Toespraak Kallas tijdens presentatie jaarverslag 2005 (en) - Europa NU

SPEECH/06/660

Siim Kallas

Vice-President of the European Commission responsible for Administrative Affairs, Audit and Anti-Fraud

Presentation of the European Court of Auditors’ 2005 Annual Report

ECOFIN

Brussels, 7 November 2006

Mr. President, President of the Court of Auditors Mr. Weber, Members of the Council, Ladies and Gentlemen,

Let me first of all thank Mr. Weber for his speech and the valuable work done by the Court.

Some may say that this year's report is like all the others: an overall positive statement of assurance (or DAS) on the accounts, revenue and commitments – and a largely negative DAS on the payments.

But I do not agree. This year's report is different.

Above all, the overall positive DAS on the accounts was better than "business as usual". The 2005 accounts were the first to be presented in accrual format - following a large scale accounting reform which had to be implemented within a very ambitious timeframe.

The Court has noted certain technical issues where we must make improvements. We are making these.

But the judgment is clear: the 2005 accounts are of good quality and the accounting reform has been implemented with exceptional speed.

Mr President,

The Court has this year raised the issue of the multi-annual nature of error correction or "claw back" in shared management. The current system rests on certain principles :

The Member States do the first round of controls and make corrections if beneficiaries have made errors. The Commission only introduces net reductions of payments if the Member States have not done a proper job.

Secondly, to keep the costs of controls reasonable, not every transaction is checked before a payment is made. The Court itself has raised the issue of the need to ensure a reasonable cost/benefit ratio when doing controls.

However, the Court seems to question the value of the claw back system, or at least its relevance for the DAS.

I am referring to [points 1.63 to 1.65 in] chapter 1 of the report where the Court says that the clearance of agricultural accounts and the closure procedures for Structural Funds programmes are important but - and I quote – "cannot be regarded as mechanisms to ensure the prevention and timely identification and correction of errors. "

The Court goes on to say that financial corrections may have a dissuasive effect but do not make a wrong transaction right again.

The Commission does not agree with the Court on this issue. We believe current control systems in shared management generally provide beneficiaries and authorities in Member States with the right incentives to ensure sound and efficient use of EU funds.

Of course, errors will occur in any system involving human beings, and, of course, auditors will identify some of these. But why they occur, what importance they have for the policy, what we do to correct them – these are the issues the Commission believes are also relevant for the DAS.

Mr President,

Beyond correcting individual errors, we must provide the Court with reasonable assurance that the systems put in place to manage EU funds are sound and solid. This is the objective of the Roadmap to an Integrated Internal Control Framework that I presented to Council in July 2005, followed by an Action Plan in January 2006.

What remains to be done?

Well, we must show to the Court that systems exist and are working well in Member States. This shows the importance of the declarations to be provided by Member States in the area of agriculture and in Structural Funds. I appreciate the co-operation you have already shown on this issue.

We must also make progress on defining tolerable risk and involvement of national supreme audit institutions.

A formal progress report on the Action Plan is foreseen for February 2007. By then, we will be able to assess what contributions to progress on the Action Plan have been made in discussions on the future Financial Regulation.

Mr President,

We must give follow-up to Court's Annual Report. The Commission has already sent a letter to all Member States, asking for comments on the observations made by the Court in the Annual report.

I am aware that we have set a tight deadline for your replies [24 November] but we aim at presenting the summary report of these replies in time for you to include it in your consideration of the 2005 discharge next year.

To sum up:

• - 

  The Commission welcomes the Court's 2005 Annual Report.
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  Progress is being made on the Action Plan.

But further inter-institutional co-operation is necessary.

I hope the incoming German Presidency will make this a priority. Until then, I welcome the news that the Finnish Presidency intends to have a discussion in the Council's Budget Committee on the DAS method used by the Court and on progress made on the Commission's Action Plan.

A 13^th negative DAS in 2007 is not a fatality. If all institutions work together, we can make solid progress each year. The Commission is highly motivated to do its part.

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