Our activities in 2022
Annual activity report
of the European Court of Auditors

European Court of Auditors

President’s foreword

Dear reader,

In 2022, the European Union and its member states, while still being confronted with the effects of the COVID‑19 pandemic and rapid climate change, faced another crisis: a massive energy, security and migration crisis, caused by Russia's war of aggression against Ukraine. All these events have a considerable impact on the EU citizens, the economy of the European Union and its global relations.

In these challenging times, the EU is providing financial assistance on an unprecedented scale. Over the 2021-2027 period, the EU will be able to spend 1.8 trillion. This includes up to a €0.8 trillion for the recovery instrument, the “Next Generation European Union” (NGEU).

As external auditors, we provide an impartial assessment of EU policies and programmes, and of the quality of the financial management of EU funds throughout the Union and beyond. We check whether the EU’s spending complies with the rules, and whether its policies and programmes provide value for money. Our strategy for 2021-2025 is guiding our efforts in auditing the EU’s finances over the coming years, making the necessary changes to our organisation and using our resources effectively and efficiently.

This activity report gives an overview of our work and publications in 2022, which was the second implementation year for our new strategy. In addition, it provides information on our management, staff, audit support and finances.

In 2022, we published all our annual reports within the official deadlines. We also published 29 special reports and reviews. Lastly, we issued eight opinions, dealing with new financial rules applicable to the general budget of the Union, the financing of the REPowerEU Plan, a diversified funding strategy as a general borrowing method, and the establishment of a Social Climate Fund, amongst others.

We continue stand in solidarity with Ukraine and strongly condemn the Russian invasion of Ukraine. The EU must continue to show solidarity and unity. As the EU’s independent external auditor, we will do everything we can to continue fulfilling our role.

EU citizens, and our institutional stakeholders and partners at both EU and member state level, can count on us to provide them with independent, objective reports on key issues for the future of the EU, highlighting what works well, drawing attention to what does not and recommending changes.

We hope you find the information in this year’s activity report useful.

2022 at a glance

Our activities

Our 2021-2025 strategy

For many years, we have used multiannual strategies to guide our audit work, promote organisational change for continuous improvement and remain at the forefront of development in public‑sector auditing.

2022: strategy
implementation – good progress

At the end of 2022, we completed the second year of our strategy for 2021‑2025. Our strategic goals for this five‑year period are to improve accountability, transparency and audit arrangements across all types of EU action; target our audits at the areas and topics where we can add most value; and provide strong audit assurance, in a challenging and changing environment.

To put our strategy into practice, we agreed on implementation measures for each goal and objective, assigned responsibilities, and set deadlines. This year we continued making good progress in several actions, notably:

• selecting audit tasks that appropriately cover the strategic areas;
• starting a number of audits on the Recovery and Resilience Facility (RRF), including our first audit opinion on RRF expenditure in line with our strategic approach for the “Next Generation EU” (NGEU) initiative;
• upgrading our knowledge management framework;
• drafting strategic audit approaches on fraud and the rule of law;
• carrying out a productivity analysis of selected tasks to identify improvement areas;
• formulating an action plan for our cooperation with peers.

Auditing the performance and regularity of EU actions

Performance, financial and
compliance audits

Our audits provide EU citizens and policymakers with independent, objective reports on key issues for the future of the EU, highlighting what works well, drawing attention to what does not and recommending changes.

We carry out all our audits in line with internationally accepted public‑sector auditing standards.

Work Programme

Our 2023+ Work
Programme

Our 2023+ Work Programme, published in November 2022, highlights our audit priorities for the coming years and gives details of the 82 special reports and reviews we intend to publish from 2023 onwards. It is strongly aligned with the priority areas set in our strategy for 2021‑2025.

Under “Climate change, the environment and natural resources”, we plan to carry out 21 audits covering a wide array of topics, among them energy security, pollution, climate‑related actions and sustainable food production.

Under “Resilience to threats to the Union’s security, and respect for the European values of freedom, democracy and the rule of law”, we have 14 tasks such as equality for people with disabilities, rule of law, military mobility and aid for refugees.

