Landscape review EU accountability and public audit arrangements

Mr. Kevin CardiffReporting Member (ECA)

Mr. Jacques SciberrasProject team leader

ECA Conference, Brussels14th October 2014

A complex EU accountability landscape

AUDIT SCRUTINY

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• ECA

• SAIs, national, regional

auditors

• Audit Boards and Committees

• Private External Auditors

• Internal Auditors incl. CionActors

•Commission

•Parliament

•Council

•European Council

•ECB

•ECA

•ECJ

•Committees

•> 40 agencies

•EIB & EIF

•Partnerships of many

kinds

•National, regional,

local authorities

•Beneficiaries – 8

million for CAP alone

Accountability to:

•750+ MEPs

•European Council and Council

(10 configurations)

•9,500 national parliamentarians

•Regional Governments & Parliaments

•>500 million people

Situation

EU accountability is a complex, enormous industry…

no surprise to hear that there are Gaps, Overlaps, or Deficits

Questions addressed?

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EU Executive Parliament

Audit

6 areas facing challenges

Intergovernmental activities involve EU institutions, but rely on

fragmented scrutiny

Europe 2020, European Semester, TSCG, ESM

Different groups of MS participating in different policy areas require complex governance and scrutiny structures

Audit limited to stage where funds paid over. Scrutiny depends on quality of partners

own governance and accountability systems

Institutions, bodies and agencies have inconsistent and disproportionate levels of audit and parliamentary scrutiny

Particularly for expenditure under shared management frontline governance and scrutiny remains weak at MS level

Strategies, laws and regulations require a comprehensive form of assessment of impact, outcomes and results

Euro and Eurozone, Schengen area

UN, World Bank, PPPs, 3rd Countries

Institutions, Agencies, JUs, ECB, EIB

Shared Management in MS

Ex-post assessments, Laws, Regulations, etc

Banking crisis

Sovereign debt crisis

Euro crisis

Economic crisis

Crisis of confidence

EU response to financial crisis

Impact of crisis response

More and new:

•bodies and structures with different arrangements

•uses of and demands on existing structures

•sets of rules

•mix of EU and non-EU instruments

Public perceptions of EU (and national) systems damaged

5 tracks for reflection

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Way forward

• No simple solutions

• Engage actors at all levels: local, member state, regional, EU and more

• Address existing problems

• Build new initiatives with accountability in mind – use known models where possible

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A loss of citizens trust occurs when…

Powers and Complexity of the EU

are out of balance with the

Accountability and Legitimacy of the EU

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Citizens trust is restored when…

A NEWACCOUNTABILITY EQUILIBRIUM