Our activities in 2021 : annual activity report of the European Court of Auditors.
Date: 2022-05-11
Institutions: European Court of Auditors
Subjects: European Court of Auditors, activity report

EN

Our activities 
in 2021

Annual Activity Report
of the European Court of Auditors

02

EUROPEAN COURT OF AUDITORS 
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1615 Luxembourg 
LUXEMBOURG

Tel. +352 4398-1
Enquiries: eca.europa.eu/en/Pages/ContactForm.aspx
Website: eca.europa.eu
Twitter: @EUAuditors

More information on the European Union is available  
on the internet (http://europa.eu).

Luxembourg: Publications Office of the European Union, 2022

ISBN 978-92-847-7493-7 
Print 
PDF 
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HTML  ISBN 978-92-847-7433-3 

ISSN 1684-0739  doi:10.2865/407 
QJ-AA-22-001-EN-C
ISSN 2315-3938  doi:10.2865/801091  QJ-AA-22-001-EN-N 
ISSN 2315-3938  doi:10.2865/407868  QJ-AA-22-001-EN-Q

 
Our activities  
in 2021 

Annual Activity Report 
of the European Court of Auditors 

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Contents 

President’s foreword 

2021 at a glance 

Our activities 

Work during COVID-19 

Our new strategy for 2021-2025 

Auditing the performance and regularity of EU actions 

Work programme 

Audit fieldwork 

Our reports 

Other communication products 

Conferences and webinars 

Innovation and digital audit 

Institutional relations 

Cooperation with other supreme audit institutions 

Our management 

Members 

Audit chambers and committees 

Measuring performance 

Our staff 

Staff allocation 

Recruitment 

Age profile 

Equal opportunities 

3 

6 

8 

9 

9 

10 

11 

12 

13 

15 

33 

34 

37 

39 

44 

48 

48 

51 

53 

61 

61 

61 

62 

62 

 
 
4 

Audit support 

Audit methodology 

Professional training 

Translation 

Information security 

Buildings 

Environmental management 

Our accountability 

Financial information 

Internal and external audit 

65 

65 

65 

68 

68 

69 

71 

72 

72 

74 

 
 
 
 
5 

European Court of Auditors 

Who we are 

o 

o 

o 

o 

o 

the European Union’s external auditor; 

established by the 1975 Treaty of Brussels, starting work in October 1977; 

a fully-fledged European Institution since 1993 under the Maastricht Treaty; 

headquartered in Luxembourg; 

a collegiate body of 27 Members, one from each EU Member State, appointed by the 
Council after consulting the European Parliament; 

o 

around 900 staff of all EU nationalities. 

What we do 

o  make sure that the EU keeps proper accounts, and correctly applies its financial rules, 

and that EU policies and programmes achieve their intended objectives and deliver 
value for money; 

o 

contribute to improving the EU’s financial management, and promote accountability 
and transparency; 

o  warn of risks, provide assurance, indicate shortcomings and successes, and offer 

guidance to EU policymakers and legislators; 

o 

present our observations and recommendations to the European Parliament, the 
Council, national governments and parliaments, and the general public. 

 
 
 
6 

President’s foreword 

Dear reader, 

In 2021, the COVID-19 pandemic continued to weigh heavily on the European Union and its 
Member States. 

In these difficult times, the EU is providing financial assistance on an unprecedented scale. 
Apart from the traditional budgetary resources agreed as part of the 2021-2027 multiannual 
financial framework (MFF), the EU launched the ‘NextGenerationEU’ (NGEU) initiative, a 
recovery package of supplementary funds based on debt securities. 

Against this backdrop, we adopted a new strategy in January for 2021-2025, under which we 
will focus on three strategic goals. These will guide our efforts in auditing the EU’s finances 
over the coming years, making the necessary changes to our organisation and using our 
resources effectively and efficiently. 

This activity report gives an overview of our work in 2021, which was the first implementation 
year for our new strategy. In addition, it provides information on our management, staff, audit 
support and finances. 

Despite the ongoing pandemic, we maintained business continuity throughout the year and 
continuously adapted to changing working conditions. 

 
 
 
7 

In 2021, we published all our annual reports within the official deadlines. We also published 
32 special reports and reviews, while keeping delays within reasonable limits. 

The EU citizens, and our institutional stakeholders and partners at both EU and Member State 
level, can continue to count on us to provide them with independent, objective reports on key 
issues for the future of the EU, highlighting what works well, drawing attention to what does 
not and recommending changes.  

We stand in solidarity with Ukraine. We have strongly condemned the Russian invasion of 
Ukraine and organised humanitarian help for the victims of the Russian aggression. These are 
dark times for Europe. Now more than ever, the EU needs to show unity. 

We hope you find the information in this year’s Activity Report useful. 

Klaus-Heiner Lehne 
President 

 
 
 
 
 
8 

2021 at a glance 

32

reports, of which two on 
COVID-19 related issues

First year 
implementation of 
our 2021-2025 
strategy

Clean opinion on 
accounts and revenue

Adverse opinion on 
expenditure

419

appearances at the 
European Parliament, 
the Council, national 
parliaments and 
Member State 
governments

Start examining the 
‘NextGenerationEU’ 
initiative

Increased media 
coverage

Estimated 
error rate: 

2.7 %

67 000

online articles and 
social media posts

Towards a 
diversity and 
inclusion 
policy

83 %

of respondents 
find our reports 
useful

 
 
 
 
9 

Our activities 

Work during COVID-19 

Business continuity during the 
COVID-19 pandemic 

In 2021, we continued to work within the confines of COVID-related travel and public health 
restrictions. Our ability to carry out on-the-spot audits was still significantly restricted. We 
carried on transforming the way we work and adjusting to the new situation. 

Our staff managed to continuously adapt to changing working conditions and quickly learned 
new tools. It became clear that we could make rapid changes to our working methods when 
needed, while continuing to provide an effective public audit service in the EU. 

We managed to deliver timely audit reports, opinions and reviews. We reached meaningful 
conclusions and made relevant recommendations, sometimes having worked entirely 
virtually. In the future, we will strive to successfully apply the experience of the past two years 
and enhance the added value and efficiency of our on-the-spot visits by combining them with 
virtual work. 

10 

Our new strategy for 2021-2025 
For many years, we have used multiannual strategies to chart a long-term course for our audit 
work, promote organisational change for continuous improvement and remain at the forefront 
of development in public-sector auditing. 

2021: first year of new strategy 

At the end of 2021, we completed the first year of our new strategy for 2021-2025. Our 
strategic goals for this five-year period are to improve accountability, transparency and audit 
arrangements across all types of EU action; target our audits at the areas and topics where we 
can add most value; and provide strong audit assurance, in a challenging and changing 
environment. 

To put our strategy into practice, we agreed on implementation measures for each goal and 
objective, assigned responsibilities, and set deadlines. This year we have made good progress 
in several actions, notably: 

o 

o 

o 

o 

o 

reviewing our annual report and our approach to the underlying statement of assurance 
audit; 

drafting a strategic audit approach for the ‘NextGenerationEU’ (NGEU) initiative, 
including the Recovery and Resilience Facility (RRF); 

drawing up a fraud action plan; 

reviewing our work programming system; 

setting relevant performance indicators to monitor the implementation of our strategy; 
and 

o 

formulating a new communication strategy. 

 
 
 
11 

Auditing the performance and regularity of EU actions 

Performance, financial and 
compliance audits 

Our audits provide EU citizens and policymakers with independent, objective reports on key 
issues for the future of the EU, highlighting what works well and drawing attention to what 
does not. 

Our performance audits address the effectiveness, efficiency and economy of EU policies 
and programmes. They focus on topics reflecting the issues the EU is facing, such as: 

— 

— 

— 

— 

— 

the sustainable and environmentally-friendly use of natural resources; 

growth and inclusion; 

the challenges of migration and global development; 

the single market and the banking union; and 

ensuring that the European Union is accountable and efficient. 

These audits aim to help the EU to better meet its policy objectives. 

Our financial and compliance audits for the EU budget and the budgets of the European 
Development Funds (EDFs) include our Statement of Assurance on the reliability of the 
annual accounts and the legality and regularity of the underlying transactions. 

We may also undertake selected compliance audits to examine the state of the EU’s 
budgetary accounting and financial management, or to assess whether the management 
and control systems for collecting and spending EU funds comply with the applicable EU and 
national rules. 

Lastly, we are the external auditor for a number of EU agencies, decentralised bodies and 
Joint Undertakings, and the European Schools. 

We carry out all our audits in line with internationally accepted public-sector auditing 
standards. 

 
 
 
12 

Work programme 

Our 2022+ work programme 

Our 2022+ work programme, published in December 2021, highlights our audit priorities for 
the coming years and gives details of the 79 special reports and reviews we intend to publish 
from 2022 onwards. 

More than two thirds of the new 2022 audit tasks are strongly aligned with directions set in 
our strategy for 2021-2025, notably to target areas and topics where we can add most value. 
Our four strategic areas are: the Union’s economic competitiveness; resilience to threats to 
the Union’s security, and respect for the European values of freedom, democracy and the rule 
of law; climate change, the environment and natural resources; and fiscal policies and public 
finances in the Union. In addition, we plan to publish 16 reports on issues regarding the EU’s 
response to COVID-19, such as the procurement of vaccines, and a series of audits on the 
Recovery and Resilience Facility (‘NextGenerationEU’ (NGEU) initiative). 

We prepare our audit work programme independently, but not in isolation. We reach out to 
our institutional stakeholders and in particular the European Parliament. Since 2015, when we 
first initiated this dialogue, the number of suggestions by parliamentary committees has risen 
steadily: from 37 suggestions in 2015 to 164 audit suggestions for the 2022+ work programme. 
Almost two thirds of these suggestions are fully or partly taken up in ongoing or future work, 
and some have now been covered in our latest reports. For the first time, we also received 
eight additional audit ideas submitted by ten Permanent Representations of Member States. 

