Representatives of supreme audit institutions of EU countries and European Court of Auditors met at the annual meeting of the Contact Committee
Press Release – 25. 10. 2012
On October 18–19, 2012, the annual meeting of representatives of supreme audit institutions of EU countries and European Court of Auditors took place in Estoril, Portugal. The Contact Committee is an autonomous group, which assembles every year to discuss current topics related to external auditing in individual member states and EU. Delegates from potential EU candidate countries, from the international organisation of supreme audit institutions and from the SIGMA initiative (a mutual initiative of Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development and European Union) are usually invited to the Contact Committee meetings as well. Among important guests of the meeting were European commissioner for taxation and customs union, audit and anti-fraud Mr. Algirdas Šemeta and governor of the Bank of Portugal Mr. Carlos Costa.
Main topics on the agenda of the meeting were focused on the role of supreme audit institutions during preparations for the next EU financial framework period 2014–2020 (Multiannual Financial Framework) and the auditing experience of supreme audit institutions related to issues of the current economical state and global financial crisis.
Among other topics discussed at the meeting were outcomes of the working groups, for example a pilot analysis aimed at supreme audit institutions of the EU member states and their approach towards national oversight institutions, which had been elaborated by the special public debt working group. The Task Force to explore the possibilities for cooperation with Eurostat and national statistical institutions informed about areas where supreme audit institutions, Eurostat and national statistical institutions can cooperate and help to improve the quality of statistics issued by state administrations – the Czech SAO has been an active member of this task force as well.
Participants of the meeting were also informed about activities of the Presidents´ Network, which has been formed from top representatives of supreme audit institutions of the EU candidate and potential candidate countries and the European Court of Auditors. The Presidents´ Network’s activities are supported by the SIGMA initiative and the joint working group on audit activities that is co-chaired by the Czech SAO.
The next meeting of the Contact Committee takes place in Lithuania in 2013.
Department of International Relations
Supreme Audit Office
Participants of the meeting of the Contact Committee - Portugal, October 2012