happen (again) that… Mitigating controls How to determine coverage,


benefits of controls Possible control indicators

The errors, irregularities and cases of fraud detected are not addressed or not addressed timely

Systematic registration of audit results to be implemented.

Financial operational validation of recovery in accordance with financial circuits.

Authorisation by AO at unit level.

Coverage: 100% of final audit results with a financial impact.

Depth: consider ‘extending’ the findings of systemic errors into corrections of non-audited projects by the same beneficiary

Costs: estimation of cost of staff involved in the implementation of the audit results.

Benefits: budget value of the errors, detected by ex-post controls, which have actually been corrected (offset or recovered).

Loss: budget value of such ROs which are ‘waived’ or have to be cancelled.

Effectiveness:

number/value/% of audit results pending implementation (*) Number/value/% of audit results failed implementation (*)

Efficiency Indicators: total (average) annual cost of implementing audit audits compared with benefits (ratio).

Time-to-recovery (*)

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