 
 
 
 
13 

Audit fieldwork 
We do most of our audit work on our premises in Luxembourg. Under normal circumstances, 
our auditors also make a large number of visits to the European Commission – our main 
auditee – and other EU institutions, as well as to agencies and bodies, national, regional and 
local authorities in the Member States, EU delegations in non-EU countries, and international 
organisations that handle EU funds. 

We normally also visit recipients of EU funds on the spot, both within the EU and beyond its 
borders. Through these checks, we follow the audit trail and obtain direct audit evidence from 
those involved in managing EU policies and programmes and collecting or paying out EU funds, 
as well as from the beneficiaries. In 2021, we carried out most of these checks virtually. 

We strive to adopt our selected audits within 13 months, in line with the target set in the EU’s 
Financial Regulation. 

 
 
 
 
 
14 

2021: COVID-19 restrictions still limiting  
on-the-spot checks 

Our audit teams generally comprise two or three auditors, while our audit visits range in 
length from a few days to a couple of weeks. Our on-the-spot checks within the EU are 
generally coordinated in liaison with the supreme audit institutions (SAIs) of the Member 
States concerned. 

For most of 2021, the travel restrictions and public health measures (border closures, 
quarantine rules, testing requirements, etc.) continued to limit our ability to carry out audit 
fieldwork. 

Therefore, compared to pre-COVID-19 years, our auditors spent significantly fewer days 
auditing on the ground. They spent a total of 857 days in Member States and outside the EU 
compared with 1 190 days in 2020 and 3 605 days in 2019. They also spent 299 days at 
EU institutions, decentralised agencies and bodies across the EU, Joint Undertakings, 
international organisations such as the United Nations and the OECD, and private audit firms. 
The corresponding figures for 2020 and 2019 were 627 and 2 504 days, respectively. 

At the same time, we compensated for the limited on-the-spot checks by making increased use 
of remote auditing and gathering evidence electronically. We used videoconferencing tools 
and other information technology, such as secure data and document sharing, to interact with 
our auditees. 

EU Member 
States

EU institutions 
and international 
organisations

Non-EU 
countries

827

1 047

299

627

3 160

2 504

30

143

445

Total

1 156

1 817

6 109

Breakdown 
2019 to 2021

2021

2020

2019

 
 
 
 
 
15 

Our reports 
Our audit reports, reviews and opinions are an essential element of the EU’s accountability 
chain. They help the European Parliament and the Council to monitor and scrutinise the 
achievement of the EU’s policy objectives and to hold to account – those responsible for 
managing the EU budget, particularly in the context of the annual discharge procedure. 

Special reports and reviews 

In 2021, we published 32 special reports and reviews addressing many of the challenges the 
EU is facing across the different areas of EU spending and policies. These included climate 
action, environment, digitalisation, migration, capital markets union and the rule of law, to 
name but a few. Two of the reports were COVID-19 related, one concerning the EU’s public 
health response and the other air passenger rights. We also started to examine the 
‘NextGenerationEU’ recovery initiative, in particular the Recovery and Resilience Facility. 

In our special reports, we examine whether the objectives of selected EU policies and 
programmes have been met, whether results have been achieved effectively and 
efficiently, and whether EU action has added value – i.e. whether it has delivered more 
than could be achieved with actions at national level alone. In these reports, we also 
make recommendations, identifying ways to save money, work better, avoid waste or 
achieve expected policy objectives more effectively. 

Our reviews aim to provide scene-setting descriptions and analysis, often from a 
crosscutting perspective and based on previous audit work or other publicly available 
information. We may also use them to present our analysis of areas or issues we have not 
yet audited, or to establish facts about specific topics or problems. In contrast to audits, 
they do not address evaluative questions or provide assurance. 

The following pages provide insights into our work and examples of special reports from 2021 
covering different policy areas. 

 
 
 
 
16 

Sustainable use of natural resources 

Special report 16/2021: Common Agricultural Policy 
and climate – Half of EU climate spending but farm 
emissions are not decreasing 

Food production is responsible for 26 % of global 
greenhouse gas emissions. Agriculture, in particular 
the livestock sector, is responsible for most of these 
emissions. Since 2013, climate action has been one 
of the main objectives of the Common Agricultural Policy – the CAP. The Commission 
attributed over €100 billion – more than a quarter of the total CAP budget – to 
mitigating and adapting to climate change during the 2014-2020 period. 

We assessed whether the CAP supported climate mitigation practices with the potential 
to reduce greenhouse gas emissions from agriculture. We also examined whether the 
CAP incentivised the uptake of effective mitigation practices in the 2014-2020 period 
better than in 2007-2013. 

We found that the €100 billion CAP funding on climate action in 2014-2020 had little 
impact on agricultural emissions, which have not changed significantly since 2010. Most 
mitigation measures supported by the CAP have low potential for mitigating climate 
change. The CAP rarely finances measures with high climate mitigation potential. 

We recommended that the Commission take action to ensure that the CAP reduces 
emissions from agriculture; take steps to reduce emissions from cultivated drained 
organic soils; and report regularly on the CAP’s contribution to climate mitigation. 

 
 
 
 
17 

Investment for cohesion, growth and inclusion 

Special report 15/2021: Air passenger rights during 
the COVID-19 pandemic – Key rights not protected 
despite Commission efforts 

Over the last three decades, there has been a boom 
in travel in Europe. The EU has developed a 
harmonised level of protection for passenger rights. 
The COVID-19 crisis has had a major impact on many 
sectors of the economy, the travel and tourism 
sectors being amongst the first directly hit. This resulted in numerous flight 
cancellations, followed by requests for reimbursement by passengers affected. Airlines 
and package organisers faced serious liquidity problems, and Member States provided 
them with unprecedented levels of support. 

We assessed how the COVID-19 crisis affected air passenger rights and whether the 
rights of access to information and the right to reimbursement for air passengers were 
safeguarded. We also examined how Member States supported airlines with State aid 
and whether this aid was linked to the protection of passenger rights. 

We found that the COVID-19 crisis highlighted the fact that air passengers were not fully 
informed about their rights, and that there was a risk that they would consequently lose 
money to which they were entitled. We also found that the Commission’s temporary 
State aid framework facilitated the provision of unprecedented levels of State aid by 
Member States to airlines and package organisers, amounting to €34.7 billion. While the 
Commission clarified that Member States could link the protection of passenger rights 
to State aid, this was not the case for aid to airlines. Furthermore, we found that the 
Commission tried to protect the rights of air passengers but had limited enforcement 
powers. 

We recommended that the Commission take action to ensure better protection of, and 
information on, air passenger rights; work with Member States to address ways of 
improving coordination between them and take further action to link State aid to 
airlines more closely to passenger reimbursement; take action to improve tools and 
legislation for safeguarding air passenger rights; and consider the relevance of the 
recommendations for other modes of transport. 

 
 
 
 
18 

External action, security and justice 

Special report 08/2021: Frontex’s support to 
external border management – not sufficiently 
effective to date 

The Schengen Convention created a single area 
allowing movement between signatory countries 
without internal border checks. Surveillance and 
control of its external borders are essential for 
facilitating the free movement of people and goods within the area, while seeking to 
guarantee internal security and prevent potential threats at the borders. In 2016, 
Frontex became the European Border and Coast Guard Agency and was empowered to 
facilitate European integrated border management at the EU’s external border, where 
Member States retain responsibility. 

In 2019, its powers were further enhanced to move from a support and coordination 
role to an operational role. This involved an exponential increase in resources, 
introducing a standing corps of 10 000 operational staff by 2027 with an average budget 
of €900 million per year. 

We assessed whether Frontex carried out its primary activities effectively to contribute 
to implementing European integrated border management. We also examined how 
prepared it was to fulfil its new expanded mandate. 

We found that Frontex’s support for Member States/Schengen associated countries in 
fighting illegal immigration and cross-border crime was not sufficiently effective. We 
also found that Frontex had not fully implemented its 2016 mandate and highlighted 
several risks related to Frontex’s 2019 mandate. 

We recommended improving the information exchange framework and the European 
situational picture; updating and implementing the common integrated risk analysis 
model and securing access to other sources of information; developing the potential of 
the vulnerability assessment; improving Frontex’s operational response; and addressing 
the challenges posed by Frontex’s new mandate. 

 
 
 
 
19 

Regulation of markets and competitive economy 

Special report 13/2021: EU efforts to fight money 
laundering in the banking sector are fragmented 
and implementation is insufficient 

Money laundering is the practice of ‘legitimising’ the 
proceeds of crime by filtering them into the regular 
economy to disguise their illegal origin. Within 
Europe, Europol estimates the value of suspicious 
transactions in the hundreds of billions of euros, at 
an equivalent of 1.3 % of the EU’s gross domestic product.  

The EU adopted its first anti-money laundering directive in 1991 to counter threats to 
the internal market from money laundering, and, subsequently, to prevent terrorist 
financing. It was most recently updated in 2018. The anti-money laundering directive 
relies on implementation at national level for effect. A number of EU bodies also play a 
part, such as the Commission (policy development, transposition monitoring), the 
European Banking Authority (analysis, investigation of breaches of Union law, standard 
setting) and the European Central Bank (prudential supervision of banks, including 
money laundering and terrorist financing risk). 

We assessed whether EU action in the fight against money laundering in the banking 
sector was well implemented. 

We found institutional fragmentation and poor co-ordination overall at EU level in terms 
of steps to prevent money laundering and terrorist financing, and action where risks 
were identified. In practice, actions to counter money laundering and the financing of 
terrorism are still supervised at national level and the EU oversight framework is 
insufficient to ensure a level playing field. 

We recommended in particular prioritising the risk of money laundering and terrorist 
financing more clearly; establishing a framework for reporting breaches of Union law; 
and issuing guidelines to facilitate standardised information exchanges between 
national and EU-level supervisors. 

