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Official Journal EN
of the European Union L series
2024/2374 10.10.2024
RESOLUTION (EU) 2024/2374 OF THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT
of 11 April 2024
with observations forming an integral part of the decision on discharge in respect of the
implementation of the budget of the Single European Sky ATM Research 3 Joint Undertaking for
the financial year 2022
THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT,
— having regard to its decision on discharge in respect of the implementation of the budget of the Single European Sky
ATM Research 3 Joint Undertaking for the financial year 2022,
— having regard to Rule 100 of and Annex V to its Rules of Procedure,
— having regard to the opinion of the Committee on Transport and Tourism,
— having regard to the report of the Committee on Budgetary Control (A9-0094/2024),
A. whereas the Single European Sky Air Traffic Management Research 3 (SESAR 3) Joint Undertaking (‘Joint
Undertaking’), located in Brussels, was set up in November 2021 under the Horizon Europe programme for the
period ending on 31 December 2031(1); notes that the SESAR 3 JU replaced and succeeded the SESAR JU that was
set up in February 2007 under the Seventh Research Framework Programme for a period of 8 years(2)(SESAR 1)
and extended in June 2014 to continue to operate under the Horizon 2020 programme for a period until
31 December 2024(3);
B. whereas Joint Undertaking is a public-private partnership for the development of modernised air traffic management
(ATM) in Europe and to accelerate through research and innovation the delivery of the Digital European Sky;
whereas its founding members are the Union, represented by the Commission, the European Organisation for the
Safety of Air Navigation (Eurocontrol), and more than 50 organisations covering the entire aviation value chain,
from airports, airspace users of all categories, air navigation service providers, drone operators and service
providers, the manufacturing industry and scientific community;
C. whereas, to increase transparency, the Joint Undertaking should disclose in its annual accounts, relevant information
regarding members’ contributions at programme level; whereas, for each programme under which they operate, the
Joint Undertaking should present per member category up to the year-end, all relevant information including the
legal contribution targets set for the respective programme, the volume of contributions received, and the volume
of legal commitments; whereas the Joint Undertaking should continue to improve transparency;
General
1. Notes, from the Consolidated annual activity report(4), that the Digital European Sky programme commenced
in 2022 with the approval of the multiannual work programme and the first biannual work programme, and the
launch of the first two calls within the framework of Horizon Europe for (1) exploratory and industrial research
and (2) fast-track to innovation and market uptake; notes that of the 127 project proposals received, 48 have been
selected, representing a total investment of EUR 350 million;
2. Welcomes the contribution of the Joint Undertaking to react to the illegal and unjustified Russian war of aggression
against Ukraine as some traffic flows were affected, necessitating the adaptation of air traffic control (ATC)
operations of the Joint Undertaking, which led to an increased need for air traffic controller (ATCO);
(1) Council Regulation (EU) 2021/2085 of 19 November 2021 establishing the Joint Undertakings under Horizon Europe and repealing
Regulations (EC) No 219/2007, (EU) No 557/2014, (EU) No 558/2014, (EU) No 559/2014, (EU) No 560/2014, (EU) No 561/2014
and (EU) No 642/2014 (OJ L 427, 30.11.2021, p. 17).
(2) Council Regulation (EC) No 219/2007 of 27 February 2007 on the establishment of a Joint Undertaking to develop the new
generation European air traffic management system (SESAR) (OJ L 64, 2.3.2007, p. 1).
(3) Council Regulation (EU) No 721/2014 of 16 June 2014 amending Regulation (EC) No 219/2007 on the establishment of a Joint
Undertaking to develop the new generation European air traffic management system (SESAR) as regards the extension of the Joint
Undertaking until 2024 (OJ L 192, 1.7.2014, p. 1).
(4) https://www.sesarju.eu/node/4509.
