The European Court of Auditors

The European Court of Auditors an independent EU institution, created in 1975. It started functioning in 1977 in Luxemburg and is responsible for the external control of the general budget of the Community. It is comprised of 25 members, one from each member state, appointed for six years by the Council with qualified majority after consultation with the Parliament. The President is elected among the members for a renewable term of three years.

The European Court of Auditors’ responsibilities:

• Monitoring the European Union's finances and highlighting areas where improvements need to be made

• Assisting the European Parliament and the Council of the European Union in exercising their powers of control over the implementation of the budget

• Submitting observations on specific questions and delivering opinions at the request of one of the European institutions by way of special reports

• Presenting the observations in its annual report for the previous financial year to the competent authorities

• The opinion of the European Court of Auditors is also an obligatory requirement for the adoption of any legislation that is financial in nature, especially legislation concerning financial regulations and the making available of own resources

The Court of Auditors has no legal powers of its own. If auditors discover fraud or irregularities they inform OLAF – the European Anti-Fraud Office.

Website of the European Court of Auditors