The European Court of Auditors found breaches in the governance of the Berlaymont. «The Commission diverges from, or does not fully adhere to, international best practice»
by Emanuele Bonini
There is a lack of control in spending activity of the European Commission, according to the latest report from the European Court of Auditors (ECA) published today. New rules have not been implemented, marking a difference between the actions foreseen on paper and those effectively in place. After the resignation of the Santer Commission, in March 2000 the Commission approved the «Reforming the Commission» White Paper, with the aim of modernising the governance of the Commission. After more than a decade improvements are still missing, as pointed out by the ECA. The Commission abolished the financial controller function in order to make the directors-general responsible for the legality and regularity of spending by their Directorate-Generals (DGs). DGs report annually on their management via the annual activity report. But «mechanisms to hold individuals to account for their contribution to internal control are relatively undeveloped». In other words, The Commission «has not put in place staff evaluation criteria linked to this objective». In practice all this means the European Commission «has not established a basis to determine whether the declarations made within annual activity reports are well-founded, or established a benchmark against which to hold DGs accountable». The European Commission expenditure is thus out of control.
Who is responsible for what?
New rules make difficult to establish who is responsible for what can happen in governing the European Commission, revealed the European Court of Auditors in the same report. In fact the distinction made between the political responsibility of commissioners and the operational responsibility of directors-general means that «it has not always been made clear whether ‘political responsibility’ encompasses responsibility for the directorates-general, or is distinct from it». Recent organisational reforms «are beginning» to address some of the risks of a silo culture, the typical mindset that occurs in organisations, which is inward looking and resists sharing information and resources with other people or departments within the same organisation. According to ECA in order to continue to address key risks, the Commission will need to further strengthen the governance structure across the institution.
There is a lack of control in spending activity of the European Commission, according to the latest report from the European Court of Auditors (ECA) published today. New rules have not been implemented, marking a difference between the actions foreseen on paper and those effectively in place. After the resignation of the Santer Commission, in March 2000 the Commission approved the «Reforming the Commission» White Paper, with the aim of modernising the governance of the Commission. After more than a decade improvements are still missing, as pointed out by the ECA. The Commission abolished the financial controller function in order to make the directors-general responsible for the legality and regularity of spending by their Directorate-Generals (DGs). DGs report annually on their management via the annual activity report. But «mechanisms to hold individuals to account for their contribution to internal control are relatively undeveloped». In other words, The Commission «has not put in place staff evaluation criteria linked to this objective». In practice all this means the European Commission «has not established a basis to determine whether the declarations made within annual activity reports are well-founded, or established a benchmark against which to hold DGs accountable». The European Commission expenditure is thus out of control.
Who is responsible for what?
New rules make difficult to establish who is responsible for what can happen in governing the European Commission, revealed the European Court of Auditors in the same report. In fact the distinction made between the political responsibility of commissioners and the operational responsibility of directors-general means that «it has not always been made clear whether ‘political responsibility’ encompasses responsibility for the directorates-general, or is distinct from it». Recent organisational reforms «are beginning» to address some of the risks of a silo culture, the typical mindset that occurs in organisations, which is inward looking and resists sharing information and resources with other people or departments within the same organisation. According to ECA in order to continue to address key risks, the Commission will need to further strengthen the governance structure across the institution.
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