Press Release Governance and Accountability Confer

EUROPEAN COURT OF AUDITORS PRESS RELEASE ECA/13/26 For immediate release Luxembourg, 12 September 2013

EU Auditors’ President Caldeira and President of European Council Van Rompuy call for accountability reporting on EU spending to focus more on results

In a lead-up to the publication of its annual report on the EU budget, to be published on 5 November 2013, the European Court of Auditors (ECA) hosted a conference on European governance and accountability at its headquarters in Luxembourg today. President of the European Council Herman Van Rompuy and ECA President Vítor Caldeira called for effective accountability for results of EU spending.

The conference gathered representatives of the EU Institutions and academics together in order to debate issues related to European governance, taking into account the pillars of financial and political accountability. In the keynote speech, the President of the European Council Herman Van Rompuy noted that in difficult times citizens have legitimate expectations on knowing that their hard-earned taxes are being effectively spent, stating “Especially when they themselves are striving to do more with less money at home, they naturally expect the same from public spending. Every euro has to go where it can make the most impact”.

In his speech, ECA President Vítor Caldeira recognised the challenges facing more effective public accountability for the results achieved by EU spending. Shifting the focus of accountability to results more generally would have important implications for public auditors and parliaments requiring them to coordinate their scrutiny of public money spent to meet EU objectives at EU and national level. It would also require more systematic monitoring, evaluation and reporting of the impact of EU policy on EU citizens.

The President of the EU auditors, however, sounded an optimistic note. “I believe improving EU governance and accountability for the public funds that are put at stake to meet EU objectives is a necessary condition for strengthening EU democratic legitimacy and fostering citizens’ trust.”, said ECA President Caldeira, “The Court is prepared to work hard to be part of that solution, by playing fully its role as the guardian of the EU’s public finances.”.

The conference was completed with a roundtable debate by experts in the field: Patrick Dunleavy, Professor of Political Science and Public Policy Chair at the London School of Economics and Political Science; Michael Theurer, Chair of the Committee on Budgetary Control of the European Parliament; Pablo Zalba Bidegain, Vice-Chair of the Committee on Economic and Monetary Affairs of the European Parliament; Mark Bovens, Professor of Public Administration at the Utrecht University School of Governance; and Gijs de Vries, Member of the European Court of Auditors.

The texts of the conference speeches, video news and pictures will be available here: http://www.eca.europa.eu/en/Pages/NewsItem.aspx?nid=4084

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