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Tékhne - Revista de Estudos Politécnicos

Print version ISSN 1645-9911

Tékhne  no.10 Barcelos Dec. 2008

 

The European Court Of Auditor’s Perspective On The Management And Control Of EU Funds

An overview of the current situation and the prospects for EU budget reform

 

Vítor Caldeira, President of the European Court of Auditors

 

 

Introduction

The European Court of Auditors’ position as an EU institution gives it a unique perspective on the management and control of EU funds. Its reports and opinions provide a good basis for assessing the current situation and the prospects for future reform.

The European Court of Auditor’s (ECA) position as the EU institution responsible for the external audit provides it with a unique perspective on the management and control of EU funds. Through its work, the ECA aims to contribute to improving the quality of the financial management of EU funds.

The ECA has three main outputs: its annual reports, which comprise the results of its financial and compliance audit work for a specific financial year; its special reports, published throughout the year, presenting the results of its other audits, mainly performance audits assessing the economy, efficiency and effectiveness of EU spending; and its opinions on draft legislation with financial management impact.

In addition to its reports and opinions on draft legislation the ECA seeks to contribute actively to the public debate on the future of the EU budget, launched by the Commission in 2007, with its publication "Reforming the Budget, Changing Europe"[1].

The purpose of this paper is to present an overview, based on the work of the ECA, of the current state of the management and control of the EU funds and of the prospects for future reform.

To this end, the first section provides some background information on the EU budget and the role of the ECA. The second section presents an outline of the situation in 2007, the most recent year for which the audit results of the ECA are available. In doing this the text presented below draws heavily on the ECA’s 2007 Annual Report on the implementation of the EU budget[2].

The final section, examines the prospects for improved management and control in the future and presents the views of the ECA expressed in its contribution on budget reform[3]. These views are based on lessons drawn from across all the ECA’s outputs and address issues not just related to compliance with rules and regulations but also considerations of how to improve economy, efficiency and effectiveness.

 

 

Full text only available in PDF format.

Texto completo disponível apenas em PDF.

 

 

NOTAS

 

1 Communication from the Commission - Reforming the Budget, Changing Europe - A public consultation paper in view of the 2008/2009 Budget Review, SEC (2007) 1188 of 12.9.2007.

2 Annual Report of the Court of Auditors concerning the implementation of the financial year 2007 OJ C 286, 10.11.2008

3 “Response by the European Court of Auditors to the Commission’s communication “Reforming the Budget, Changing Europe” available at http://ec.europa.eu/budget/reform/library/contributions/

4 Gross National Income

5 Treaty establishing the European Community

6 Article 274 (1) of the Treaty establishing the European Community.

7 The Court's Opinion 2/2004 on the "single audit model", OJ C 107, 30.4.2004, provides a detailled analysis of supervisory and control arrangements, including a proposal for a "community internal control framework".

8 Article 248 (4) of the Treaty establishing the European Community

9 Annual Report of the Court of Auditors concerning the implementation of the financial year 2006, OJ C 273 of 15.11.2007.

10 European Parliament, Council, Commission, Court of Justice, Court of Auditors, Economic and Social Committee, Committee of the Regions, Ombudsman, and the Data Protection Supervisor.

11 "Action Plan towards an Integrated Internal Control Framework", COM (2006) 9 final of 17.1.2006.

12 Communication from the European Commission to the European Parliament, the Council and the European Court of Auditors - Report on the Commission action Plan towards an Integrated internal Control Framework, COM (2008) 110 final of 27.2.2008.

13 See Opinion 6/2007 on the annual summaries of Member States, national declarations of Member States, and audit work on EU of national audit bodies, OJ C 216 of 14.9.2007.

14 Concerning the ECA's Special Reports mentioned in this article see Annex - List of ECA's Special Reports.

15 See COM(2007)274 final of 30.5.2007.

16 See COM(2007) 722 final: Communication from the Commission - Preparing for the "Health Check" of the CAP reform

17 See also the Court's Opinion 1/2006 on the rules for the participation of undertakings, research centers and universities in actions under the 7th RTD framework programme, OJ C 203 of 25.8.2006.

18 See conclusions of the 1999 Berlin European Council meeting as recalled in the Court's Opinion 4/2005 on the system of the European Communities' Own Resources, OJ C 167 of 7.7.2005; and Court's Opinion 2/2006 also on the system of the European Communities' Own Resources, OJ C 203 of 25.8.2006.

19 See the ECA's Opinion 4/2005 on the system of the European Communities' Own Resources, OJ C 167 of 7.7.2005; see also teh ECA's Annual Report 2006, Chapter on Revenue, paragraph 4.7.