Toespraak van de voorzitter van de Europese Rekenkamer Vítor Caldeira over het werkprogramma 2012 (en)

2012 Annual Work Programme of the European Court of Auditors

Budgetary Control Committee of the European Parliament

29 February 2012

Brussels, Belgium

The spoken version shall take precedence.

Mr Chairman, Honourable members of the Committee, Ladies and gentlemen,

Allow me to start by congratulating you, Mr Theurer, on becoming the Chair of the Committee. It is an honour for me to present the Court’s 2012 Annual Work Programme to you today.

I think we are all very conscious of the daunting challenges facing Europe and its public finances at the present time. More than ever citizens and taxpayers expect effective accountability for every euro of EU funds raised and spent.

As the external audit institution of the EU, the Court promotes accountability by auditing and reporting publicly on the use of EU funds and the results achieved. The Court’s 2012 work programme sets out the annual reports, special reports and opinions that the Court expects to produce during the year and the audit work it plans to carry out.

Annual reports

During 2012, the Court will publish 51 annual reports on the 2011 financial year. That figure includes the annual reports on the implementation of the EU budget and the European Development Funds as well as the specific annual reports on agencies, joint undertakings and other EU bodies.

A significant proportion of the Court’s resources and efforts are devoted to meeting its annual reporting obligations and the tight timetable of the Financial Regulation.

Each annual report contains a statement of assurance - or ‘DAS’ - on the reliability of the accounts and the legality and regularity of the transactions that underlie them. The Court’s audit evidence is based on assessing systems and testing transactions directly. Where it can, the Court takes account of the results of the work of other auditors and management representations.

As you know, the Court’s annual report on the EU budget is the major item in the work programme. In the annual report on the 2011 budget the Court intends to produce more information on EU expenditure under shared management. “Agriculture and natural resources” will be split into two specific assessments; one on “Agriculture: Market and Direct Support” the other on “Rural Development, Environment, Fisheries and Health”. Similarly, there will be two specific assessments covering Cohesion policy, Energy and Transport; one on “Regional Policy, Energy and Transport”, and the other on Employment and Social Affairs”.

But to ensure comparability year-on-year, Chapter 1 of the report will present the results of transaction testing for 2011 on the same basis as and alongside the results from 2010.

The Court also intends to develop further its reporting on performance issues in the annual report. In particular, we will take account of the views expressed on chapter 8 of the 2010 Annual Report during the discharge procedure as well as the features of the first evaluation report to be presented by the Commission to the discharge authorities as required by Article 318 of the Treaty.

Special reports

In addition to annual reports, the Court publishes special reports. They present the results of the Court’s performance and compliance audits on specific management or budgetary topics.

Unlike annual reports, special reports cover topics selected by the Court. They often cover a number of financial years and they do not have statutory deadlines for their publication.

The Court’s work programme sets out the selected audit tasks and preliminary studies on which the Court will work in 2012. They have been selected on the basis of the risk of irregularity or poor performance, the potential for improvement, and public interest. In this way, the Court aims to reflect the primary concerns of its stakeholders and the main financial management challenges facing the European Union.

The priorities the Court has identified for 2012 include the pressing concerns linked to the financial crisis and achieving growth & employment. They also include the long-term challenges on the environment, climate change, sustainable development and the “greening of policy”. And they recognise the important role the EU plays as a global partner for development.

In total, the Court plans to publish 22 special reports in 2012 - exceeding the target of 12 to 15 reports per year that we set for the 2009 to 2012 period. Already this year we have published reports on nuclear decommissioning and EU assistance to Croatia. Further reports will cover a variety of topics that fall within the different headings of the current financial framework headings.

For example, as regards Growth and Employment, the Court is carrying out audits on the Member States' management and control systems and the Closure of 2000-2006 Structural Funds programmes as well as on Financial Engineering, Seaports and Ageing workers.

As regards the Preservation and Management of Natural Resources, the Court is covering topics such as the modernisation of agricultural holdings, the Single Area Payment Scheme, and organic products.

In other areas, the Court aims to issue reports on topics that range from EU assistance to the African road network to the effectiveness of EUROSTAT in improving the process for producing EU statistics.

The Court also plans to carry out a number of preliminary studies, including on balance of payments assistance and the Commission’s management of the financial crisis.

A key way in which the Court’s special reports add value is by making recommendations that, if implemented, would contribute to improving financial management. In 2012, the Court will publish a dedicated follow-up report to provide greater focus on the action taken to address the recommendations of previous special reports.

Opinions

Taken together the Court’s audits and reports provide it with a wealth of experience and a stock of results that it can draw on to inform the EU policy making process.

For example in 2011, the Court published a position paper on the implications for public accountability and public audit in the EU of measures taken in response to the financial and economic crisis. And we also published an opinion on the Commission’s green paper on the modernisation of public procurement policy.

In 2012, a priority will be to provide opinions and observations on the new sectoral regulations. An opinion has already been published on the proposals covering the structural and cohesion funds. And opinions on the legislative proposals relating to common agricultural policy and the own resources of the European Union are being prepared.

Further developing the Court

In 2012, the Court will also be looking to prepare for the future and develop itself further as an institution.

As you know, the Court is committed to upholding high standards of ethics and transparency. We strengthened our governance framework in 2011 by producing new ethical guidelines for all Members and staff of the Court. And this month, the Court adopted a specific code of conduct for its Members. Amongst other things, the code requires declarations of interests by the Court’s Members to be published on our website.

As regards our audit methodology, we have been updating our manuals and procedures to reflect new international standards. We are also arranging a new peer review to be focused on performance auditing. The Court is currently in the process of identifying potential peers available in 2012 - a task that is proving more difficult than anticipated due to the growing use of peer review by other Supreme Audit Institutions.

Finally, during 2012, the Court intends to publish its strategy for 2013 to 2017. As you know, we have been consulting our main stakeholders, such as this Committee, about their needs and expectations of the Court in order to help identify the key challenges the Court must address. Like other European institutions, it is clear that the Court will be expected to find new ways to do more with less. The Court will, therefore, be setting objectives and developing initiatives this year to improve further its added value and efficiency over the period of its next strategy.

The views of this Committee are an essential input to the Court’s strategy setting process. And I would like to thank the Committee for the views that have already been expressed, in particular during the semi-annual meetings between the Court and the Committee as well as at the meeting held in Strasbourg in November last year prior to my presentation to the Plenary of the Court’s 2010 Annual Report.

Mr Chairman, Honourable members of the Committee,

The European Parliament and the Court of Auditors have a mutual obligation to ensure accountability to citizens for the use of EU funds. It is a challenging goal we must work together to achieve. The Court looks forward to making its contribution this year by delivering the 2012 annual work programme that I have presented to you today.

Thank you for your kind attention.