Under “The Union’s economic competitiveness”, we plan to publish 12 reports covering inter alia digitalisation of schools, hydrogen transport and artificial intelligence.

Under “The fiscal policies and public finances of the Union”, we plan to carry out seven tasks such as the EU banking supervision, foreign direct investment and recovering EU funds.

The recovery instrument, the Next Generation EU (NGEU) initiative, which provides up to €0.8 trillion to be spent in a short period, is also high on our agenda. We plan to publish 12 audit reports examining the NGEU, mainly covering the Recovery and Resilience Facility.

We prepare our audit work programme independently, but not in isolation. We reach out to our institutional stakeholders and in particular the European Parliament. The parliamentary committees submitted 131 audit suggestions for the 2023+ Work Programme. Almost two thirds of these suggestions are fully or partly taken up in ongoing or future work, or have been covered in our latest reports. We also received eight additional audit ideas submitted by nine Permanent Representations of member states. Our cooperation goes beyond the EU institutions. In 2022, we also received 29 audit proposals from six national parliaments relating to current challenges facing the EU and its member states.

Audit fieldwork

We do most of our audit work on our premises in Luxembourg. Our auditors also make a large number of visits to the European Commission – our main auditee – and other EU institutions, as well as to agencies and bodies, national, regional and local authorities in the member states, EU delegations in non‑EU countries, and international organisations that handle EU funds.

We also visit recipients of EU funds on the spot, both within the EU and beyond its borders. Through these checks, we follow the audit trail and obtain direct audit evidence from those involved in managing EU policies and programmes and collecting or paying out EU funds, as well as from the beneficiaries. In 2022, following the loosening of COVID restrictions we increased our on-the-spot checks substantially, but still carried out some of these checks virtually. Going forward, we will strive to successfully apply the experience of the pandemic years and enhance the added value and efficiency of our on-the-spot visits by combining them with virtual work.

On‑the‑spot checks

Our audit teams generally comprise two or three auditors, while our audit visits range in length from a few days to a couple of weeks. Our on‑the‑spot checks within the EU are generally coordinated in liaison with the supreme audit institutions (SAIs) of the member states concerned.

In 2022, we increased our on‑the‑spot visits compared to the previous two years, where COVID‑related travel and public health restrictions were still in place. We spent a total of 2 039 days in member states and outside the EU compared with 857 days in 2021, 1 190 days in 2020 and 3 605 days in 2019. Our auditors also spent 945 days at EU institutions, decentralised agencies and bodies across the EU, Joint Undertakings, international organisations such as the United Nations and the Organisation for Economic Co‑operation and Development (OECD), and private audit firms. The corresponding figures for 2021, 2020 and 2019 were 299, 627 and 2 504 days, respectively.

At the same time, we made increased use of remote auditing and gathering evidence electronically. We used videoconferencing tools and other information technology, such as secure data and document sharing, to interact with our auditees.

Our reports

Our audit reports, reviews and opinions are an essential element of the EU’s accountability chain. They help the European Parliament and the Council to monitor and scrutinise the achievement of the EU’s policy objectives and to hold to account those responsible for managing the EU budget, particularly in the context of the annual discharge procedure.

Special reports and reviews

In 2022, we published 29 special reports and reviews addressing many of the challenges the EU is facing across the different areas of EU spending and policies. These included climate action, energy efficiency, 5G networks, cybersecurity, fraud in the CAP and the rule of law, to name but a few. Three of the reports were COVID‑19 related, one concerning free movement in the EU during the pandemic, another the resilience of the EU institutions and the other vaccine procurement. We also finalised our first special report on the Next Generation EU recovery initiative: the Commission’s assessment of national recovery and resilience plans.

The following pages provide insights into our work and examples of special reports from 2022 covering different policy areas.

¹ This designation is without prejudice to positions on status, and is in line with Security Council Resolution 1244 (1999) on the situation relating Kosovo (UNSCR 1244/1999) and the International Court of Justice (ICJ) Advisory Opinion on the question of the ‘Accordance with international law of the unilateral declaration of independence in respect of Kosovo’ of 22 July 2010.

