(2004/C 33 E/187)

WRITTEN QUESTION P-1889/03

by Christopher Heaton-Harris (PPE-DE) to the Commission

(27 May 2003)

Subject:   Eurostat

Would the Commission give details of all internal audit reports received concerning Eurostat since September 1999?

Would the Commission also give details outlining what was said in these documents with regards to Eurostat?

Answer given by Mr Solbes Mira on behalf of the Commission

(4 September 2003)

On 16 May 2003, as part of its follow-up to the 2001 discharge and at Parliament's request, the Commission sent the secretariat of the Committee on Budgetary Control (Cocobu) six internal audit reports drawn up by Eurostat's internal audit service over the period 1999-2002, in accordance with the rules laid down in the framework agreement on the transmission of confidential documents to Parliament. Also under the terms of that agreement, a report summarising the action taken on the internal audit reports was sent to the Cocobu secretariat on 20 May 2003, and on 3 July 2003 the Commission sent the President of Parliament the audit report entitled ‘Internal audit of the financial systems for Eurostat’, produced by the Directorate-General for Audit on 7 June 2000.

On 9 July 2003 the Commission took note of two reports from its departments concerning financial management and control at Eurostat. The first is an analysis by DG Budget of the audit reports produced by Eurostat's Internal Audit Capability (IAC). Ordered by the Commission on 21 May 2003 and sent to Cocobu on 11 July, the report analyses Eurostat's financial management and control systems and the action taken on internal audit reports from the point of view of compliance with the Financial Regulation. The second report is the interim report produced by the Internal Audit Service (IAS) under the remit it received from the Commission on 11 June 2003. The IAS report has been forwarded to the European Anti-Fraud Office (OLAF).

Finally, on 8 July 2003, Eurostat completed an analysis of certain aspects of the SUPCOM programme. This report was sent to OLAF on 22 July 2003 under Article 7(1) of Regulation 1073/1999.

The Commission would also like to stress that certain audit reports are being investigated by OLAF and that some of these reports form part of the files which OLAF handed over to the judicial authorities in Luxembourg and to the Public Prosecutor at the Tribunal de Grande Instance in Paris. The Commission wishes to ensure that ongoing investigations are protected.