 
 
 
 
20 

Financing and administering the Union 

Special report 10/2021: Gender mainstreaming in 
the EU budget – time to turn words into action 

Gender equality is one of the European Union’s 
fundamental values. Gender mainstreaming is a 
means of achieving gender equality by actively 
promoting equality between women and men at all 
stages and in all areas of policy-making and 
implementation. The Commission has committed to implementing gender 
mainstreaming, and the European Parliament and the Council have emphasised the 
need for the EU to deliver on its high-level gender-mainstreaming commitments. 

The Commission describes progress towards achieving full gender equality as ‘slow’. The 
European Parliament recognises that the pandemic has exacerbated existing structural 
gender inequalities, and has argued in favour of using gender mainstreaming and 
gender budgeting in the COVID-19 recovery response, as well as applying lessons 
learned about the detrimental effects of previous economic crises on gender equality. 

We assessed whether gender mainstreaming had been applied in the EU budget to 
promote equality between women and men from 2014 onwards. In particular, we 
examined whether the Commission’s framework for supporting gender mainstreaming 
was appropriate, whether the EU’s budget cycle took gender equality into account and 
whether gender equality had been incorporated into five selected EU funding 
programmes. 

We found that the Commission had not yet lived up to its commitment to gender 
mainstreaming in the EU budget. Its strategy for gender equality did not sufficiently 
promote the use of gender mainstreaming and its institutional framework did not yet 
fully support gender mainstreaming. In addition, the EU’s budget cycle did not take 
adequate account of gender equality and the Commission paid little attention to the 
gender analysis of the policies and programmes we examined. 

We recommended in particular strengthening the institutional framework for supporting 
gender mainstreaming; carrying out gender analyses of needs and impacts for EU 
funding programmes and instruments; using gender-related objectives and indicators to 
monitor progress; developing a system for tracking funds supporting gender equality 
and reporting annually on the results achieved in terms of gender equality. 

21 

Annual and specific annual reports 

Annual reports mainly present the results of our Statement of Assurance on the European 
Union budget and the budget of the European Development Funds (EDFs), but also cover 
aspects of performance and budgetary and financial management. 

Specific annual reports present our annual audit work on the EU agencies and other Union 
bodies, Joint Undertakings, and the European Schools. 

We also publish a report on contingent liabilities arising from the activities undertaken by the 
Single Resolution Board (SRB). 

 
 
 
22 

Annual report on the EU budget for the financial year 2020 

Every year, we audit EU revenue and expenditure to examine whether the annual accounts 
are reliable and whether the income and expenditure transactions underlying the accounts 
comply with the financial rules at EU and Member State level. 

In addition, we specifically assess each major area of the EU budget, based on the 
(sub-) headings of the multiannual financial framework (MFF). We also analyse why and where 
errors have occurred, make recommendations for improvement, and examine whether and 
how our previous recommendations have been put into practice. 

This extensive work forms the basis for our Statement of Assurance, which we are required to 
provide to the European Parliament and the Council in accordance with our mandate under 
the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union (TFEU). 

EU budget: 
clean opinion on accounts and 
revenue 

For the financial year 2020, we provided a ‘clean opinion’ on the accounts and on the EU’s 
revenue. 

EU budget: 
adverse opinion on expenditure 

In 2020, EU spending was €173.3 billion, the equivalent of 1.1 % of the combined gross 
national incomes of the EU-27 and the United Kingdom. 

Our auditors tested a sample of 728 payments made to beneficiaries across all spending areas, 
out of a total audit population worth around €148 billion. This means we assessed various 
cases where EU money had been used to provide support for key infrastructure projects, 
SMEs, research organisations, farmers, students in EU Member States, and beneficiaries in 
non-EU countries. 

For the financial year 2020, we issued an ‘adverse opinion’ on the EU’s expenditure. 

 
 
 
 
 
 
23 

Estimated error 2.7 % 
(2020 expenditure) 

For the financial year 2020, we estimated the level of error for expenditure as a whole to be 
between 1.8 % and 3.6 %. The mid-point of this range, known as the ‘most likely error’, is 
2.7 %, the same as for the financial year 2019. 

3.1 %

2.4 %

2.6 %

2.7 %

2.7 %

Upper error limit

Estimated level of error

Lower error limit

Materiality 
level: 2 %

5 %

4 %

3 %

2 %

1 %

0 %

2016

2017

2018

2019

2020

Note: We use standard statistical techniques to estimate the level of error. We are 95 % confident that the level of 
error for the population lies in the range between the lower and upper error limits (for more details, see Chapter 1, 
Annex 1.1 to the 2020 annual report). 

 
 
 
 
 
 
24 

Again, more than 50 % of audit 
population affected by material 
error 

For the financial year 2020, high-risk expenditure accounted for 59 % of our audit population, 
compared with 53 % last year. The estimated level of error for high-risk expenditure was 
4.0 %, compared with 4.9 % for the financial year 2019. 

EU spending is characterised by two types of expenditure involving distinct patterns of risk: 

o 

o 

Low-risk, entitlement payments: Based on beneficiaries meeting certain (less complex) 
conditions, these include student and research fellowships (under ‘Competitiveness’), 
direct aid for farmers (‘Natural resources’) and salaries and pensions for EU staff 
(‘Administration’). 

High-risk, cost reimbursements: The EU reimburses eligible costs for eligible activities 
(involving more complex rules). These include research projects (under 
‘Competitiveness’), investment in regional and rural development (‘Cohesion’ and 
‘Natural resources’) and development aid projects (‘Global Europe’). 

 
 
 
 
 
25 

Most error-prone MFF headings 
‘Competitiveness for growth and 
jobs’ and ‘Economic, social and 
territorial cohesion’ 

For the financial year 2020, ‘Competitiveness for growth and jobs’ was the most error-prone 
MFF sub-heading, followed by ‘Economic, social and territorial cohesion’. 

5.0

4.8

4.4

3.0

3.5

3.9

4.2

2.0

Economic, 
social and territorial 
cohesion

4.2

4.1

Competitiveness for 
growth and jobs

2016 2017 2018 2019 2020

2.5

2.4

2.4

1.9

2.0

Natural 
resources

Note: The estimated level of error is based on quantifiable errors we identified through our work, notably by testing 
a sample of transactions. We use standard statistical techniques to select this sample and estimate the level of error 
(see Chapter 1, Annex 1.1 to the 2020 annual report). 

 
 
 
 
 
 
26 

Cases of suspected fraud 
reported to OLAF and EPPO 

As the EU’s external auditor, we do not have a mandate to investigate cases of suspected 
fraud. Therefore, our audits are not specifically designed to detect fraud. Nevertheless, our 
auditors regularly identify cases where we suspect that fraudulent activity may have taken 
place. 

We reported 15 cases of suspected fraud to OLAF following identification in the course of our 
audit work in 2021. We reported six such cases in 2020. Our annual report on the EU budget 
provides additional information on the nature of these suspected fraud cases and on the 
subsequent financial recoveries recommended by OLAF. 

In June 2021, we also started collaborating with the European Public Prosecutor’s Office 
(EPPO) in line with the administrative arrangement signed on 3 September 2021. We reported 
two cases to the EPPO that we had identified in the course of our audit work in 2021. 

Annual report on performance 

Annual report on performance:  
a two-year pilot project 

We split our annual report into two separate parts as a two-year pilot project, which started 
with the annual report for the financial year 2019. The second part of the annual report covers 
the performance of spending programmes under the EU budget. 

We examined whether and how the Commission and the co-legislators used the lessons learnt 
from previous multiannual financial framework (MFF) periods to improve the design and 
performance of spending programmes for the 2021-2027 period. 

We also examined the results achieved by EU programmes under the 2014-2020 MFF. Our 
purpose was to establish how much relevant performance information was available and, 
based on that information, to assess how well EU spending programmes actually performed. 

In this context, we reviewed the Annual Management and Performance Report (AMPR), 
which is the Commission’s main high-level performance report on the EU budget. 

We also followed up the audit recommendations we made in special reports published 
in 2017. 

 
 
 
 
27 

Annual report on the European Development Funds for the financial year 2020 

EDFs: 
clean opinion on accounts and revenue;  
adverse opinion on expenditure 

The European Development Funds (EDFs), launched in 1959, were the EU’s main instruments 
for providing development cooperation aid. They aim to overcome poverty and promote 
sustainable development and the integration of African, Caribbean and Pacific countries (ACP) 
and overseas countries and territories (OCTs) into the world economy. They are funded by the 
EU Member States and managed outside the EU budget by the European Commission and the 
European Investment Bank (EIB). They will continue to be implemented and reported on 
separately until their closure. 

For the 2021-2027 multiannual financial framework, development cooperation aid to the ACP 
countries and OCTs is funded by the EU budget. 

As in previous years, we issued a ‘clean opinion’ both on the EDF accounts and on revenue but 
an ‘adverse opinion’ on EDF expenditure for the financial year 2020. Our estimated level of 
error for expenditure is 3.8 % (3.5 % for the financial year 2019). 

 
 
 
 
 
28 

Specific annual reports on EU agencies 

The EU agencies are distinct legal entities set up to carry out specific technical, scientific or 
managerial tasks that help the EU institutions to design and implement policies. In total, there 
are 43 agencies. 

Denmark
EEA

Sweden
ECDC

Lithuania
EIGE

Latvia
BEREC Office

Finland
ECHA

Estonia
eu-LISA

Germany
EASA, EIOPA

Netherlands
EMA, Eurojust, 
Europol

Ireland
Eurofound

Belgium
EACEA, EASME, 
ERCEA, INEA, 
REA, SRB, HaDEA

Luxembourg
CdT, Chafea, 
EPPO, ESA

France
CPVO, EBA, 
ERA, ESMA

Portugal
EMCDDA, 
EMSA

Poland
Frontex

Czech Republic
GSA

Austria
FRA

Slovakia
ELA

Hungary
CEPOL, EIT

Romania
-

Bulgaria
-

Cyprus
-

Spain
EFCA, EUIPO, 
EU-OSHA

Italy
EFSA, 
ETF

Slovenia
ACER

Malta
EASO

Croatia
-

Greece
Cedefop, 
ENISA

Note: ELA and EPPO were not audited in 2020 as they were not yet financially autonomous. The map also includes 
the newest agency HaDEA (European Health and Digital Executive Agency), established on 1 April 2021. At the same 
time, the Chafea ceased to exist, and INEA and EASME were renamed CINEA (European Climate, Infrastructure and 
Environment Executive Agency) and EISME (European Innovation Council and SME Executive Agency), respectively. 
In addition, GSA was renamed EUSPA (European Union Agency for the Space Programme) on 12 May 2021. 

