The Committee on Budgetary Control adopted the report
by Ryszard CZARNECKI (ECR, PL) calling on the European Parliament
to give discharge to the Secretary-General of the European Court of
Auditors in respect of the implementation of the budget of
the Court for the financial year 2014.
Noting that the Court of Auditors’ accounts are
audited by an independent external auditor –
PricewaterhouseCoopers SARL – Members noted the auditor’s
opinion that “the financial statements give a true and fair
view of the financial position of the Court”.
Budgetary and financial management: the report shows that in 2014, the Court’s final
appropriations amounted to a total of EUR 133 498 000 (EUR
142 761 000 in 2013) and that the overall rate of implementation
for the budget was 98.8 % compared to 92 % in 2013; it
welcomes the improvement in the executions rate with a reduced
budget.
Members note with satisfaction that the obligation
of a 5 % staff reduction is being implemented without negative
impact on the Court's policy of reinforcing its audit services;
they call on the Court to make sure that further cuts will not
adversely affect the quality of its reports.
Court of Auditors’ actions: Members made a series of observations on the daily
management of the Court and called for:
- information to Parliament on the objectives achieved
and of the impact identified following the Court's reform
project started in late 2014 which is aimed at streamlining the
audit process, transforming the Court into a task-based
organisation and expanding the scope of work of the
staff;
- the common approach on decentralised agencies
from 2012 whereby all aspects of outsourced external audits remain
under the full responsibility of the ECA, which manages all
administrative and procurement procedures required and finances
these, as well as any other costs associated with outsourced
external audits; Members regret that the new audit approach of
involving private sector auditors resulted in an increase of
administrative burden by 85 %, to more than 13 000 hours,
compared to the previous audit managed by the Court;
- the preparation of a special report on whether
the Commission has made good use of its powers in supporting and
controlling Member States when implementing Union law;
- closer cooperation between the Court and national
supreme audit institutions should be
pursued, in particular in connection with conducting the
performance (value for money) audit reports of different Union
policies and programmes and the auditing of shared-management
arrangements;
- an examination of the relationship between the
number and timeliness of special reports;
- clearer recommendations in special reports and the consistent disclosure of
the positive and the negative conduct of the countries
concerned;
- better geographical balance of its staff, in
particular in management and directorial posts, as well as
improved gender balance;
- clarifications on the Court's building policy
to be attached to its annual activity report;
- consideration to be given to outsourcing
translation as an additional way of saving costs;
- inclusion in its annual activity reports, in
compliance with the existing rules on confidentiality and data
protection, the results and consequences of closed OLAF
cases, where the institution or any of the individuals working
for it were the subject of the investigation.
The report notes the Court's first steps towards a
paperless environment and endorses the environmental
strategy implemented by the Court up until now. Lastly, it welcomes
the improved clarity of the Court's messages through the
media.