L 146/30 Official Journal of the European Communities 16.5.98 EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT DECISION of 31 March 1998 giving discharge to the Administrative Board of the European Foundation for the Improvement of Living and Working Conditions in respect of the implementation of its budget for the 1996 financial year (98/331/EC) THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT, — Having regard to the EC Treaty and in particular Article 206 thereof, — Having regard to the statement of accounts of the European Foundation for the Improvement of Living and Working Conditions and the report of the Court of Auditors on this subject (C4-0052/98) (1), Having regard to the Council Recommendation of 9 March 1998 (C4-0165/98), Having regard to the report of the Committee on Budgetary Control and the opinion of the Committee on Employment and Social Affairs (A4-0092/98), . Whereas the Court of Auditors finds that the financial statements for the financial year ended 31 December 1996 are reliable and the underlying transactions are, as a whole, legal and regular, Notes the following figures for the accounts of the European Foundation for the Improve- ment of Living and Working Conditions: 1996 Financial Year (ECU) Revenue 13 106 034,08 1. Subsidy from the Commission 12 895 623,67 2. Bank interest 120 422,93 3. Other 89 978,48 Expenditure 1. Final budget appropriations 13 800 000,00 2. Commitments 13 603 844,28 3. Unused appropriations 196 155,72 4. Payments 10 505 529,17 5. Carry-overs from 1996 3011938,09 6. Payments against appropriations carried over 2 869 742,60 7. Appropriations carried over and cancelled (5-6) 142 195,49 8. Carry-overs to 1997 3098 315,11 Expects that, by the time the 1997 discharge Decision falls due, the remaining technical problems affecting the separation of duties between the authorising officer and the accounting officer will have been resolved; Calls on the management boards of the Foundation for the Improvement of Living and Working Conditions and the European Agency for Safety and Health at Work, swiftly to adopt their Memorandum of Understanding in order to establish structured cooperation between them; as soon as this Memorandum is adopted, expects the directors of these two bodies to present it to its Committees on Employment and Social Affairs, on Budgetary Control and on Budgets; Draws the Court’s attention to the fact that coordination with Directorate F is now primarily a matter for the European Agency for Safety and Health at Work, not the Foundation for the Improvement of Living and Working Conditions; () OJ C 393, 29. 12. 1997, p. 10.