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ISSN 1831-449X JOURNAL European Court of Auditors Cour des comptes européenne 2014 APRIL AVRIL No 04 THE CONTENTS OF THE INTERVIEWS AND THE ARTICLES ARE THE SOLE RESPONSIBILITY OF THE INTERVIEWEES AND AUTHORS AND DO NOT NECESSARILY REFLECT THE OPINION OF THE EUROPEAN COURT OF AUDITORS Copyright PRODUCTION Rédacteur en chef / Editor in Chief : Rosmarie Carotti Tél. / tel.: 00352 4398 - 45506 - e-mail : [email protected] Mise en page, diffusion / Layout, distribution : Direction de la Présidence - Directorate of the Presidency Photos : Reproduction interdite / Reproduction prohibited Tous les numéros de notre Journal se trouvent sur les sites / The Journal can be found on : INTERNET : http://eca.europa.eu/portal/page/portal/publications/Journal EU bookshop : http://bookshop.europa.eu/ Cover/couverture: - Dr HARALD WÖGERBAUER, LEAVING ECA MEMBER FROM AUSTRIA - SWEARING IN CEREMONY FOR 7 ECA MEMBERS AT THE EUROPEAN COURT OF JUSTICE,10 March 2014 - M. EDUARDO RUIZ GARCIA, SECRÉTAIRE GÉNÉRAL DE LA COUR ET SON EXCELLENCE M. MARK LOÏC ENTIN, AMBASSADEUR DE LA FÉDÉRATION DE RUSSIE AU GRAND-DUCHÉ DE LUXEMBOURG SOMMAIRE CONTENTS 02 WE ARE LOOKING FOR AUDITORS TO WORK WITH US IN LUXEMBOURG p.03 03 TAKING STOCK Interview with Dr Harald WÖGERBAUER, leaving Member of the European Court of Auditors from Austria 7 February 2014 By Rosmarie CAROTTI p.06 06 TRENDS & CHANGES - 2014 CHAMBER IV SEMINAR 28 February 2014 By Rosmarie CAROTTI 09 SEMINAR ON THE STRUCTURAL FUNDS REGULATIONS, APPLICABLE FOR THE NEW p.09 PROGRAMMING PERIOD 2014-2020 11 February, 2014 By Luc T’JOEN, Principal Auditor 12 PRESIDENT OF POLAND’S SUPREME CHAMBER OF AUDIT (NIK), MR KRZYSZTOF KWIATKOWSKI, MADE A VISIT TO THE ECA ON 17 MARCH 2014 By Mariusz POMIENSKI, head of Private Office p.12 13 “EWS LUXEMBOURG ECONOMIC TALKS” 26 February 2014 p.13 By the Cabinet of Mr Henri GRETHEN 14 HOW TO AUDIT THE ETHICAL PERFORMANCE OF A PUBLIC BODY - A PROPOSAL By Paolo GIUSTA Author on ethics for civil servants and ethical leadership, Principal auditor at ECA p.14 19 FOCUS - BEKANNTMACHUNG FÜR DEUTSCHE ZUR WAHL ZUM EUROPÄISCHEN PARLAMENT - SWEARING IN CEREMONY FOR SEVEN ECA MEMBERS AT THE EUROPEAN COURT OF JUSTICE, 10 MARCH 2014 - SPECIAL REPORTS Nos 18 & 19/2013 p.22 - HELLO TO/ GOODBYE TO - IN MEMORIAM 22 LE FINANCEMENT DE L’UE: LE BUDGET EUROPÉEN 8 février 2014 Exposé présenté par M. Charles GOERENS, député au Parlement européen, sur invitation de l’association Deutscher Verein in Luxemburg p.24 Par Rosmarie CAROTTI 24 MODERNISATION OF THE PROFESSIONAL QUALIFICATIONS DIRECTIVE: SAFE MOBILITY 12 January 2014 Conference organised by European Commission DG Internal Market with Commissioner Michel BARNIER and Members of the European Parliament, 12 January 2014 in Brussels By Rosmarie CAROTTI p.27 27 CONTRIBUTION À UNE MEILLEURE PRISE EN COMPTE DES CONSIDÉRATIONS ENVIRONNEMENTALES ET SOCIALES DANS LES MISSIONS D’AUDIT DE PERFORMANCE DE LA COUR DES COMPTES EUROPÉENNE Par Driss BOUCETTA, stagiaire du Maroc 1 We are looking for auditors to work with us in Luxembourg The European Union comprises 28 Member States and serves a population of over half a billion people. It has 24 official languages and an annual budget exceeding €140 billion. This money has to be soundly raised, spent and accounted for, for the benefit of all EU citizens. The EU's auditors help ensure that this is the case. We are looking for highly talented graduates and young professionals with a strong academic background, and/or a professional qualification or training related to the field of audit. Final-year students may also apply provided that their diploma is awarded by 31 July 2014. You must be an EU citizen, have a good command of two EU languages (your main language plus either English, French or German as a second language). In order to successfully participate in a highly competitive and demanding selection procedure, you will also need exceptional cognitive, organisational and interpersonal skills. You can find all details on the general and specific eligibility criteria in the Notice of Competition. If successful, you could be working on a broad range of tasks which contribute to improving EU financial management including: • assessing financial management processes • evaluating control systems and making recommendations for their improvement • auditing EU funds’ beneficiaries on-the-spot in Member States and third countries • working with our international audit partners We have 40 positions for outstanding graduates who are ready to relocate to Luxembourg to pursue their audit career primarily at the European Court of Auditors. auditors.eu-careers.eu You can apply from March 20 to April 23 2014 at 12.00 (midday, Brussels time). http://eur-lex.europa.eu/LexUriServ/LexUriServ.do?uri=OJ:C:2014:081A:FULL:EN:PDF 2 TAKING STOCK Interview with Dr Harald WÖGERBAUER, leaving Member of the European Court of