THE EUROPEAN COURT OF AUDITORS: THE FIRST FIVE YEARS
| DOI | http://doi.org/10.1111/j.1467-9299.1984.tb00557.x |
| Author | PETER WILMOTT |
| Published date | 01 June 1984 |
| Date | 01 June 1984 |
NOTES
AND
SURVEYS
THE EUROPEAN COURT
OF
AUDITORS: THE FIRST FIVE YEARS
~
Set up by the Treaty of Brussels in 1975 to enhance the European Community‘s
external audit, the Court of Auditors
of
the European Communities came into
operation in October 1977 with the appointment of its nine members (the tenth
was appointed in 1980 on the accession
of
Greece).
It
took over the functions of
the Community’s
two
existing external audit bodies, the Audit Board and the
ECSC
(European Coal and Steel Community) Auditor, and grew to a size considerably
in excess of that of its predecessors, reaching a total establishment in 1983 of 303
posts.
The Court’s internal organization has undergone several changes since 1977.
At the outset every member was responsible for the audit of a part
of
the
Community‘s revenue and expenditure,
so
there were nine audit
‘sectors’
(as they
came to be known). Responsibility for the internal workings of the Court was
also spread among the
nine
members, giving each a ’vertical’ (audit) and ‘horizontal’
(administrative) role. This arrangement was inefficient: the coupling of disparate
vertical and horizontal duties tended to dissipate members’ attention and energy,
with the result that in some cases neither function was discharged adequately. And
areas of work with common features were distributed over two
or
more sectors,
depriving members of a comprehensive overview and necessitating elaborate
co-ordinating arrangements.
The Court decided in 1980 to redistribute its portfolios. Seven members
(includmg now the Greek) had only audit tasks, while
two
(including the President)
were responsible solely for administrative matters. The tenth member dealt with
training,
workmg methods and general audit matters (e.g., audit of the consolidated
balance sheet) and edited the Court’s annual report. This broad structure is still
in force, but a significant recent change has been the transfer of most personnel
and administration work to the President, thus releasing an eighth member for
audit work.
At first, the President could do little more than co-ordinate the Court’s activities
in a limited number of fields; the members were largely sovereign within their
own
areas of responsibility. More recently, however, the President’s role has grown,
Public Administration
Vol.
62
Summer
1984
(211-218)
0
1984 Royal Institute
of
Public Administration. This article contains the author‘s personal views,
formed during
his
secondment
to
the Court from
1980
to 1982.
It
is in no way intended
to
represent
official
UK
Government policy on
or
towards the Court.
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