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Summary: The Court of Auditors audits European Union finances. It’s the independent guardian of the financial interests of the citizens of the Union. It assesses the collection and spending of EU funds and the proper recording of financial operations. It publishes reports of its audits. The president is Vitor Manuel da Silva Caldeira.
The Court of Auditors was created by the Treaty of Brussels in 1975 as a professional, external, investigatory audit unit. Its job is to check if the budget of the European Union of around 120 billion euros has been implemented correctly and that EU funds have been spent legally and with sound management. In doing so, the court checks the paperwork of all persons handling any income or expenditure of the Union and carries out spot checks.
If the Court of Auditors finds any problems it reports them for the attention of member states and other institutions. The Court's decision is the basis for the action by the European Commission. For example, when the Court found problems in the management of EU funds in the regions of England, the Commission suspended funds to those regions and prepared to fine those whose performance did not come back up to acceptable standards.
A key role of the Court is the presentation of its annual report to the European Parliament. On the basis of this report the Parliament decides whether or not to sign off the European Commission's handling of the budget for that year. The Parliament notably refused to do this in 1984 and 1999, in the latter case forcing the resignation of the College of Commissioners. On the other hand, if satisfied with the accounts, the Court sends assurances to the Council and Parliament that the taxpayers money is being properly used.
The Court must be consulted before the adoption of any legislation with financial implications but the opinion is never binding.
The Court of Auditors has 27 auditors one from each of the member states who are appointed by the Council of Ministers in consultation with the Parliament on renewable terms of six years. They elect one of their number as president of the Court for renewable terms of three years.
Auditors are allocated to one of five chambers. Of these four, called vertical chambers, deal with specific areas of revenue and expenditure: natural resources; structural policies, transport and energy; external actions; institutions of the EU. The fifth or horizontal chamber deals with coordination, evaluation and assurance.
The working languages for internal purposes are French and English. But all official reports and documents that emanate from the Court whether for general circulation or for publication in the Official Journal of the European Union are published in each of the Union’s official languages.
For more information visit http://eca.europa.eu