 
 
 
 
 
29 

Clean opinion on all but three EU 
agencies for the financial year 2020 

In the financial year 2020, the total budget of all agencies under our mandate (excluding the 
SRB) was €3.7 billion, equivalent to 2.2 % of the 2020 EU general budget. The corresponding 
figures for the financial year 2019 were €3.3 billion and 2.2 %. 

Overall, our audit of the agencies confirmed the positive results reported in previous years. We 
issued ‘clean opinions’ on the 41 agencies’ accounts and on the revenues. We signed off the 
payments underlying all the agencies’ accounts, except for the Agency for the Cooperation of 
Energy Regulators (ACER), the Agency for the Operational Management of Large-Scale IT 
Systems in the Area of Freedom, Security and Justice (eu-LISA), and the Agency for 
Cybersecurity (ENISA). For these three agencies, we issued qualified opinions, mainly due to 
irregularities in procurement procedures and to gaps in the delegation procedure for 
authorising budgetary operations. 

 
 
 
30 

Specific annual report on Joint Undertakings for the financial year 2020 

Joint Undertakings (JUs) are the EU’s public-private partnerships with industry, research 
groups and Member States, and play an important role in supporting market-driven projects in 
strategic areas of research and innovation, and thus in implementing EU research policy. 

Eight of the nine JUs implement specific research and innovation actions under the 
Horizon 2020 programme in the areas of transport, energy, health, bio-based industries, 
electronic components and systems, and digital research. The ninth JU, ‘Fusion for Energy’, is 
funded by Euratom and is responsible for providing Europe’s contribution to the International 
Thermonuclear Experimental Reactor (ITER). 

Clean opinion on all Joint Undertakings 
for the financial year 2020 

In the financial year 2020, we issued ‘clean opinions’ on the accounts, revenue and payments 
for all JUs. 

However, as in previous years, our audit opinion on the 2020 annual accounts of the ‘Fusion 
for Energy’ (F4E) JU was accompanied by an ‘emphasis of matter’, mainly to draw attention to 
the risk of further cost increases and delays in implementation of the ITER project. 

 
 
 
31 

Specific annual reports on European schools and contingent liabilities of the Single 
Resolution Board 

We issued our yearly report on the review of the consolidated annual accounts of the 
13 European schools for the financial year 2020. While our review did not reveal material 
errors in the accounts, we were still unable to confirm that the Schools’ financial management 
was fully compliant with their Financial Regulation and Staff Regulations. 

We also report annually on the contingent liabilities of the Single Resolution Board (SRB), the 
Council and the Commission, arising from the performance of their tasks under the Single 
Resolution Mechanism Regulation. In our report on the financial year 2020, we conclude that 
the SRB and the Commission made a fair effort to disclose contingent liabilities where they had 
reason to do so. 

Marking the start of the European 
Parliament’s discharge procedure 

The publication of our annual reports also marks the start of the discharge procedure, during 
which the European Parliament decides – upon a recommendation from the Council – whether 
the Commission and other bodies have managed the EU budget satisfactorily. If they have, it 
grants them discharge. 

In October 2021, we started presenting 
our 2020 annual reports to the 
European Parliament’s Committee on 
Budgetary Control and to the Council’s 
Budget Committee. Subsequently, we 
also presented them to the European 
Parliament in its plenary session and to 
the Economic and Financial Affairs 
Council. 

Furthermore, over the course of 2021, 
we presented our annual reports 
to the national parliaments and 
governments of 20 Member States. 

 
 
 
32 

Opinions 

Examining the Commission’s proposals for 
the Brexit Adjustment Reserve and making 
own resources available 

As the EU’s independent external auditor, we contribute to improving financial management 
by issuing opinions on the Commission’s proposals for new or revised legislation. Where 
these legislative proposals entail a significant financial impact, EU law requires us to be 
consulted. Other institutions can also ask us to issue opinions on other specific issues. All our 
opinions are submitted to the European Parliament and the Council. 

In 2021, we published two such opinions. The first one concerns a legislative proposal 
establishing the Brexit Adjustment Reserve. The second one relates to amendments of existing 
rules aimed at enhancing predictability for Member States and clarifying procedures for 
dispute resolution when making own resources available. 

 
 
 
33 

Other communication products 

Audit previews 

Our audit previews provide information on ongoing (performance) audit tasks. They are 
based on the preparatory work undertaken and are intended as a source of information for 
those interested in the policy and/or programme being audited. 

In 2021, we issued six audit previews (14 in 2020). 

Journal 

Each edition of the ECA Journal features articles on a specific theme, mostly from an audit 
perspective, from contributors working within and outside the EU institutions. 

In 2021, we issued three editions, addressing 'Strategy development in a rapidly changing 
world', 'The new CAP creating new horizons' and 'Disasters and crisis management'. 

 
 
 
34 

Conferences and webinars 
In 2021, we also (co-)organised a number of conferences and webinars. Most of these events 
were still organised remotely and were open to interested parties. 

Below are five examples. 

Portuguese Tribunal de Contas and 
ECA joint conference on EU issues 

During the Portuguese Presidency of the EU, 
the Portuguese Tribunal de Contas and the ECA 
organised a conference on ‘European funds – 
management control and accountability’, in 
Lisbon on 21 and 22 June 2021. It was the first 
such in-person meeting since the start of the 
COVID-19 pandemic in early 2020. Delegations 
of the two supreme audit institutions met with 
high-level representatives of Portugal and 

discussed the following topics: priorities and challenges underlying the multiannual financial 
framework and the Recovery and Resilience Plan; European funding and the climate transition; 
digital future; sustainability of public finances; and management and control of European 
Funds. 

Financial governance in the EU 

On 9 July 2021, the ECA hosted a virtual high–
level conference on financial governance in the 
EU. Its aim was to foster discussion about the 
resilience of the EU financial sector, and its 
readiness to face the next crisis and to support 
the economic recovery. 
Mr Valdis Dombrovskis, the Executive Vice-
President of the Commission, opened the 
conference, which was attended by 

distinguished speakers and panellists from the EU and international institutions, Member 
States, financial sector and academia. 

 
 
 
 
35 

The COVID-19 pandemic and its 
effects on the future of Europe 

On 6 October 2021, the ECA organised a hybrid 
workshop to reflect on the Conference on the 
Future of Europe with Federica Mogherini, 
Rector of the College of Europe and former 
High Representative of the EU for Foreign 
Affairs and Vice-President of the European 
Commission. She highlighted several aspects of 
the pandemic, which she felt would shape 
discussions on the future of Europe. ECA staff 

were invited to express their ideas about Europe’s future from their perspective not only as 
auditors, but also as EU citizens. 

Developing capital markets in the 
Baltics 

On 1 October 2021, the 8th International 
Financial Markets Conference titled 
‘Developing Capital Markets in the Baltics’ took 
place in Vilnius. The conference built upon the 
recommendations and conclusions set in 
Special report 25/2020: Capital Markets 
Union – Slow start towards an ambitious goal. 
Many high-level speakers, including 
Ms Ingrida Šimonytė, Prime Minister of the 

Republic of Lithuania and Werner Hoyer, President of the European Investment Bank, gathered 
to debate how best to develop a single market for capital – providing citizens, businesses and 
governments with effective investment and financing opportunities. 

 
 
 
 
 
 
36 

COP Climate Conference 

At the 2021 UN Climate Change Conference in 
Glasgow – the COP26 summit – the ECA co-hosted 
two side events: the ECA contributed through a 
discussion organised with EUROSAI on external 
auditors’ contributions to translating climate 
ambition into delivery, and co-hosted, together 
with the European Investment Bank (EIB), an event 
on directing finance towards climate change 
adaptation. ECA Member Eva Lindström presented 

the results of ECA’s audit on sustainable finance and EIB Vice-President Ambroise Fayolle 
presented the EIB’s new Adaptation Plan. 

 
 
 
37 

Innovation and digital audit 
The ECA stepped up its efforts to make the best use of modern technology and new 
techniques in audit to deliver more and better information for the accountability process. The 
Court also made increased use of technology and data in audit a key priority in its 
2021-2025 strategy. 

Development plan for increased use 
of data and technology in audit 

In July 2021, the Court adopted its development plan for increased use of data and technology 
in audit. The plan sets goals and objectives for the next five years to make better use of 
technology in support of ECA audit objectives. 

DATA: a new team in service of 
audit 

Following the adoption of this plan, the ECA created a new team, D.A.T.A. (Data and 
Technology for Audit). DATA is a centralised team of experts – mainly data scientists and IT 
auditors – that supports the audit teams and is responsible for implementing the development 
plan across the Court. 

Over the course of 2021, we built the team through both external and internal recruitment, 
notably by including data scientists from ECALab, the ECA’s innovation lab. This is the next step 
in expanding on previous ECALab pilots and services. 

 
 
 
 
 
 
38 

Innovation and Emerging 
technologies 

While our focus has shifted towards delivering tangible solutions to our auditors on a larger 
scale, the need for research and innovation remains significant. Through ECALab and the 
DATA team, we have continued to explore technologies such as text mining, process mining 
and artificial intelligence. For example, we established a Robotic Process Automation (RPA) 
service to provide centralised and automated audit evidence collection, improving the speed 
and reliability of downloading supporting documents. RPA was used in 17 audit tasks. 