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3. Notes, that in 2022, the Joint Undertaking made progress in completing the research and innovation (R & I) activities
of the SESAR 2020 programme while enabling the new SESAR 3 JU partnership to become fully functional and the
Digital European Sky R & I programme to get up and running;
4. Notes, furthermore, that the activities developed are an important contribution to the European Commission’s
strategic priorities and initiatives, namely the single European sky, the European Green Deal and a Europe fit for the
digital age;
Budgetary and financial management
5. Welcomes the contribution of the Joint Undertaking to react to the illegal and unjustified Russian war of aggression
against Ukraine as some traffic flows were affected, requiring the reworking of ATC operations, which led to an
increased need for ATCO;
6. Notes that, for 2022, the available budget(5)was EUR 146,9 million in payment appropriations (EUR 69,9 million
in 2021) and EUR 158,8 million in commitment appropriations (EUR 34,8 million in 2021);
7. Notes that the changes in the size of the Joint Undertaking’s budget largely depend on the implementation phase of
the multiannual research and innovation programmes; notes that, in 2022, the Joint Undertaking started with the
implementation of the Horizon Europe programme, therefore, the 2022 budget includes the commitment budget
for the first Horizon Europe calls planned for 2022, and the payment budget for the related pre-financing payments;
8. Notes that the Governing Board of the Joint Undertaking adopted the 2022 budget in December 2021 and that this
decision approved some transitional elements related to the annual work programme, budget, staff establishment
plan and procurement plan of the Joint Undertaking for 2021 and 2022; notes that the 2022 budget was amended
twice in October 2022, and with the third amendment, in December 2022(6);
9. Notes, from the Court of Auditor’s (the ‘Court’) report, that, in the Joint Undertaking’s 2022 annual accounts, the
amounts of contributions recognised per member category (Union, private members, and Eurocontrol) differ
significantly from each other; notes that this is because Union cash contributions are validated and recognised when
paid to the Joint Undertaking at the beginning of the project implementation, but members’ in-kind contributions
are only recognised after validation of the costs incurred and declared for project implementation;
10. Notes that the gap between the recognised amount of cash contributions on the one hand and in-kind contributions
on the other hand, should be addressed by providing information on the Joint Undertaking members’ legal
commitments at year end, in terms of signed grant agreements and contracts;
11. Notes, as regards the implementation of Horizon 2020, that, at the end of 2022, the Joint Undertaking had fully
committed the maximum EU operational contribution of EUR 555,8 million for signed grant agreements and
contracts under the programme and that of this committed amount, around EUR 65,7 million (or 11,8 %) remains
to be paid in the coming years for projects and contracts yet to be completed; notes, in addition, that the private
members had legally committed to provide their entire in-kind contributions of EUR 280 million, defined as target
in the industry membership agreement and that of this amount, industry members reported EUR 278,5 million (or
99,5 %) at the end of 2022; notes, moreover, that Eurocontrol had fully committed the target of EUR 467 million of
operational contributions, defined in the bilateral agreement and that of this amount, it reported EUR 313,6 million
(or 67 % of the target) at the end of 2022;
12. Notes that, for Horizon 2020 activities, the Joint Undertaking received no new operational commitment
appropriations, as the Joint Undertaking had finished its last call for proposals by the end of 2020; notes that the
Joint Undertaking’s implementation rate for its 2022 operational budget was significantly lower than in previous
years (54 % in 2022 – 93 % in 2021), owing to the rising costs and delivery problems faced by beneficiaries in the
wake of the COVID-19 crisis and the war of aggression against Ukraine; notes, therefore, that the duration of most
Horizon 2020 projects had to be prolonged and final payments postponed to 2023;
(5) Which includes unused appropriations of previous years, re-entered in the budget of the 2022 year, assigned revenues and
reallocations to the next year.
(6) Consolidated annual activity report (p. 59).
