2020 was a watershed year in more ways than one.

At the European Court of Auditors we faced two major challenges, a turning point in EU finances as well as a change in the way we work.

As a result of the €750 billion to be spent in direct response to the COVID-19 crisis, we will be entrusted with major new responsibilities.

This we plan to do while continuing to fulfil our role as the EU’s independent external auditor to protect European taxpayers’ interests.

In his foreword to our 2020 Activity Report, our president, Klaus-Heiner Lehne, explained how we prepared a new strategy for the 2021-2025 period while coping very well with the particular operational issues arising from the COVID-19 crisis by maintaining business continuity throughout the year.

Apart from publishing 32 special reports and reviews while keeping delays within reasonable limits, we also issued 11 opinions, mainly dealing with the 2021-2027 Multiannual Financial Framework and the ‘Next Generation EU’ initiative.

In our activity report, apart from looking ahead, we also took the opportunity to analyse some long-term trends by comparing our performance over the last three years with performance during the previous strategic period (2013-2017).

For us it remains of the essence to provide an impartial fact-based assessment of EU policies and programmes and of the quality of the financial management of EU funds throughout the Union and beyond.

Compared to the previous 2013-2017 strategy period, we made progress in a number of areas.

We are undertaking more selected audits and publishing more reports.

More resources are being allocated to performance audits; our audits take less time to complete up to adoption of the report; our productivity has increased across all types of audit; our institutional stakeholders take more interest in our work and we present our work more often to the European Parliament, the Council and national parliaments; and there is a significant increase in the media uptake of our reports.

This year should, hopefully, see a return to a stronger semblance of normality- Leo Brincat

In February 2020, we also published a peer review report on how we succeeded in implementing our 2018-2020 strategy. During 2020 we also started preparing our new strategy. This work was organised by our Strategy and Foresight Advisory Panel.

Our 2021+ work programme, published in January 2021, reiterates our audit priorities for the coming five years and gives details of the 73 special reports and reviews we intend to publish this year and in 2022.

We prepare our audit work programme independently but not in isolation. This is why we reach out to all our institutional stakeholders, in particular but not exclusively the European Parliament. Wherever feasible and practical, we try to take up most suggestions in our ongoing and future work.

We normally strive to complete our selected audits within 13 months, in line with the target set in the EU’s Financial Regulation. Being the EU’s external auditor, our audits are not specifically designed to detect fraud. Nevertheless, our auditors regularly identify a number of cases where we suspect that fraudulent activity may have taken place.

We invariably follow up our audit recommendations made in reports published earlier on, usually three years back. Last year, for the first time, we examined the performance of EU agencies too from a cross-cutting perspective.

Throughout recent years, I have actively formed part of a very interesting cross-cutting project, the ECA Digital Steering Committee, that has been tasked to prepare a digital audit development plan. A pilot recently completed showed the potential of digital audit to improve the quality and efficiency of our audits.

On my own initiative, I have always undertaken to meet key EU commissioners for deeper insights into the tasks that we may be carrying out as part of our audit driven assignments.

This year should, hopefully, see a return to a stronger semblance of normality. Even so, I am confident that the challenges ahead will remain both daunting and stimulating.

Leo Brincat, member European Court of Auditors