In an opinion published on Monday 30 January, the Court of Auditors was somewhat scathing of the Commission's proposal to revise the financial regulations, the financial 'bible' on granting EU funds to the member states and other recipients (see EUROPE 11711).
In this opinion, the Court of Auditors of the EU states that the Commission should use the revision of the financial regulations to bring the governance rules into line with international best practice. In particular, the Court of Auditors focuses on the issues of integrated reporting, estimating the level of error and the audit committee.
The Commission has also proposed to change the way the Court of Auditors presents its special reports, which the Court feels will have the effect of making them less reader-friendly. "We are concerned at this attempt to regulate an issue that is fundamental to our autonomy", the Court of Auditors states.
In general, the Court supports the proposed simplifications for recipients of EU funds. "We make note that the proposed changes on financial instruments are potentially positive, but require clarification", it states.
The Commission has proposed detailed changes to the budgetary management operations "without questioning whether the existing mechanisms are still appropriate", the Court of Auditors notes. It considers that there is scope for significant simplification of the budgetary arrangements and does not support the proposed changes to the use of 'assigned revenue' (it also argues that it is unnecessary to maintain the 'internal assigned revenue' category).
The premature extension of the use of 'trust funds' to internal policies raises issues of administration, cost and accountability, the Court stresses. Lastly, it calls for further clarification of the proposed performance framework. (Original version in French by Lionel Changeur)