Auditors from Austria 7 February 2014 By Rosmarie Carotti RC: In a farewell interview it is customary to take stock. What is your assessment of your time in office? Harald Wögerbauer: For me, it was a very novel experience to work in such an international environment. My experience here will certainly be useful to me in the future. On-the-spot visits to Member States were always interesting experiences for me. Decision-making in a collegial body is not easy, but it does ensure that a balanced decision is reached. So I don’t want to call into question the nature of the collegial body, even though I do believe that decisions should be made faster. One especially positive aspect was of course the ability to interact with the decision makers of European politics. The European Parliament was the most prominent institution in this respect, but I was also one of the few to have the pleasure to present two of my reports at the Council in 2013. RC: The Court’s reports are normally sent to the European Parliament. Why was the Council involved? Harald Wögerbauer: Because the reports were so interesting. The reports concerned were the report on energy efficiency and the report on road building and were both a success from a communication’s point of view. The reports provoked many press articles: 60 were written about the report on energy efficiency, and 55 on the report about road building. In the Austrian newspapers, a good 10 to 15 further articles appeared. I also appeared with these reports on prime time television: once in Belgium, and once in Austria. I also appeared on Austrian television once more. As far as communications policy goes, it is important to choose the right topic – one which interests the public. You have to keep everything short, and avoid making lengthy pronouncements. I have always kept my press conferences short – the following discussion is where it gets interesting. 3 INTERVIEW WITH DR HARALD WÖGERBAUER, AUSTRIAN MEMBER OF THE COURT OF AUDITORS RC: That makes sense. So, the subjects of audits should be topical and interesting – but how are they chosen within the Court? Are they suggested by the Parliament or by the Commission, or are they chosen internally? Harald Wögerbauer: It's a complicated process, bottom-up and top-down. First, the auditors put forward proposals which they find interesting. Then the Members of the ECA make their own suggestions. There is then a procedure within the individual chambers; at the end of this procedure, the Court agrees on what will be contained in the annual programme. I do not believe that this approach is very efficient. One could imagine a small unit working within the Court, following the main daily newspapers of the Member State and identifying problems which affect the EU’s financial interests. Second, someone could report from Brussels which political and financial issues are currently being discussed there. I don’t want to say that the topics proposed by our auditors might not be just as good, but I think we also need this political access. It is a completely independent access, but if our ‘stakeholders’, the Parliament and the Council, are to accept it, we must also have contact with them. I find that there is far too little focus on the Commission and Council. We have everyday contact with the Commission in the course of our normal procedures, but from a political perspective, we should also try to find out what issues the Commission feels are important. RC: Can the Court do this and maintain its independence? Harald Wögerbauer: In Austria, this is enshrined in the constitution. Each federal minister can instruct the Federal Audit Office to audit something in his or her area of responsibility. A National Council minority can, at any one time, put forward three audits which must be carried out by the Federal Audit Office; a majority within the National Council can order an unlimited number of audits. These arrangements have not called into question the independence of the Federal Audit Office. Selecting the right topics is also important for the Court’s PR work. However, reports should be produced faster. RC: This is a sore point, and one which is also mentioned in the document on the Court’s strategy. Harald Wögerbauer: In the Court’s meeting of 6 February 2014, we discussed two good papers: the peer review and the paper of the working group headed by Dr Ludboržs. My opinion is that you should have the courage to cut back the procedure radically, without jeopardising collegial relations. Other audit offices do not discuss a ‘Statement of preliminary findings’ (SPF) before performing an adversarial procedure. There are closing meetings, after which they create a draft report that goes to the auditee for comments. The auditee may then defend its position, but it is the audit office that makes the final decision on how the particular matter is to be presented.

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