National Audit Authorities and their impact on the assurance level of the EU Cohesion Policy spending

Abstract

The European Union’s Cohesion Policy plays a key role to reduce development disparities between regions in the EU in order to increase economic, social and territorial cohesion. Cohesion Policy in the EU is planned and implemented within a multilevel governance structure embracing a wide range of stakeholders. For the 2007-2013 programming period, a formal three-level control structure was introduced at national level for the first time, with the audit authority as the first “independent” audit layer. Preliminary studies indicate that the introduction of the AAs has been a milestone in making the management and control system of the EU’s budget implementation more robust, thus contributing to protect the EU budget from ineligible spending. This research paper analyses whether the work of the national audit authorities in the framework of the EU’s Cohesion Policy has an effect towards the assurance level of the EU spending in this area. The analysis links the development of the irregular spending with the development of the tasks entrusted to the audit authorities. The main objective of the article is to conclude on whether the evolution of the responsibilities of the audit authorities contributed towards a more robust management and control system for the delivery of Cohesion Policy.