We have been actively involved in the Emerging technology group of the Interinstitutional 
Committee for Digital Transformation, working on introducing technologies such as artificial 
intelligence, augmented reality or blockchain in EU institutions. We decided in 
September 2021, to focus on working with EU institutions and bodies to develop an approach 
to leveraging distributed ledger technologies to serve our specific needs. 

ECALab also continued to foster international knowledge sharing through TiNA, a network 
launched by the ECA that brings together professionals from Member State SAIs to share and 
collaborate on ‘Technology and innovation for audit’. 

 
 
 
39 

Institutional relations 

We work closely with the European Parliament, the Council, national parliaments and 
Member State governments, as the impact of our work depends largely on the use they make 
of our audit findings and recommendations. 

European Parliament 

In March 2021, the Conference of Committee Chairs (CCC) invited the ECA President for an 
exchange of views on our 2021-2025 strategy and 2021+ and 2022+ work programmes. 

ECA Members and audit teams are regularly invited to meetings of the EP committees and 
bodies, particularly the Budgetary Control Committee (CONT), to present the results of our 
work. 

For most of 2021, the EP continued to organise its plenary and committee meetings in hybrid 
form. Despite the pandemic-related restrictions, the ECA made 147 appearances before the 
EP, the highest ever annual number. 

Overall, in 2021, our Members presented 19 special reports and four reviews to CONT. The 
ECA’s reporting Members also participated in 13 CONT hearings on the 2020 discharge and 
five hearings on the 2019 discharge. 

In addition, the Members gave 46 presentations on special reports, reviews, and opinions to 
17 other EP committees. Some of these meetings took place jointly when several committees 
were interested in the same report. 

 
 
40 

Council of the European Union 

As a rule, the Council’s preparatory bodies deal with all our special reports soon after 
publication, but not necessarily all reviews and opinions. In 2021, we presented 28 special 
reports and one opinion to two Council committees (Economic and Financial Committee and 
Financial Services Committee) and 18 Council working parties. 

In 2021, ECA President Klaus-Heiner Lehne and other ECA Members also participated in six 
meetings with Permanent Representatives to the European Union. Furthermore, the Budget 
Committee of the Council invited the relevant ECA management to present our 
2021-2025 strategy, 2021+ and 2022+ work programmes, digital strategy for auditing the 
agencies, and draft budget for 2022. 

Council Presidency 
Portugal: January – June 2021 
Slovenia: July – December 2021 

Most of the meetings of the Council of the EU were held remotely. Nevertheless, ECA 
Members participated in some physical meetings, for example: 

o 

o 

In April 2021, ECA Member João Figueiredo presented the ECA’s key messages related to 
our work concerning the environment at an informal Council meeting of EU 
environment ministers in Lisbon. 

In November 2021, ECA President Klaus-Heiner Lehne and ECA Member Tony Murphy 
met with the Slovenian Minister of Finance in his capacity as ECOFIN President, before 
the presentation of the 2020 annual report to the EU finance ministers. 

 
 
 
 
41 

National parliaments and Member State governments 

Meetings with  
national parliaments 

In 2021, despite the restrictions imposed by the ongoing pandemic, we presented our work at 
97 meetings with national parliaments in 21 Member States. These meetings mainly took 
place in person (80 physical and 17 virtual meetings). 

Meetings with  
Member State governments 

Our Members and management presented our work at 107 meetings with Member State 
governments and government bodies in 20 Member States in 2021. These meetings mainly 
took place in person (81 physical and 26 virtual meetings). 

 
 
 
 
42 

National 
parliaments

Member State 
governments

Sweden

Finland

Netherlands

Belgium

Ireland

Luxembourg

France

Italy

Spain

Portugal

Austria

Estonia

Latvia

Poland

Germany

Lithuania

Czech Republic

Slovakia

Bulgaria

Greece

Malta

Cyprus

Croatia

Slovenia

 
 
 
43 

European Commission 

Exchanging views with our auditees  
at the highest level 

ECA Members and Commissioners have regular bilateral contact over planned and ongoing 
audit tasks. 

For years, it has also been a well-established practice for our Members to hold an annual 
meeting with their counterparts at the European Commission. 

In 2021, however, due to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, they agreed to postpone this yearly 
meeting. 

 
 
 
44 

Cooperation with other supreme audit institutions 

Contact Committee of the EU supreme audit institutions 

Our cooperation with the supreme audit institutions (SAIs) of the 27 Member States mainly 
takes place within the framework of the Contact Committee of the EU Supreme Audit 
Institutions. This forum facilitates dialogue and exchange between the SAIs of EU Member 
States and the European Court of Auditors. 

In 2021, we initiated – together with the SAIs of Belgium and Germany – a cooperation 
activity on the implementation of ‘NextGenerationEU’, notably on auditing the 
implementation of the Recovery and Resilience Facility and the National Recovery and 
Resilience plans at EU and national level. Our initiative was very well received, as auditors 
and audit managers of 18 EU SAIs made use of the possibility to regularly meet and discuss 
pertinent issues and audit approaches. 

Annual meeting 
postponed 

Under normal circumstances, the Contact Committee meets annually. However, due to 
COVID-19, the annual meeting scheduled to take place in October 2020 was postponed 
to 2022. The ECA organised an interim online meeting, which was held in November 2021. 

45 

Audit Compendium on the response 
to COVID-19 issued in July 2021 

In July 2021, on behalf of the Contact Committee, we published, an Audit Compendium on the 
challenges related to the COVID-19 pandemic. The report provides information on the impact 
of and response to the pandemic at national and supranational level, and gives an overview of 
the pertinent audit work carried out and published in 2020 by the EU SAIs. 

This was the fourth edition of the Audit Compendium, which has become an annual 
publication of the Contact Committee. 

 
 
 
 
 
 
46 

Network on 
Technology and Innovation for 
Audit 

The knowledge-sharing and collaboration 
platform with other EU SAIs on Technology and 
Innovation for Audit (TINA), which we launched 
in November 2020, now has 498 registered users 
from 26 EU SAIs, the Commission and the ECA. 

The network has organized 12 live online events 
on subjects such as robotic process automation, 
process mining, blockchain and cybersecurity, 
with an average of 60 participants per session. 

SAIs of EU candidate and potential candidate countries 

We also support the SAIs of EU candidate and potential candidate countries (Albania, Bosnia 
and Herzegovina, Kosovo*, Montenegro, North Macedonia, Serbia and Turkey). 

In 2021, we supported SIGMA (Support for Improvement in Governance and Management), a 
joint initiative of the OECD and the European Union, in the organisation of workshops on the 
audit of public expenditure related to COVID-19. 

*

This designation is without prejudice to positions on status, and is in line with UNSCR 1244/1999 and the ICJ
Opinion on the Kosovo Declaration of Independence.

47 

INTOSAI 

In 2021, we continued our active involvement in the activities of the International 
Organisation of Supreme Audit Institutions (INTOSAI). As Vice-Chair of the Professional 
Standards Committee (PSC), we provided input to the INTOSAI Task Force on Strategic 
Planning and actively collaborated with the other Goal Chairs. In November 2021, we attended 
the virtual INTOSAI governing board meeting. 

We also participated in the PSC subcommittees and the activities and projects of other 
INTOSAI working bodies, notably on environmental auditing, Big Data, financial modernisation 
and regulatory reform, as well as evaluation of public policies and programmes. We also 
participated in the task force on INTOSAI Auditor Professionalisation and the INTOSAI 
Development Initiative. 

EUROSAI 

We were also actively involved in the activities of the European Organisation of Supreme 
Audit Institutions (EUROSAI), the European regional group of INTOSAI, in particular its working 
groups on environmental auditing, information technologies, the audit of funds allocated to 
disasters and catastrophes, and the task force on audit and ethics. 

In 2021, we pursued the work of the project group on ‘Preparing for future risks and climate 
crisis: Time for audit to take a long-term view?’ (co-led with the UK National Audit Office) in 
the context of the ‘Forward thinking and emerging issues’ portfolio. We also actively 
contributed to the project group on auditing the response to COVID-19. 

Together with EUROSAI, we organised a side event at COP26 on ‘Translating climate action 
into delivery’. 

 
 
48 

Our management 

Members 
The ECA operates as a collegiate body of Members, one from each Member State. After 
consulting the European Parliament, the Council appoints each Member once their respective 
national governments have nominated them. We have no role in the process of nominating or 
appointing our Members. 

Our Members serve a renewable term of six years. They perform their duties in complete 
independence and in the general interest of the EU. Upon taking office, they give a solemn 
undertaking to that effect before the European Court of Justice. 

In 2021, the Council appointed a new Polish Member, Marek Opioła, to complete the mandate 
of former Member Janusz Wojciechowski from 1 February 2021. Mr Wojciechowski was 
appointed EU Commissioner for Agriculture in 2019. 

Our Portuguese Member, João Figueiredo, sadly passed away on 29 June 2021. The 
nomination procedure to complete his mandate was still ongoing at the end of 2021. 

The College met on 20 occasions in 2021. Due to the pandemic, most of these meetings took 
place in hybrid mode, with some Members participating from the Court and others attending 
remotely. The attendance rate at these meetings was 97 %. Members also participated in 
chamber and committee meetings (see also Audit chambers and committees). 

 
 
 
 
49 

2021 ECA Seminar: discussing the 
NGEU, communication strategy and 
2022+ work programme 

Once a year, our Members, the Secretary-General and the directors go on a two-day seminar 
to discuss important issues relating to the ECA’s long-term strategy, work and organisation. 

During this year’s ECA Seminar, the Members discussed the following key topics: 

o 

o 

o 

o 

o 

o 

o 

the future of the Statement of Assurance; 

the ‘NextGenerationEU’ instrument; 

the future of the performance report; 

lessons learned from the coronavirus crisis; 

the ECA’s involvement in the Conference on the Future of Europe; 

the ECA’s communication strategy; and 

the 2022+ work programme. 

