Resolution of the European Parliament

of 10 May 2011

with observations forming an integral part of its Decision on discharge in respect of the implementation of the European Union general budget for the financial year 2009, Section V — Court of Auditors

THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT,

having regard to the European Union general budget for the financial year 2009 [1],

having regard to the final annual accounts of the European Union for the financial year 2009 (SEC(2010) 963 — C7-0215/2010) [2],

having regard to the Court of Auditors’ annual report to the discharge authority on internal audits carried out in 2009,

having regard to the Annual Report of the Court of Auditors on the implementation of the budget concerning the financial year 2009, together with the institutions’ replies [3],

having regard to the statement of assurance as to the reliability of the accounts and the legality and regularity of the underlying transactions provided by the Court of Auditors pursuant to Article 287 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union [4],

having regard to Article 272(10) and Articles 274, 275 and 276 of the EC Treaty and Article 314(10) and Articles 317, 318 and 319 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union,

having regard to Council Regulation (EC, Euratom) No 1605/2002 of 25 June 2002 on the Financial Regulation applicable to the general budget of the European Communities [5], and in particular Articles 50, 86, 145, 146 and 147 thereof,

having regard to Rule 77 of, and Annex VI to, its Rules of Procedure,

having regard to the report of the Committee on Budgetary Control (A7-0138/2011),

1. Notes that in 2009 the Court of Auditors had commitment appropriations available amounting to a total of EUR 188000000 (EUR 133000000 in 2008; EUR 122000000 in 2007), with a utilisation rate of 92,19 %, which is below the average of the other institutions (97,69 %);

2. Recalls that, for the financial year 2009, the accounts of the Court of Auditors were audited by an external firm, PricewaterhouseCoopers (as in 2008 and 2007), which reached the following conclusions:

(a) in relation to the accuracy of the accounts for the financial year 2009, that "in our opinion, these financial statements give a true and fair view of the financial position of the European Court of Auditors as of 31 December 2009, and of its financial performance and its cash flows for the year then ended in accordance with Council Regulation (EC, Euratom) No 1605/2002 of 25 June 2002, Commission Regulation (EC, Euratom) No 2342/2002 of 23 December 2002 laying down detailed rules for the implementation of the said Council Regulation, and the European Court of Auditors’ Accounting Rules"; and

(b) in relation to the use of financial resources assigned to the Court of Auditors and the adequacy of control procedures in place during the financial year 2009, that "nothing has come to our attention that causes us to believe that in all material respects and based on criteria described above: (a) the resources assigned to the Court have not been used for their intended purposes; (b) the control procedures in place do not provide the necessary guarantees to ensure the compliance of financial operations with the applicable rules and regulations";

3. Welcomes the audit strategy of the Court of Auditors for the period 2009-2012 and supports its priority goals (maximising the overall impact from its audits and increasing efficiency by making best use of resources); expects the Court of Auditors to report on the steps taken to implement this audit strategy as well as to demonstrate the progress in this direction using the key performance indicators (KPI), in particular with the introduction of KPI 1 to 4 in 2010; particularly welcomes the plan to publish follow-ups in respect of the special reports to increase their impact;

4. Welcomes improvements in KPI 5, 6and 7 from 2008 to 2009, and notes with satisfaction that the Court of Auditors has met its targets as regards KPI 8 and 9; notes that the Court of Auditors did not reach its target as regards key performance indicator 10, in 2009 in comparison to 2008 the number of training days decreased from 10 to 9, and the number of days devoted by auditors to professional training excluding language courses dropped from 7 to 4, not reaching the International Federation of Accountants’ guidelines (40 hours/5 days);

5. Notes the considerably increased number of the reports produced by the Court of Auditors, in particular, the increase in the number of special reports (from 12 to 18) and specific annual reports (from 29 to 37), although the number of opinions has decreased; expects that the performance audits underlying the special reports of the Court of Auditors will contribute to its primary mission of auditing the Union’s finances;

