Accountability in the European Union

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As with all public budgets, the EU's Community budget is also at risk of maladministration. Every year, the Court of Auditors reports on the management of the budget. The introduction of transparency and a double-entry book-keeping system is likely to improve budget management ^[1].

In order to strengthen the means of fraud prevention, the Commission established the European Anti-Fraud Office (OLAF - Office Européen de Lutte Anti-Fraude) by EC, ECSC Decision 1999/352 of 28 April 1999. The Office was given responsibility for conducting administrative anti-fraud investigations by having conferred on it a special independent status.

1 Auditing
2 Transparency
3 References
4 See also
5 External links

[edit] Auditing

The Court of Auditors checks that all the Union's revenue has been received and all its expenditure incurred in a lawful and regular manner and that the EU budget has been managed soundly. The Court was established on 22 July 1975 by the Budgetary Treaty of 1975. The Court started operating as an external Community audit body in October 1977.

[edit] Transparency

At present, the majority of meetings of the Council of Ministers (the relevant Minister from each member state) are held in private. The draft of the EU Constitution proposes that these meetings be more transparent. The Constitution treaty proposes openness in all official Council meetings discussing new EU laws.

By way of contrast, the standard of plenary sittings of the European Parliament is to stream the debates over the Internet. In addition, the public sittings can be observed directly from a separate gallery. Also, nearly all sittings of Parliamentary Committees are observable by the public, except for certain matters such as requests for removal of the parliamentary immunity of a Member of the European Parliament.

In addition, the activities of the European Commission are subject to transparency. The monitoring of the Commission has to be performed by a body that is independent of the Commission, such as "European Anti-Fraud Office" (OLAF) that reports to the European Parliament.