The annual meeting of the Contact Committee of the Heads of SAIs of the EU held in Riga
The meeting of the Contact Committee of the Heads of Supreme Audit Institutions (SAIs) of the European Union and the European Court of Auditors (the Contact Committee) is held every year. Among the participants to the Contact Committee are delegates from EU candidate states as well as representatives from several other EU institutions. The aim of this meeting is to discuss relevant matters and challenges focused around EU financial management issues.
This years annual meeting of the Contact Committee was held on June 1819, 2015, in Riga, Latvia. On the agenda of the meeting were outcomes from individual working groups and issues related to the roles of supreme audit institutions in financial management of national public funds as well as in the frame of EU-funded activities.
One of the main topics of the discussion was the European fund for strategic investments (EFSI), which was described by presenters from the European Commission and from the European Investment Bank as a safe mechanism that can help use public funding, including funding from the EU budget, to mobilise private investment. It aims to generate up to EUR 315 billion in new investments across the EU in three years. Such large investments and changes to EU legislation present significant challenges for the SAIs, which must respond to the changing environment and revise their strategic plans related to the area of auditing.
Among the themes discussed at the Contact Committee was further and closer co-operation between the European Court of Auditors on one side and individual national supreme audit institutions on the other side, issues related to the Europe 2020 Strategy, Single Supervisory Mechanism, and anti-corruption measures. Presenters were from supreme audit institutions of EU, from the European Court of Auditors, from the European Commission, and from the European Investment Bank.
International Relations Department
Supreme Audit Office