6. Is concerned by the decrease of detailed information in the Court of Auditors’ specific annual reports on the agencies; encourages the Court of Auditors in the future to include more complete information in its reports on the agencies, in particular as regards the conclusions of Internal Auditors’ reports;

7. Welcomes the fact that in the course of preparation of the annual report concerning the financial year 2009, the Court of Auditors performed an in-depth assessment of supervisory and control systems in the Court of Justice, the European Ombudsman and the European Data Protection Supervisor, which included the examination of an additional sample of transactions of payments relating to human resources and to other administrative expenditure;

8. Encourages the Court of Auditors to continue and broaden this practice, in particular, to consider performing an in-depth assessment of supervisory and control systems in the Council; also encourages the Court of Auditors to consider the possibility of making use of new and innovative ways to perform the audit, including the new products mentioned in the 2009-2012 audit strategy, and, by doing so, to explore the possibilities of further improving the output and effectiveness of auditing;

9. Considers that the cooperation between the Court of Auditors and the Parliament could be strengthened by streamlining working methods and approaches and further enhancing synergies between the two institutions; welcomes in this respect the measures the Court of Auditors is taking to reform and continuously improve its role in line with Parliament’s call for its assessments and audits to have a broader and deeper impact, its data to be more effective and useful and its systems and procedures more reliable; awaits with interest the "follow-up peer review" that the Court of Auditors intends to launch during 2011 (three years after the positive peer review of 2008); announces in this respect that Parliament intends to produce an own-initiative report on possible improvements that could be proposed to the Court of Auditors in full assurance of being able to count on the latter’s close cooperation;

10. Notes that the Court of Auditors recruited 112 employees in 2009 (69 officials, 14 temporary staff and 29 contract staff), and the overall number of vacant posts at the end of 2009 (49) was considerably reduced in comparison to the end of 2008 (68); welcomes the decreasing delays in the Court of Auditors’ recruitment process;

11. Welcomes steady improvement as regards the proportion of men and women on the staff of the Court of Auditors, in particular the reducing disparity at assistant, head of unit and director level;

12. Notes that the 2009 report of the Internal Auditor of the Court of Auditors was largely positive; welcomes in this context the fact that most recommendations put forward by the Internal Auditor have been accepted and integrated into corrective action plans;

13. Welcomes the ongoing successful interinstitutional cooperation with the European Administrative School and the Court of Justice as regards training;

14. Notes the revision of the Court of Auditors’ Rules of Procedure, which took place in 2010, and invites the Court of Auditors to give an evaluation of the effect of those changes in its Annual Activity Report;

15. Recalls, in relation to declarations of members’ financial interests, that, in compliance with the Court of Auditors’ Code of Conduct, Court of Auditors’ members communicate a declaration of their financial interests to the President of the Court of Auditors, who keeps those declarations under confidential custody, and ensures that those declarations are not published; reconfirms its position that in the interests of transparency, declarations of financial interests of members of all Union institutions should be accessible on the Internet via a public register, and calls upon the Court of Auditors to take the necessary steps in this respect and to adapt and base its rules on "financial interest" on the new draft Code of conduct for Commissioners, where applicable;

16. Recalls that independence, integrity, impartiality, excellence and professionalism are the core values of the Court of Auditors and considers that the news that appeared in the media merits reflection; also recalls that during the presentation of the peer review report, the President of the Court of Auditors announced that a follow-up peer review would be conducted after three years; invites the Court of Auditors to present the results of this follow-up peer review to Parliament’s competent committee, in order to reassert, once more, those values, in particular the objectivity, impartiality and professionalism of the Court of Auditors;

17. Commends the Court of Auditors for the quality of its Annual Activity Report;

18. Notes that, unlike in previous years, missions to non-Member States were not reported per country in 2009.

[1] OJ L 69, 13.3.2009.

[2] OJ C 308, 12.11.2010, p. 1.

[3] OJ C 303, 9.11.2010, p. 1.

[4] OJ C 308, 12.11.2010, p. 129.

[5] OJ L 248, 16.9.2002, p. 1.

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