5 2002 Annual report of the European Court
of Auditors
| (25165)
OJ C 286 Vol
46
| European Court of Auditors — Annual report concerning the financial year 2002
|
| Legal base | — |
| Department | HM Treasury |
| Basis of consideration | Minister's letter of 22 January 2004
|
| Previous Committee Report | HC 42-v (2003-04), para 3 (14 January 2004)
|
| To be discussed in Council | March 2004
|
| Committee's assessment | Politically important
|
| Committee's decision | For debate in European Standing Committee B (together with the Commissions 2002 report on sound financial management and fighting fraud and related documents) (decision reported on 14 January 2004)
|
Background
5.1 The European Court of Auditors (ECA) is responsible for the
external audit of the Communitys public finances. It examines
the legality, regularity and soundness of the management of all
the Communitys revenue and expenditure, and the revenue and expenditure
of any body created by the Community. The ECA publishes its Annual
Report on a particular financial year about 12 months after the
end of that year. We reported on the report for 2002 in January
and recommended that it should be debated in European Standing
Committee B.[17]
5.2 While the ECAs Annual Report contains some material
relating to fraud and irregularities, it is not primarily concerned
with fraud against the EC budget. We reported on the Commissions
2002 Annual Report, Protection of the financial interests of
the Communities and fight against fraud, and related documents
in October 2003. We recommended that those documents should
be debated in European Standing Committee B, together with this
document.[18]
The Minister's letter
5.3 The ECAs audit of the accounts for 2002 contains,
as usual, specific references to individual Member states. In
our previous Report on the document we listed the references to
the UK. The Financial Secretary to the Treasury (Ruth Kelly)
writes about the responses to the ECA's findings which all Member
States now have to send to the Commission within 60 days of the
report's publication and which the Commission is then required
to summarise for the ECA, the Council and the European Parliament
by 15 February. She comments that "Member States' responses
are a useful tool for improving the financial management of Community
appropriations, which could also reduce expenditure".
5.4 As Member States' full responses are not published
the Minister helpfully attaches for us the Government's response
to the 2002 report. This detailed paper includes contributions
of the UK departments and devolved administrations responsible
for the administering the different sectors of the EC budget.
It covers issues relating to Own Resources and, on the expenditure
side, the Common Agricultural Policy and structural measures.
It also makes general comments on ECA observations on structural
measures, external actions, pre-accession aid and the European
Development Funds.
Conclusion
5.5 We are grateful to the Minister for this further
information.
17 See headnote. Back
18
(24811) 11954/03 and ADD1; see HC 63-xxxiii (2002-03), para 3
(15 October 2003) and (24929) -; see HC 63-xxxv (2002-03), para
1 (29 October 2003). Back
| 
