Commissaris Hübner aanwezig bij bijeenkomst over financiële controle cohesiebeleid (en)

The "Homologues' Group" two-days meeting, hosted this time by the Polish Ministry of Finance, offers each year to participating national control bodies the opportunity to discuss issues on audit and control, and to exchange opinions and best practices.

Today' event is timely given the need to pursue the dialogue with all partners, which are key to a proper implementation of cohesion policy. Mrs Hübner i stressed in her opening remarks " the common responsibility to make this cohesion policy a successful one " and thanked the Member States for taking this challenge seriously.

The Commission has already done a lot to strengthen internal accountability, by improving the reports from the Directors-General, and changing the corporate culture. A good example of the commitment of the Commission to this process is its Action Plan on an `Integrated Internal Control Framework', which proposes concrete measures on simplification, management declarations and audit assurance, sharing results and prioritising cost-benefit.

Commissioner Danuta Hübner reminded that it is all about " our accountability to the European citizen, showing that taxpayers' money is being used to best effect, to improve the welfare of all our citizens, and to foster a cohesive society and a genuine European Union. "

The presence of the representatives of the Court of Auditors in this meeting has also offered the opportunity to engage in frank discussions aiming at reaching a mutual understanding on key issues, such as the priorities of the controls, the sources for the annual statement, and the relevance of the multi-annual perspective in cohesion policy.

The first day was marked by two important moments: the presentation, by the Dutch representative, of a national initiative to provide assurance on Community funds (a national political-level declaration of assurance), which could open the way to other analogous initiatives; and the signing ceremony of the first "Contract of Confidence", with the authorities of Wales. This "Contract" is a voluntary agreement - which has been given the political backing of the European Parliament and Council - between the Commission and a Member State (or region) to guarantee the quality of the audit work done on existing Structural Funds programmes until 2008. The qualifying conditions are that the Commission must be satisfied with the effective functioning of the management and control system, the audit strategy and the quality of the annual control report. Negotiations for other Contracts of Confidence are at an advanced stage with other Member States, from both EU-15, and EU-10.

Background

The "Homologue Group" meeting is an event at which the European Commission and the Member States discuss issues of audit and control as it concerns the Structural Funds area of the EU budget. The participants consist of representatives from the national control bodies of the 25 Member States, and this year, for the first time, Romania and Bulgaria have also been invited. The European Commission audit services for the Structural Funds, the European Anti-Fraud Office (OLAF) and the European Court of Auditors are also attending. The Ministry of Finance in Poland is hosting the event, which is co-funded by the European Commission .

The main objective of the annual Homologues' Group meeting is to further improve coordination of audit work and sharing of audit results with Member States. It is a forum for sharing of knowledge and experiences among the financial controllers and auditors in the Commission and the Member States.

A new Council regulation on the Structural Funds was adopted in July this year for the period 2007 - 2013. The new legislation brings several improvements, which should increase the level of assurance the Commission, the European Court of Auditors and the European Parliament have that Structural Funds are used correctly.

The audit authorities will be required in the new period to provide annual opinions on the effective functioning of the management and control systems and thus on the legality and regularity of the expenditure of the Structural Funds. An important part of this year's meeting of the Homologues' Group is the discussion of the role and responsibilities that the audit authorities will have in the new period.