Speech Maarten Engwirda voor de verzamelde Europese Rekenkamers (en)

Meeting of the Heads of the Supreme Audit Institutions of the Central and Eastern European Countries, Cyprus, Malta, Turkey and the European Court of Auditors

Riga, April, 1, 2004

In the event of any divergence of spoken text from written text, the spoken text shall prevail

Distinguished Heads of the Supreme Audit Institutions,

Ladies and Gentlemen. Dear colleagues and friends,

First of all, I should like to thank the Latvian Supreme Audit Institution for organising this meeting. I should congratulate Auditor General Cernajs and all his staff for the excellent organisation and for the results of these two working days.

Ladies and Gentlemen, 2004 will be remembered as an important year in the construction of the European Union. The enlargement of the Union that will take place on the first of May will have a decisive impact. It will be a turning point, from a historical, political, social and economic point of view. The foreseen accession of other countries will soon complete this process.

But, I do not think it is time to be rhetoric. As regards the ten acceding countries and the Member States, the time to talk and discuss about enlargement and its consequences has gone. It is too late to plan and take further action to prepare our countries, our institutions to the new context. These efforts have already been made in the last few years; particularly, in the field of harmonising financial management and control procedures.

Enlargement is relevant for the remaining candidate countries, but as regards the 10 new Member States, now it is time to integrate the institutions and work in equal terms with the rest of Member States.

The date of accession for new Member States is often presented as the end of the enlargement process, as if everything was completed and all of our obligations have been discharged. I believe that the date actually marks the beginning of the process proper, when we must intensify our efforts if we want enlargement to be a success. The European Union is very demanding towards applicant countries, but even more so towards its Member States.

So, the preparation has been done. Now, let's continue working for improving the new Union made of 25 Members and let's prepare for new partners.

The objectives in front of us are very ambitious. We have to bring income levels and living standards of the new countries up to the EU average. The European budget will play a key role in achieving this objective; in this respect we need a sound public administration, capable of managing and scrutinising financial transfers from the EU budget and capable also of ensuring that the various programmes attain the desired objectives. It is necessary to ensure that funds are soundly managed and properly accounted for. And this is the main role of Supreme Audit Institutions.

It will not be an easy task. Today, we could already speak of the consolidation of a "European public sector" in which European, national, regional and local funds jointly finance all kinds of projects to improve people's quality of life. The EU budget has dramatically increased from the 20 billion euro in the 1970's to more than 100 billion euro in 2004. Common rules govern the working of public administrations and European companies in increasingly varied domains such as agriculture, regional development, finance, the environment and transport. Our common currency, the euro, is part of the everyday life of millions of people.

Thus, the European Union involves social, economic and fiscal policy integration, including a strong common budgetary instrument. However, this trend has not been followed by the development of an adequate financial management and control system able to provide the assurance that European public funds are soundly expended.

The Supreme Audit Institutions have the responsibility to contribute to this integrated control system.

Over the last few years we have learned that co-operation is one of the best tools at our disposal.

I have to say that I am very impressed by the way the candidate countries, plus Albania and Croatia, have built up a solid institutional and working network. A network based on the respect of each institution's independence, constitutional mandate and organisation and style. A network founded on mutual trust.

Dear Presidents and representatives of the Supreme Audit Institutions of the acceding and candidate countries, Albania and Croatia. Dear friends, I would like to ask you for something...

Please keep this spirit, keep all this know-how, all this enthusiasm. We are working together for the present and the future of the European Union and we need your strong determination in achieving this project.

I can assure you that the European Court of Auditors is, and will remain, your strong ally in this challenge.

Many thanks for your attention.