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13. Notes, that the Horizon Europe appropriations for 2022 were fully implemented for the first two calls launched in
April 2022; notes that the Commission made a cash contribution of EUR 83,5 million for the implementation of
these projects in 2022; notes, however, that as the evaluation phase was not finalised by the end of the year, the
cash contributions could only be used in the first half of 2023, when the grant agreements are signed, and the
related pre-financing payments can be made;
14. Welcomes the fact that the Joint Undertaking continued to manage 71 projects in exploratory, industrial and
validation research, with 300 different beneficiaries, of which nearly 20 % are SMEs, 17 % are higher education
institutions and 9 % are research organisations; recalls that the Joint Undertaking creates new opportunities for
SMEs;
15. Notes that in 2022, the Joint Undertaking continued to strengthen its partnership with the European Union Aviation
Safety Agency (EASA), aiming to foster cooperation with it as part of the service-level agreement (SLA), and to task
EASA with providing services within the area of ATM or air navigation services, including the implementation of
the Single European Sky; stresses the importance of the further development of the Single European Sky;
16. Notes the 2022 surplus of EUR 107,2 million, attributed to the late adoption of the Single Basic Act;
17. Stresses the importance of the Joint Undertaking in achieving the Digital European Sky, resulting in 48 selected
projects, including the launch of five Digital Sky Demonstrators, with a total investment of EUR 350 million;
welcomes the close dialogue since 2011 between the Joint Undertaking and the European Defence Agency (EDA)
on military matters and inputs into the Digital European Sky programme; notes that the EDA now serves as the
main interface between the Digital European Sky programme on the one hand, and military aviation and ATM on
the other, and is responsible for coordinating military views with regard to the Single European Sky and SESAR;
Management and control systems
18. Notes that, for Horizon 2020 and Horizon Europe expenditure, the Common Audit Service of the Commission’s DG
RTD performed the ex post audits; notes that for Horizon 2020 expenditure (clearings and final payments), the Joint
Undertaking reported a representative error rate of 2,4 % and a residual error rate of 1,8 %(7); notes that for the
Horizon Europe programme, ex post audits have yet to be carried out, as the first interim payments are only
expected in 2024;
19. Notes that to assess the operational payments controls of the Joint Undertaking, the Court audited randomly
sampled Horizon 2020 payments made in 2022, at the level of the final beneficiaries(8); notes, furthermore, that
the Court did not find serious quantifiable errors at the Joint Undertaking beneficiaries sampled; notes, nevertheless,
that for one case the Court reported a systemic issue resulting from ineligible costs declared by the beneficiary for
non-mandatory certificates of financial statement, related to interim financial statements;
20. Notes that the Court considered that half of the Joint Undertakings, including SESAR 3, lacked a structured risk-
based approach to ex ante controls for Horizon 2020 grants;
21. Reminds that, pursuant to Article 21 of the Joint Undertakings’ financial rules, the purpose of ex ante controls is to
prevent errors and irregularities before the authorisation of operations and to mitigate risks of non-achievement of
objectives;
22. Notes, in this regard, that for SESAR, based on the review of internal documentation, and interviews with Joint
Undertaking’s staff, the Court found that at the end of 2022, the Joint Undertaking’s risk monitoring approach only
considered beneficiaries that had been ex post audited, mainly top beneficiaries; notes, moreover, that potentially
risky beneficiaries that had never been ex post audited and newcomers were therefore excluded from the risk
assessment;
(7) Consolidated annual activity report, chapter 4.1.1.2.3.
(8) For grant payment transactions tested at the beneficiaries, the reporting threshold for quantifiable errors is 1 % of the audited costs.
