Jaarlijkse bijeenkomst contactcomité presidenten Europese Rekenkamers in Vilnius (10-11 oktober) (en)

10 October 2013. The new Financial Framework for 2014-2020 and the new Financial Regulation, new economic governance arrangements of the European Union (EU) and the resulting new role and tasks for the Supreme Audit Institutions (SAIs) and the European Court of Auditors (ECA) - these are the main topics discussed in the annual meeting of the Contact Committee of the Heads of the Supreme Audit Institutions held in Vilnius on October 10-11.

This event, which has been held in Lithuania for the first time, brings to a close the Chairmanship of the National Audit Office of Lithuania (NAOL) of the Contact Committee. The meeting is one of the events arranged in Lithuania during the Lithuanian Presidency of the EU Council.

This year's Chairmanship of the Contact Committee was particularly intensive. The NAOL coordinated the activities of the Task Force which was developing a common position on the tasks and role of the Supreme Audit Institutions in the light of recent developments in EU economic governance. The outputs of the Task Force were presented at the extraordinary meeting of the Contact Committee held in May this year at the ECA (Luxembourg) and chaired by Auditor General Giedrė Švedienė. This meeting also adopted a Statement of the EU and Member State Auditors addressed European Council President Herman Van Rompuy, which emphasised that strong audit is needed for genuine economic and monetary union and enhanced economic governance and called on the European Council to enact legislative measures that strengthen audit and accountability within EU economic governance.

The agenda of the two-day meeting includes a seminar on the above-mentioned issues, where a presentation was made today by the European Commissioner responsible for Taxation and Customs Union, Audit and Anti-fraud, Algirdas Šemeta. In his presentation “The role of SAIs in auditing EU expenditure under shared management while preserving their independence”, the Commissioner stressed the importance of independence and technical expertise of audit bodies in the new Financial Framework. According to Mr Šemeta, audits should be performed observing a procedure common for all countries in accordance with the International Standards on Auditing, because the Commission needs to rely on audit opinions and comparable audit results to be able to base declarations of assurance that European tax payers’ money has been used properly.

Speaking about the new Financial Framework and the new Financial Regulation, ECA President Vítor Manuel da Silva Caldeira emphasised the need to improve accountability in the European Union. In his opinion, Supreme Audit Institutions could carry out audits which may not be performed by the ECA, and findings of such audits would be useful for both the European and national parliaments.

Other issues to be covered during the meeting include an overview of the results of the working groups on different audit areas achieved in 2013, a number of reports, information about audits of the use of EU funds carried out in the Member States, as well as performance priorities for the year 2014. Representatives of the Supreme Audit Institutions of EU candidate states participating in the meeting as observers will present a joint progress report.

Summing up the activities of the NAOL Chairmanship of the Contact Committee of the EU Supreme Audit Institutions, Auditor General Giedrė Švedienė was pleased to note the intensive and efficient Chairmanship performance. “I would like to point out the big input of the Supreme Audit Institutions and the European Court of Auditors in the drafting of the common position on the tasks and roles of SAIs and of the Contact Committee concerning the establishment of a new economic, fiscal and financial architecture. The joint Statement intended to draw attention to the strengthening of external audit of the public sector in the European Council discussions on the European Economic and Monetary Union and EU economic governance, which was adopted at the extraordinary Contact Committee meeting held in May, demonstrates that the Contact Committee is an efficient organisation which closely observes changes and developments and provides an adequate and timely response”, said Mrs Švedienė.

The Contact Committee meeting in 2014 will take place in Luxembourg and will be chaired by the European Court of Auditors.