Financial Management and
Fraud in the European Union: Responses to the Report
Introduction
1. The European Court of Auditors has now been
unable for twelve successive years to give a positive Statement
of Assurance to the accounts of the European Communities. In our
Report "Financial Management and Fraud in the European Union:
Perceptions, Facts and Proposals"[1]
we examined the reasons why this is the case. Our report focused
on the Statement of Assurance methodology, the Internal Control
systems within the Commission, and the management of Community
funding by the Member States.
2. On 14 November 2006, one day after its publication,
the Report was referred to in a plenary session of the European
Parliament, during debates on the Court of Auditor's Report for
2005 and the 2007 Work Programme. Commissioner Kallas quoted from
the Report in his speech to the plenary session and several MEPs
also drew attention to the Report's conclusions.[2]
The Report was debated on the floor of the House on 5 March 2007.[3]
3. On 30 November 2006, Ingeborg Gräßle
MEP tabled an oral question to the Council, which took up the
Committee's recommendation that the Budget Council should prepare
a report on the annual audit and Statement of Assurance from the
Court of Auditors (paragraph 172). This was answered on 14 February
2007 by Günter Gloser (German Federal Minister of State for
Europe, acting as President-in-Office of the Council), who dismissed
the need for an additional reporting while noting there was no
majority in the Council to support such a change. Supplementary
questions were asked by Ingeborg Gräßle, Richard Corbett
MEP and Bart Staes MEP.
4. The Report was referred to in a Written Statement
by the Economic Secretary to the Treasury on 20 November 2006.
We received the Government's response on 29 December 2006, a response
from the European Court of Auditors on 15 December 2006, and a
response from the European Commission on 16 March 2007.[4]
5. The purpose of this Report is to publish,
for the information of the House, the three responses we have
received and subsequent correspondence, and the Minister's written
statement.
1 European Union Committee, 50th Report (2005-06):
Financial Management and Fraud in the European Union: Perceptions,
Facts and Proposals (HL 270) Back
2
The Report was quoted from by Commissioner Kallas, and referred
to by Bart Staes MEP, José Javier Pomés Ruiz MEP,
Ashley Mote MEP and in the written submission of Richard Corbett
MEP. Back
3
HL Deb 5 March 2007 cols 71-106 Back
4
The Commission has undertaken to provide written responses to
Reports of Member State Parliaments relating to Commission documents.
This was the first Report by the House of Lords to be published
since the introduction of this procedure. Back
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