President 

The President is in charge of the institution’s strategy, planning and performance 
management, communication and media relations, institutional liaison, legal matters and 
internal audit. The President also represents the ECA in its external relations. 

Our Members elect one of their number as President for a renewable period of three years. 
The elected person then assumes the role of first among equals (primus inter pares), chairs the 
Court’s meetings and ensures that the Court’s decisions are implemented. 

Klaus-Heiner Lehne was elected President in September 2016 and re-elected in 
September 2019. 

 
 
 
 
 
50 

President
Klaus-Heiner
LEHNE

Chamber I
Sustainable use 
of natural 
resources

Chamber II
Investment for 
cohesion, growth 
and inclusion

Chamber III
External action, 
security and justice

Chamber IV
Regulation of 
markets and 
competitive 
economy

Chamber V
Financing and 
administering 
the Union

Member for
Audit 
Quality 
Control

(Dean)
Samo
JEREB

(Dean)
Iliana 
IVANOVA

(Dean)
Bettina 
JAKOBSEN

(Dean)
Mihails
KOZLOVS

(Dean)
Tony 
MURPHY

Jan 
GREGOR

João 
FIGUEIREDO
(† 29 June 2021)

Lazaros S. 
LAZAROU

Baudilio TOMÉ 
MUGURUZA

Alex 
BRENNINKMEIJER
(† 14 April 2022)

Ladislav
BALKO

Nikolaos 
MILIONIS

Pietro 
RUSSO

Leo 
BRINCAT

Rimantas
ŠADŽIUS

Jan 
GREGOR

Eva 
LINDSTRÖM

Annemie
TURTELBOOM

Juhan
PARTS

Ildikó
GÁLL-PELCZ

François-Roger 
CAZALA

Viorel
ȘTEFAN

Helga 
BERGER

Hannu
TAKKULA

Ivana 
MALETIĆ

Marek 
OPIOŁA 

Joëlle
ELVINGER

Note: As at February 2022. 

 
 
 
51 

Audit chambers and committees 
Members are assigned to one of five audit chambers, where most of our audit reports, 
reviews and opinions are adopted. Audit chambers allocate their tasks among their Members. 
Each Member is accountable to the chamber, and to the Court, for their own audit tasks. 
Professional auditors working for the audit chamber directorates carry out the audit work. 

The Members for each audit chamber elect a Dean for a renewable period of two years. As of 
December 2021, the Deans of our five audit chambers were Samo Jereb, Iliana Ivanova, 
Bettina Jakobsen, Mihails Kozlovs and Tony Murphy. 

The Audit Quality Control Committee (AQCC) deals with the ECA’s audit policies, standards 
and methodology, audit support and development, and audit quality control. It is composed of 
one Member from each audit chamber and chaired by Jan Gregor. 

The Administrative Committee (AC) and, where appropriate, the College of Members, both of 
which are chaired by the President, take decisions on broader strategic and administrative 
issues. The Administrative Committee is made up of the President, the Deans of the chambers, 
the chair of the AQCC, and the Member for Institutional Relations (as of December 2021, 
Rimantas Šadžius). 

In 2021, there were 95 chamber, 12 AC and nine AQCC meetings. Due to the pandemic, most 
of these meetings took place in hybrid mode. The attendance rate at these meetings was 
98 %, 96 % and 96 %, respectively. 

Other committees include the Ethics Committee (chaired by Joëlle Elvinger), the Internal Audit 
Committee (chaired by Ivana Maletić), and the Foresight Advisory Panel (as of December 2021 
chaired by Helga Berger). 

 
 
52 

Our senior management comprises the Secretary-General and directors. In total, there are 
10 directorates, with five attached to audit chambers, one to the AQCC, one to the Presidency 
and three to the Secretariat-General. 

On 1 January 2021, Zacharias Kolias took up his duties as ECA Secretary-General for a term of 
six years. 

Peter
WELCH
Director
Chamber I

Martin 
WEBER
Director
Chamber II

Bertrand 
ALBUGUES
Director
Chamber III

Ioanna
METAXOPOULOU
Director
Chamber IV

Mariusz
POMIENSKI
Director
Chamber V

Note: As at February 2022. 

Gerhard
ROSS
Director
Presidency

Geoffrey 
SIMPSON
Director
Audit Quality 
Control Committee

Pilar
CALVO FUENTES
Director
Language and 
Editorial Directorate

Veronica
ARDELEAN
Director
Human Resources, Finance 
and General Services

Magdalena
CORDERO VALDAVIDA
Director
Information, Workplace 
and Innovation

Zacharias
KOLIAS
Secretary-General

 
 
 
53 

Measuring performance 
We apply a set of key performance indicators (KPIs) to inform our management about 
progress made towards achieving our strategic goals, support decision-making, and provide 
our institutional stakeholders with information on our performance. We updated the KPIs to 
support our 2021-2025 strategy. The following set of five KPIs provides a broad overview of 
how we are performing as an organisation as regards the dissemination, impact and 
perception of our work: 

o 

number of reports published (compared to plan); 

o  media presence; 

o 

o 

impact and perception of our work (stakeholder feedback); 

our appearances before other institutions, national parliaments and Member State 
governments, and international activities; 

o 

implementation of ECA recommendations. 

32 reports published in 2021, 
despite COVID-19 restrictions 

In 2021, despite the difficult circumstances due to COVID-19, we published 32 reports, the 
same number as in 2020. These comprised 27 special reports and five reviews. However, this is 
eight fewer than the 40 reports planned in the 2021+ work programme, as some of the audits 
were delayed during the year. 

Number of reports published 

2019

36

2020

32

2021

32

Overall, in 2021, we issued 55 publications. 

 
 
 
 
54 

publications55

7
ANNUAL 
REPORTS

2
OPINIONS

EU budget (+ summary)
EU budget – performance (+ summary)
European Development Funds
EU agencies (41 + summary)
Joint Undertakings (+ summary)
European schools
Contingent Liabilities SRB, Commission and Council

Brexit Adjustment Reserve
Making Available Regulation of own resources

27
SPECIAL 
REPORTS

Single Resolution Mechanism resolution planning
EU humanitarian aid for education
Exchanging tax information in the EU
Customs controls
Infrastructure for charging electric vehicles
Closure of 2007-2013 financial instruments
EU space programmes Galileo and Copernicus
Frontex’s support to external border management
Disinformation affecting the EU
Gender mainstreaming in the EU budget
Exceptional support for EU milk producers
The polluter pays principle
Anti money laundering
Interreg cooperation
Air passenger rights during COVID-19
Common Agricultural Policy and climate
EU readmission cooperation with third countries
Post-programme surveillance
Europol and migrant smuggling
Sustainable water use in agriculture
EU forests funding for biodiversity and climate change
Sustainable finance
Reducing grand corruption in Ukraine
Performance-based financing in Cohesion policy
ESF support to combat long-term unemployment
Regularity of spending in EU Cohesion policy
EU Support to tourism

5
REVIEWS

6
AUDIT 
PREVIEWS

8
OTHER

EU’s initial public health response to COVID-19
EU actions to address low digital skills
Third countries contributions
EU actions and challenges on electronic waste
Transport Flagships international benchmarking

Rule of law in the Western Balkans
Horizon 2020 widening
Single market for investment funds
Air passenger rights during COVID-19
Reliable European statistics
Resilience of the EU institutions during COVID-19

ECA's 2021-2025 strategy
2021+ work programme
Activity report 2020
2022+ work programme
Journal (3)
Audit compendium on the response to COVID-19

 
 
 
55 

Media presence 

2021: increase in media coverage 

In 2021, we recorded some 67 000 online articles and social media posts related to our audit 
reports, other publications or the ECA in general. This represents a significant increase in 
coverage compared to previous years (2020: 32 000; 2019: 51 000). 

Annual 
reports

Special 
reports

Other publications 
& ECA general

online

social media

1 922 2 074

11 882 19 053

4 006 28 221

497 736

6 378 10 710

4 198 9 537

2021

2020

2019

442 599

6 125 5 870

7 796 30 126

Media coverage can vary substantially depending on the subject and the complexity of a 
report. External factors, such as an important event or policy development, may also influence 
media interest in our publications. Moreover, during emergencies, such as the COVID-19 
pandemic, media attention is particularly focused on crisis-relevant material. 

 
 
 
 
56 

Since the COVID-19 lockdown, we have promoted our publications virtually, which has enabled 
us to increase contacts with journalists. This has positively impacted our media coverage. 

Compared to previous years, interest in our audit reports rose significantly. This was also the 
case for other publications and the ECA in general, achieving media coverage close to 
pre-COVID levels. 

Interaction with press 

In 2021, we issued 49 press releases in 23 EU languages, as well as information notes, media 
advisories and (ready-to-use) audio-statements in certain languages. We also drew up position 
papers for publication in influential newspapers and gave a number of interviews with major 
media outlets throughout Europe, covering radio, TV and the written press. In addition, we 
held 26 online press briefings, including country press briefings for the annual report. 
Altogether, our briefings attracted 527 journalists, most representing major national media 
outlets in EU Member States. 

One million visits to ECA website 

In 2021, we once again achieved over one million visits to our website, with around 
546 000 unique visitors. 

Social media activity slowed down 

Social media channels allow us to interact directly with citizens. In 2021, against the backdrop 
of the COVID-19 crisis, we continued to reduce our social media activity; overall, we posted 
718 times about the ECA and its work on our social media channels (2020: 1 007 posts). 

In 2021, we continued to refer to ECA Journal articles in our social media posts. Thus, 28 % of 
our posts reproduced articles previously published in an ECA Journal (2020: 32 %). 

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
2021: number of followers on social 
media continued to rise 

By the end of 2021, our three social media accounts (Twitter, LinkedIn, Facebook) had 
attracted around 39 000 followers, up from 35 000 in 2020. 

