The European Court of Auditors (ECA) has signed off the 2020 accounts and the underlying transactions of all the EU’s Joint Undertakings (JUs) – the EU’s public-private partnerships with industry and research groups. In the seventh of their ten-year life span, most JUs have already implemented approximately 2/3 of their activities within Horizon 2020, the…
The system used for financing the European Union’s budget has not been significantly reformed since 1988. Recently proposed changes to how the EU collects revenue, which will ensure a level playing field between Member States, are generally a step in the right direction, but there is room for improvement. That is the main conclusion of…
EU policies are unable to ensure farmers use water sustainably, according to a special report published today by the European Court of Auditors (ECA). The impact of agriculture on water resources is major and undeniable. But farmers benefit from too many exemptions from EU water policy that hinder efforts to ensure sound water use. In…
The European Union has not done enough to harness the full potential of its space programmes, according to a special report published today by the European Court of Auditors (ECA). While the satellite-based programmes Galileo and Copernicus in particular provide valuable services and data, more efforts are needed to capitalise on the significant investment made…
Eurocontrol has released a new study that sets out what actions need to be taken in order to make every air journey as close to a ‘perfect green flight’ as possible. The paper examines why it isn’t possible to fly a perfect green flight today, which measures have the greatest potential to improve the sustainability…
Customs controls are still insufficiently harmonised across Member States to properly safeguard the EU’s financial interests, according to a new report by the European Court of Auditors (ECA). Despite recent steps in the right direction, the EU rules are not designed well enough to ensure that Member States select imports for control in a uniform…
The Single Resolution Mechanism (SRM) is the EU system for the orderly winding-up of failing banks within the Banking Union, to avoid costly bail-outs. Since its establishment in 2015, the SRM has progressed in preparing for bank resolution, according to a new European Court of Auditors (ECA) report. However, the auditors find that further steps are needed in certain crucial…
The early measures taken by the EU and its Member States to counter the economic impact of COVID-19 have helped save jobs and businesses, according to the European Court of Auditors (ECA). However, the auditors also see the risk that the pandemic’s uneven impact on Member States and their differing capacities to support their economies…
There is a significant risk that the EU will not meet its plastic packaging recycling targets for 2025 and 2030, according to a review by the European Court of Auditors (ECA). The update of the legal framework for plastic recycling in 2018 reflects the EU’s increased ambitions and could help boost recycling capacity. The scale of the…
It is almost impossible to assess how the EU contributes to Member States’ efforts to reduce child poverty, according to a new report from the European Court of Auditors (ECA). The relevance and strength of EU instruments examined are limited because they are not legally binding – and more powerful tools, such as the European…
