Brussels, 26/04/2012 (Agence Europe) - The European Court of Auditors has applauded the European Commission for improving its auditing systems and control of member states vis-a-vis the EU structural funds. For the 2000-2006 period, the Court of Auditors found a number of shortcomings in auditing systems, but the Commission has rectified matters for the current programming period (2007-2013). Since 2008, the Commission has made changes, although the Court of Auditors says that some of the changes are slow in being applied. Following the examination of 40 programmes where shortcomings had been detected, the Court says that the Commission has taken appropriate measures and been able to make the necessary financial corrections, but has not received assurance that the corrections have improved member states' auditing systems. The Court of Auditors therefore urges the Commission to do more and pay greater attention to audits in order to determine the error rate and apply financial corrections as necessary, which should cover all expenses in the failing audit or management systems. The Court suggests that red tape be reduced and best practices be established for application by the member states. (MD/transl.fl)