13 555

18 707

6 863

11 859

16 732

6 559

10 029

13 377

6 105

57 

2021

2020

2019

 
 
 
 
58 

Impact and perception of our work 

83 % of respondents to our surveys 
find our reports useful for their 
work 

We assess the likely impact and usefulness of our work, as perceived by the readers of our 
reports at the European Parliament, Council, Commission, EU agencies, Member States´ 
permanent representations, Member States’ agencies and SAIs, NGOs, academia, the media 
and other parties. 

Since 2018, we have carried out anonymised electronic surveys to ask our readers to provide 
qualitative feedback on selected reports and make general suggestions for our work. 

In 2021, 83 % of almost 500 respondents considered our reports useful for their work, and 
79 % felt that they had an impact. This is similar to last year’s result (2020: 84 % and 75 %, 
respectively). 

Usefulness 
of reports

Likely impact 
of reports

Very high

High

Medium

Low

Very low

83 %

consider our 
reports useful for 
their work

79 %

felt that 
they had 
an impact

 
 
 
 
59 

Our appearances before other institutions, national parliaments, and 
Member State governments, and international activities 

Significant increase  
in appearances 

Overall, in 2021, we presented the results of our work on 419 occasions before European 
Parliament committees, Council preparatory bodies, national parliaments, and Member State 
governments. 

Furthermore, we participated in 154 international activities. These included the activities of 
international public audit organisations, in particular INTOSAI and EUROSAI, as well as bilateral 
events with other SAIs, conferences, meetings, and activities targeting a wider audience. 

In 2021, we updated our KPI concerning our appearances to include Member State 
governments and international activities. 

European Parliament

National parliaments

International activities

Council of the EU

Member State governments

111

90

63

52 57

47

147

154

107

97

68

2019

2020

2021

Overall, we significantly increased our interaction with our European and international 
stakeholders, reaching levels exceeding those before the COVID-19 pandemic. 

 
 
 
 
60 

Implementation of ECA recommendations 

Nearly all our 2017 
recommendations implemented 

We measure the implementation of our recommendations on the basis of the follow-up 
carried out by our auditors. For 2021, we analysed the recommendations made in our 
2017 reports. 

The analysis showed that 94 % of the 35 recommendations made in our 2017 annual report 
and 89 % of the 161 recommendations in our 2017 special reports had been implemented 
either in full, or in some or most respects. 

Special reports 
recommendations

70 %

10 %

9 %

11 %

89 %

Annual report 
recommendations

23 %

94 %

37 %

had been 
implemented either 
in full, in most 
respects or in some 
respects

34 %

6 %

Fully implemented

Implemented in some respects

Implemented in most respects

Not implemented

 
 
 
 
61 

Our staff 

Staff allocation 
At the end of 2021, as in previous years, there were 853 permanent and temporary posts at 
the ECA. 527 of these posts were in audit chambers, including 104 posts in Members’ offices. 

Presidency

Translation

Administration

Audit

55

132

139

527

853
total posts

In addition, we had 92 contract staff and 25 seconded national experts working for us at year-
end (2020: 83 and 15 respectively). 

Recruitment 
Our recruitment policy follows the general principles and employment conditions of the EU 
institutions, and our staff have a broad range of academic and professional backgrounds. 

In 2021, we recruited 80 new employees (2020: 62 employees), comprising 16 officials, 
21 temporary staff, 30 contract staff and 13 seconded national experts. 

Our ASPIRE programme for auditors is designed to ease the professional integration of 
newcomers, allowing them to acquire on-the-job experience in different audit tasks as well as 
taking part in targeted training activities during their first three years. 

We also provided 56 internships (2020: 44) for university graduates, lasting three to five 
months. In 2021, our trainees worked from their country of origin for the March and May 
sessions, and in a similar hybrid mode to other ECA staff for the October session, combining 
on-site and remote work. 

 
 
 
62 

Age profile 
Three quarters (76 %) of our staff in active service at the end of 2021 were aged 40 to 59, 
which is similar to 2020. 

3 %

15 %

43 %

33 %

6 %

20-29

30-39

40-49

50-59

60+

Age profile

Almost three quarters (73 %) of our directors and principal managers are aged 50 or over 
(2020: 80 %). This will lead to a management renewal over the next five to 10 years as they 
retire. 

Equal opportunities 
Overall, we employ equal proportions of women and men in our workforce. 

Auditors and 
administrators

Assistants and 
secretaries

Management

53 % 47 %

33 % 67 %

64 % 36 %

Male

Female

61

294

587
total posts

 
 
 
 
63 

6

4

Principal Managers

50

Male
Female

Directors

10

8

5

4

4

4

4

2

2

2

2

2

1

1

1

1

1

1

1

1

1

1

1

Germany

1

2

1

1

1

1

1

1

1

Belgium

Spain

France

Poland

Italy

United Kingdom

Greece

Portugal

Czech Republic

Ireland

Austria

Romania

Denmark

Estonia

Croatia

Slovakia

Bulgaria

Luxembourg

Hungary

Netherlands

Finland

32

18

64 

We are committed to offering equal career opportunities for our staff at all levels of the 
organisation. We employ equal proportions of women and men, and more than a third (36 %) 
of our directors and principal managers were female in 2021 (35 % in 2020). 

The proportion of female principal managers in audit at the ECA reached 37.5 % (29 % 
in 2020), which is close to the 2027 target of 40 %. With our new multiannual policy and action 
plan for 2021-2025, we moved from an equal opportunities policy to a broader Diversity and 
Inclusion approach in 2021. 

Similarly, we remain committed to geographical balance in our management. 

 
 
65 

Audit support 

Audit methodology 

AWARE 

In 2021, we made our internal digital platform AWARE 
(Accessible Web-based Audit Resource) available on our 
website. This provides a single point of access for the 
public to our audit methodology and guidance. 

Professional training 

Consolidation of online learning 

As anticipated, online learning was the norm in 2021. Based on the experience acquired in the 
previous year, we were able to organise a record number of learning activities (616) on various 
topics ranging from audit to data protection. On a few occasions, the public health situation 
allowed for hybrid or classroom training. 

The high number of online activities, together with the lack of restrictions on participant 
numbers, had a positive impact on training indicators, which increased significantly compared 
to 2020. 

 
 
 
 
 
 
66 

2021: professional training target 
exceeded 

Once again, we exceeded the professional training target of five days of non-language training 
per year for auditors, in line with the International Federation of Accountants’ 
recommendations, and two days for non-audit staff. 

Our auditors attended an average of 8.5 training days (5.4 in 2020), while non-audit staff 
attended 4.2 training days on average (3.1 in 2020). 

2019

2020

2021

8.5

4.2

Auditors

Non-auditors

≥ 5

TARGET 
training days

≥ 2

Tailor-made auditor training 

Our priority is to support the ECA’s audit activity by offering relevant and timely training. We 
therefore continued to organise tailor-made courses on various topics. These included the 
circular economy, free movement during the COVID-19 crisis, good budgetary governance, coal 
regions in transition, public procurement, the new 2021-2027 MFF, the Recovery and 
Resilience Facility, and the EU Customs Code. 

We stepped up our training activities in the field of fraud, ethics and integrity, organising 
several courses and presentations on related topics. We invited trainers and speakers from 
OLAF, EPPO, Eurojust and Transparency International to share their knowledge and experience 
with our staff. 

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
67 

Thematic programmes 

As in 2020, the 2021 Training Day became a Virtual Training Week. We took the opportunity 
to move beyond physical frontiers by inviting speakers from outside Europe. The Audit Fair 
featured (in order of appearance) the SAIs of Australia, South Africa, Brazil, Japan and Canada. 
Other very interesting presentations were given on topics including the environment, 
communication and data analysis. 

October 2021 was the ninth European Cybersecurity Month (ECSM), an initiative promoting 
online security and raising awareness of cybersecurity among EU citizens. The ECA had the 
honour of co-hosting the opening event with the European Commission. We prepared a 
packed month-long programme bringing together key cybersecurity experts from the EU 
institutions and their peers in Luxembourg. 

In November 2021, we organised the first ‘Clear Language Days’ at the ECA. Built around the 
Clear Language Awards, a ceremony celebrating and rewarding the best ECA special reports, 
the thematic week was an opportunity to reflect on clear writing and the challenges we face 
when addressing the public. 

Training and awareness raising for the 
new hybrid environment 

In 2021, we continued our training programme for career counsellors, mentors, internal 
facilitators and confidential contact persons. To support our staff in the new hybrid 
environment and help increase resilience, we organised several presentations and workshops 
on topics such as COVID-19, loneliness and bullying at work, harassment during lockdown, 
mindfulness, and the importance of disconnecting when teleworking. 

 
 
 
 
68 

Translation 
In 2021, we translated and revised over 227 000 pages (2020: 235 000), including 29 800 pages 
of outsourced work. Our translators also participated in our audit activities, offering linguistic 
support during audit visits, online meetings and report writing. In addition, they were involved 
in communication work, giving language advice and improving quality by tailoring messages to 
the target audience, for example through cultural adaptation. 

We recruited and trained an Irish language team with a view to achieving a similar output to 
other language groups from 2022. 

Information security 

2021: another busy year  
for cybersecurity 

As ECA staff stayed fully connected to their devices due to the COVID-19 pandemic, 
cybersecurity remained particularly relevant in 2021. We were faced with recurrent 
cyberattacks and data breaches, but installed new applications to provide more robust 
protection for our institution. 

Following last year’s adoption of our new information classification policy, we prepared 
guidelines on the classification of ECA information, including guidance on granting access to 
this information via an internal sharing platform. 

We also adopted Decision 41-2021 on the security rules for protecting EU classified 
information. We invited representatives of the European Commission for an assessment visit 
to our enhanced administrative area to get approval for the ECA’s processing of ‘EU-Restricted’ 
information. 

The main results for this period were: 

o 

o 

The first two simulated phishing campaigns at the Court to measure users’ 
cyber-awareness. 