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23. Notes, in addition, that the Joint Undertaking did not assess risk at project level;
24. Calls on the Joint Undertaking to enhance its risk monitoring approach to ex ante controls to identify potentially
risky beneficiaries currently not included in the population (such as beneficiaries that had never been ex post audited
and newcomers) and risky projects;
25. Calls on the Joint Undertaking to address weaknesses in the use of the reinforced monitoring tool(9); reminds in this
regard that the tool it is designed to help in targeting ex ante controls on the most important risks assessed for a
project or beneficiaries, allowing officer at any moment during the project implementation, to record identified
important risks and trace the respective monitoring and risk mitigating action;
26. Notes that for an effective and efficient use of the tool, officers should define a relevant and achievable deadline (due
date) for the targeted completion of the reinforced monitoring action; notes, however, that, for the Joint
Undertaking, upon expiry of the defined due date, the reinforced monitoring flag was neither renewed nor closed
and that, additionally, the risk level was not reassessed by the officer after the implementation of the control actions;
27. Agrees with the Court that the Joint Undertaking should ensure that all reinforced monitoring actions are
accompanied by specific control actions targeting the identified risks, and that they are followed-up at a pre-defined
deadline;
28. Notes that, in line with the Court’s assessment, the importance for Joint Undertakings to implement their specific
risk-based approach to grant management has increased under Horizon Europe;
29. Highlights that the beneficiary or project structure of the Joint Undertaking is changing significantly under the
Horizon Europe programme, such as the increased number of SMEs, newcomers and larger consortia, as well as the
requirement to only use open call procedures for Horizon Europe activities and, as a result, the risk factors identified
in previous programmes may no longer be relevant and new risk factors may emerge;
30. Agrees with the Court that these changes highlight the importance for the Joint Undertaking to implement or adapt
their specific risk-based approach to grant management;
31. Welcomes the Joint Undertaking’s commitment to address the new risk factors stemming from the Horizon Europe
framework and adaptation of its new risk-based approach to ex ante controls as well as putting in place new risk-
based tools for assessing risks at project level and for newcomers; invites the Joint Undertaking to provide
information on these activities in its 2023 annual activity report;
Procurement and staff
32. Notes that due to its ramp-up activities, the Joint Undertaking focused on the management of its existing contracts
covered by operational appropriations and on selecting the providers of specific programme management services
and, as a consequence, the Joint Undertaking decided to move the indicative dates of some operational
procurements to the first quarter of 2023;
33. Notes that the Joint Undertaking’s approved 2022 staff establishment plan allows for 37 temporary agents, one
contract agent and two seconded national experts, as set out in the annual general budget of the European Union
for the European Commission;
(9) According to section 3.2.2 on reinforced monitoring in the CIC (Common Implementation Centre of the Commission’s DG RTD)
guidance on Horizon 2020 ex ante controls, the reinforced monitoring tool supports officers dealing with grants (project officers,
financial officers, and legal officers) to perform a risk assessment of projects or beneficiaries.
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34. Notes that the effective allocation of staff remained a priority for the Joint Undertaking during 2022 and that efforts
were focused on the professional and career development of its staff, in addition to ensuring that allocated staff were
used in the most economic, efficient and effective way;
35. Notes that the vacancy rate at the end of 2022 was 8,1 %; notes from the Consolidated Annual Activity Report, that
as the Joint Undertaking’s staff establishment plan has only 37 temporary agent positions, each temporary staff
departure increases the relevant vacancy rate by 2,7 %;
36. Notes that the implementation of the Sysper Job information system module began during 2022; notes from the
Consolidated Annual Activity Report, that the Joint Undertaking will complete Sysper human resources
management System in 2023;
37. Notes that, regarding gender and geographical balance, the Joint Undertaking remained committed to ensuring that
its overall balance remains stable, notes that at the end of 2022, 59 % of the 37 staff were female and 41 % were
male, with 15 nationalities represented;
Follow-up of previous years’ observations
38. Notes that ‘observations’ in the Joint Undertakings specific annual reports are in fact ‘not timed recommendations’
by the Court; notes that the Court follows-up on those observations annually by assessing their status as ‘open’ or
‘closed’;
39. Welcomes that the Joint Undertaking has taken corrective action in response to the Court’s observation issued
in 2021.
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