Brussels, 12/11/2001 (Agence Europe) - On Friday, the Court of Auditors published its report on the operational efficiency of the management of the European Central Bank (ECB) for 2000, available on the ECB's site: http://www.ecb.int . It notes that "Once again the ECB was apparently too ambitious as regards its planned projects and the budget only served to a modest extent as a strategic tool for the effective management and control of expenditure".
The Court found that in 2000, "While in 1999 the budget reflected a utilisation of 83% for the projects and 80% of the total, in 2000 the utilisation was only 48% for the projects compared to the initial budget and 69% compared to the budget revised in September. Total expenditure in 2000 was EUR 200 million, ie 88% compared to the revised budget of EUR 227 million and 75% compared to the initial budget of EUR 267 million." In its reply, the ECB explains that the project underspending in 2000 "mainly derived from four large projects (out of a total of 38 projects)".
The Court added that the "content and cost" of the information campaign on the introduction of euro notes and coins "were not clearly defined, and as a result there was no satisfactory objective basis on which to choose the successful contractor". In its report on the 1999 budget, the Court had made the same criticisms of the forecasts and management of the budget.