EU Sign being adopted as the official electronic signature solution for the ECA. EU Sign is 
an electronic signature service provided by the European Commission. 

o 

Installing a new tool to protect sensitive directories and files. 

The year 2021 was challenging as regards vulnerability management, due to the large number 
of threats that required prompt action by the IT teams to remediate critical software flaws. 

 
 
 
69 

Buildings 
We currently own three buildings (‘K1’, ‘K2’ and ‘K3’), which operate as a single, integrated 
technical entity. We also rent office space for our disaster recovery centre in Luxembourg. 

Due to the ongoing COVID-19 crisis, almost all our staff worked from home in 2021 and 
external visits were restricted as much as possible. Most ECA staff were vaccinated once 
vaccines became available. This, coupled with a decrease in the number of new COVID-19 
infections during the summer, enabled the ECA to require staff to work on the premises 
regularly during the autumn. In line with other EU institutions, starting from 
13 September 2021, the ECA introduced a mandatory minimum of two office days per week 
(monthly average). Following the appearance of the Omicron variant, this was reduced to one 
day per week. 

At the same time, we implemented all necessary health and safety measures so that staff 
present on the premises could work under the best possible conditions pending a return to 
normal. 

In 2021, the Court’s meeting rooms were adapted to allow hybrid meetings. 

K1 

The K1 building, which opened in 1988, contains offices for up to 310 staff and meeting 
rooms. The basement levels contain the car parks, technical facilities, storage areas, the library 
and the main archive room, while the top floor is used entirely for technical facilities. 

K1 was modernised in 2008 to render it compliant with national health, safety and 
environmental requirements. Wherever possible, the technology in K1 was adapted to make it 
compatible with that used in K2 and K3. 

 
 
70 

K2 

The K2 building opened in 2003. The basement levels contain the car parks, technical facilities, 
storage, and fitness centre. The top floor is used entirely for technical facilities. The remaining 
floors are used for offices for up to 241 staff, meeting rooms, a conference room with 
interpreting booths, videoconferencing rooms, a cafeteria and basic kitchen areas. 

The K2 building is currently being renovated to optimise the organisation of its workspaces and 
to upgrade some technical installations. After being put on hold at the beginning of the 
COVID-19 crisis, the works started in November 2020 and should be completed by the end 
of 2022. 

As agreed by the European Parliament and the Council in March 2014, we are covering the 
cost of this upgrade using the remaining budget from the K3 construction project, which was 
completed a few years ago. 

K3 

The K3 building opened in 2012. The basement levels contain car parks, technical facilities and 
storage, unloading bays, waste-storage facilities, the print shop, kitchens and archives. The 
ground floor consists of the canteen, cafeteria and training rooms. There are also offices for 
503 staff, meeting rooms and an IT room. The sixth floor comprises reception rooms, a kitchen 
and technical facilities. The K3 building has a rating of ‘very good’ according to BREEAM, the 
leading method worldwide for evaluating and certifying the sustainability of buildings. 

K1

K2

K3

The ECA’s premises on the Kirchberg plateau in Luxembourg. 

 
 
 
71 

Environmental management 
As an EU institution, we have a duty to apply the principle of sound environmental 
management in all our activities. We are therefore committed to continuously reducing our 
environmental impact. Every year, we monitor and analyse the greenhouse gas emissions 
generated by our activities 

The ECA is proud of its Eco-Management and Audit Scheme (EMAS) certification. We 
successfully operate an EMAS compliant environmental management system and we fully 
comply with the ISO 14001:2015 certification requirements. 

Since March 2020, the pandemic has had an undeniably positive effect on our environmental 
indicators, as follows: 

o 

o 

o 

CO2 emissions from work-related travel and commuting have fallen drastically; 

indicators directly linked to the presence of staff on site, such as paper and water 
consumption and waste production, have fallen sharply due to mass teleworking; and 

energy consumption also fell, albeit to a lesser extent, during periods of lockdown and 
reduced occupancy when staff mostly teleworked from home. 

Our total greenhouse gas output in 2020 was 6 144 tonnes of carbon dioxide equivalent 
(tCO2e), a reduction of 43 % since 2014, the year in which we started measuring our CO2 
emissions. 

Sustainability reporting 

The Court will present in a specific report the efforts made towards sustainability in 2021. 

 
 
 
72 

Our accountability 

Financial information 
Our institution is financed by the EU budget under the administrative expenditure heading. 

In 2021, our budget amounted to around €153.7 million. 

Our budget represents around 1.5 % of the EU’s total administrative spending (less than 0.1 % 
of total EU spending). 

Implementation of the 2021 budget 

Final 
appropriations 

Commitments 

% use 
(commitment/ 
appropriations) 

Payments 

(thousand euros) 

10 654 

10 138 

95 % 

10 111 

114 511 

112 601 

98 % 

112 601 

7 835 

1 529 
2 660 

7 152 

383 
2 519 

91 % 

25 % 
95 % 

6 861 

266 
2 144 

FINANCIAL YEAR 2021 

Title 1: People working with 
the institution 
10 – Members of the 
institution 
12 – Officials and temporary 
staff 
14 – Other staff and external 
services 
162 – Missions 
161 + 163 + 165 – Other 
expenditure relating to 
persons working for the 
institution 

Subtotal Title 1 

137 189 

132 793 

97 % 

131 983 

Title 2: Buildings, movable 
property, equipment and 
miscellaneous operating 
expenditure 
20 – Immovable property 
210 – IT&T 
212 + 214 + 216 – Movable 
property and associated costs 
23 – Current administrative 
expenditure 
25 – Meetings, conferences 
27 – Information and 
publishing 

Subtotal Title 2 

Total Court of Auditors 

4 306 
9 141 
880 

385 

496 
1 325 

4 306 
9 141 
837 

324 

90 
1 074 

16 533 
153 722 

15 772 
148 565 

100 % 
100 % 
95 % 

84 % 

18 % 
81 % 

95 % 
97 % 

2 282 
4 484 
470 

296 

69 
739 

8 340 
140 323 

73 

2022 budget 

The 2022 budget represents an increase of 5.48 % on the 2021 figure. 

FINANCIAL YEAR 2021 

2022 

2021 

Title 1: People working with 
the institution 
10 – Members of the 
institution 
12 – Officials and temporary 
staff 
14 – Other staff and external 
services 
162 – Missions 
161 + 163 + 165 – Other 
expenditure relating to 
persons working for the 
institution 

11 715 

120 838 

8 444 

2 452 
2 732 

(thousand euros) 

10 704 

114 120 

7 861 

2 988 
2 613 

Subtotal Title 1 

146 181 

138 286 

Title 2: Buildings, movable 
property, equipment and 
miscellaneous operating 
expenditure 
20 – Immovable property 
210 – IT&T 
212 + 214 + 216 – Movable 
property and associated costs 
23 – Current administrative 
expenditure 
25 – Meetings, conferences 
27 – Information and 
publishing 

Subtotal Title 2 

Total Court of Auditors 

Note: Figures reported relate to the initial budget. 

3 778 
8 228 
944 

574 

675 
1 761 

15 960 
162 141 

3 358 
8 171 
901 

565 

696 
1 745 

15 436 
153 722 

74 

Internal and external audit 

Internal audit 

Our Internal Audit Service (IAS) advises the institution on how to manage risks. It provides 
independent, objective assurance and consulting services designed to add value to and 
improve our institution’s operations. The IAS reports to the Internal Audit Committee, which 
is composed of three ECA Members and an external expert. The Committee regularly monitors 
the progress of the various tasks set out in the IAS’s annual work programme, and ensures its 
independence. 

In 2021, the IAS continued to review the ECA’s risk management policy and issued reports for 
three tasks: ‘Equal Opportunities’, ‘Fraud management’ and ‘Business continuity and staff 
protection measures under the COVID-19 crisis’. The IAS also finalised the main audit work for 
two other tasks, ‘IT Governance’ and ‘The recruitment process’, for which reports will be 
issued in 2022. 

Overall, the work of the IAS did not reveal any shortcomings that, by their nature or 
magnitude, would call into question the overall reliability of the internal control systems put in 
place by the authorising officer by delegation to ensure the legality and regularity of our 
financial operations in 2021. 

External audit 

Our annual accounts are audited by an independent external auditor. This is important, as it 
shows we apply the same principles of transparency and accountability to ourselves as we do 
to our auditees. 

Our external auditor – PricewaterhouseCoopers Sàrl – published its report on our accounts for 
the financial year 2020 on 6 May 2021. 

 
 
75 

Our external auditor’s opinions – financial year 2020 

Regarding our financial statements: 

‘In our opinion, the accompanying financial statements give a true and fair view of the 
financial position of European Court of Auditors – ECA (the ‘Company’) as at 
31 December 2020, and of the results of its operations, its cash flows and the changes in 
net assets for the year then ended in accordance with Regulation (EU, Euratom) 2018/1046 
of the European Parliament and of the Council of 18 July 2018 on the financial rules 
applicable to the general budget of the Union, amending Regulations (EU) No 1296/2013, 
(EU) No 1301/2013, (EU) No 1303/2013, (EU) No 1304/2013, (EU) No 1309/2013,  
(EU) No 1316/2013, (EU) No 223/2014, (EU) No 283/2014, and Decision No 541/2014/EU  
and repealing Regulation (EU, Euratom) No 966/2012, (OJ L 193, 30.07.2018, p. 1).’ 

Regarding our use of resources and control procedures: 

‘Based on our work described in this report, nothing has come to our attention that causes 
us to believe that in all material respects and based on the criteria described above: 

o

o

the resources assigned to the ECA have not been used for their intended purposes;

the control procedures in place do not provide the necessary guarantees to ensure the
compliance of financial operations with the applicable rules and regulations.’

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Unless otherwise indicated (e.g. in individual copyright notices), ECA content owned by the EU 
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Use of the ECA logo  

The ECA logo must not be used without the ECA’s prior consent. 

 
 
 
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On the phone or by email 

Europe Direct is a service that answers your questions about the European Union. 
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