In an analysis document published on Friday 15 November, the European Court of Auditors (ECA) examined the Commission’s annual report on the management and performance of the EU budget for the 2023 financial year.
This annual report is used by the European Parliament and the Council of the European Union to assess the implementation of the EU budget, as part of the annual discharge procedure.
The ECA underlined its difference of opinion with the Commission on the comments relating to cohesion spending and the ‘Recovery and Resilience Facility’ (RRF).
In its annual reports on the 2023 EU budget (see EUROPE 13501/15), the ECA noted an increase in errors detected in cohesion spending (9.3% of errors detected compared with 6.4% in 2022, an increase of 45% compared with the previous year).
On the RRF, the ECA insists on the “very different” point of view, recalling in particular that in its annual reports it pointed to a need to improve “some aspects of the quality of monitoring and control systems” and the financial management of the mechanism, which could lead to risks of double funding (see EUROPE 13508/13). As a result, the ECA says that the Commission’s declarations do not always tally with the findings of its annual report.
The analysis document noted that the rate of implementation of the main EU programmes relating to the 2021-2027 Multiannual Financial Framework (MFF) was still not very high at the end of 2023.
Progress has been made in implementing the Asylum, Migration and Integration Fund (AMIF) compared to 2022. For the Integrated Border Management Fund (IBMF), on the other hand, the key performance indicators (KPIs) have “remained at the same low level as reported in 2022 annual management and performance report”.
Lastly, while the European Commission has appropriate procedures for producing its annual report, the European Court of Auditors felt that the quality of the data on performance could “still be improved”.
To see the Court of Auditors’ report: https://aeur.eu/f/ec5 (Original version in French by Florent Servia)