The European Economic and Social Committee (EESC) and the European Committee of the Regions (CoR), through their non-binding opinions on legislative proposals, contribute to democratic participation and legitimise the development of European policies, but they must deliver their contributions more quickly and systematically assess the impact of their work, according to the European Court of Auditors in an opinion published on Thursday 26 March.
According to the European auditors, the EESC and the CoR have clear rules and guidelines to ensure a consistent level of quality in the performance of their activities.
The members of the two committees may call on external experts to provide input for their opinions. The Court of Auditors recommends that the EESC and the CoR establish transparent criteria for the selection of these experts in order to avoid any risk of bias that could damage their reputation. In addition, it recommends that a central register of experts should be set up to record their areas of expertise and the work entrusted to them by the two committees.
At present, only the EESC has such a register, note the European auditors.
The Court also points out that the influence of an opinion on the development of European policies depends very much on when it is issued. During the period 2019-2024, the EESC issued 84% of its opinions on the basis of referrals before the vote in the European Parliament parliamentary committee, while the CoR met this deadline in 74% of cases.
Neither committee has an automated tool to systematically monitor compliance with deadlines, according to the Court of Auditors.
Finally, the auditors recommend that the Committees ensure qualitative monitoring to measure the impact of their opinions, in particular to analyse the extent to which their opinions have been taken into account in the final legislation.
While recognising that there is room for improvement in the areas raised, the EESC points out that the two European bodies differ in their institutional nature and operational context, leading to distinct working methods and performance profiles.
The CoR accepts the three recommendations made by the Court of Auditors and undertakes to implement them while preserving the political nature of its work. In terms of monitoring the impact of its work, it has appointed an annual impact report coordinator from among its members to oversee this process at a political level, and is also testing the use of artificial intelligence tools to improve the communication of information on impact.
To see the report by the European Court of Auditors: https://aeur.eu/f/ldd (Original version in French by Mathieu Bion)