The Annual Report of European Court of Auditors for the year 2012 presented at the SAO
Press Release – December 3, 2013
On December 2, 2013, a meeting of representatives from the Supreme Audit Office (SAO) with representatives of the European Court of Auditors (ECA) took place at the SAO’s headquarters. At the meeting, the ECA’s Annual Report on the implementation of the EU budget for the year 2012 was presented as well as the ECA’s Special Report No. 6/2013 – “Have the member states and the Commission achieved value for money with the measures for diversifying the rural economy?“
Mr. Jan Kinšt, the member of the European Court of Auditors for the Czech Republic, informed the attendees of the procedures and methodologies of the ECA during audits that are the basis for the preparation of the Annual Report, as well as the information published in the Annual Report. The main topics discussed at the meeting were the Annual Report and special reports, which are the basis for the European Parliament that considers whether the Commission properly performed its budgetary duties. The ECA sends its Annual Report to national Parliaments of its member states as well as to the European Parliament and Commission.
The ECA’s Special Report No. 6/2013, which was also presented at the meeting, aimed at achieving value for money with the measures for diversifying the rural economy. The Report mentioned that some member states underestimated the risk of overvalued expenses, excessive administration burden, late payments, and uneconomical utilization of funds, which were used for projects that actually did not need public funding. The Report also points out that some measurements did not tackle the EU strategic priority, which aims at creating job vacancies, and that the management failed in cases when it was clear that the goals would not be achieved.
International Relations Department
Supreme Audit Office