Annual and specific annual reports

Annual reports mainly present the results of our Statement of Assurance on the European Union budget, the Recovery and Resilience Facility and the budget of the European Development Funds (EDFs), but also cover aspects of performance and budgetary and financial management.

Specific annual reports present our annual audit work on the EU agencies and other Union bodies, Joint Undertakings, and the European Schools.

We also publish a report on contingent liabilities arising from the activities undertaken by the Single Resolution Board (SRB).

Annual report on the EU budget for the financial year 2021

Every year, we audit EU revenue and expenditure to examine whether the annual accounts are reliable and whether the income and expenditure transactions underlying the accounts comply with the financial rules at EU and member state‑level.

In addition, we specifically assess each major area of the EU budget, based on the (sub‑) headings of the multiannual financial framework (MFF) and the Recovery and Resilience Facility. We also analyse why and where errors have occurred, make recommendations for improvement, and examine whether and how our previous recommendations have been implemented.

This extensive work forms the basis for our Statement of Assurance, which we are required to provide to the European Parliament and the Council in accordance with our mandate under the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union.

EU budget: clean opinion on
accounts and revenue

For the financial year 2021, we provided a “clean opinion” on the accounts and on the EU’s revenue.

EU budget: adverse opinion
on expenditure

In 2021, EU spending was €181.5 billion, the equivalent of 1.3 % of the combined gross national incomes of the EU‑27.

For the financial year 2021, we issued an “adverse opinion” on the EU’s expenditure.

Estimated error 3.0 %
(2021 budget expenditure)

For the financial year 2021, we estimated the level of error for budget expenditure to be between 2.2 % and 3.8 %. The mid‑point of this range, known as the “most likely error”, has increased compared to last year, from 2.7 % to 3.0 %.

Note: We use standard statistical techniques to estimate the level of error. We are 95 % confident that the level of error for the population lies in the range between the lower and upper error limits.

Again, more than 50 % of
EU budget audit population
affected by material error

For the financial year 2021, high‑risk expenditure accounted for 63.2 % of our audit population, compared with 59 % last year. The estimated level of error for high‑risk expenditure was 4.7 %, compared with 4.0 % for the financial year 2020.

Most error prone MFF
headings “Single market,
digital and innovation” and
“Cohesion, resilience and values”

For the financial year 2021, “Single market, digital and innovation” was the most error‑prone MFF sub‑heading, followed by “Cohesion, resilience and values”.

RRF: first opinion on
expenditure

In 2021, for the first time, our work covered the RRF expenditure where we provide a separate opinion on the expenditure under this facility. This reflects the fact that the RRF is a temporary instrument delivered and financed in a way that is fundamentally different to normal budget spending under the MFF. Our audit population comprised the only 2021 disbursement, a payment to Spain, amounting to €11.5 billion. The Spanish request for payment included 52 milestones, which Spain considered to have been achieved.

We issued a clean opinion on RRF’s expenditure. We based our assessment on the condition for payment, i.e. that the milestones and targets had been satisfactorily fulfilled. We therefore examined whether the Commission had gathered sufficient and appropriate evidence to support its assessment of this condition. Compliance with other EU and national rules does not form part of this assessment. The overall audit evidence we obtained indicates that one of the 52 milestones associated with the first disbursement to Spain was not achieved. The Commission had not yet defined a method for quantifying the impact of not achieving a milestone or target. Our own view is that the error is not material.

Cases of suspected fraud
reported to OLAF and EPPO

As the EU’s external auditor, we do not have a mandate to investigate cases of suspected fraud. Therefore, our audits are not specifically designed to detect fraud. When our auditors identify cases where we suspect that fraudulent activity may have taken place, we report those cases to the competent authorities.

In 2022, we reported 14 cases of suspected fraud to the European Anti‑Fraud Office (OLAF) following identification in the course of our audit work. Six of those cases were also reported to the European Public Prosecutor's Office (EPPO). In 2021, we reported 15 cases of suspected fraud to OLAF and two of those cases to the EPPO. Our annual report on the EU budget provides additional information on the nature of suspected fraud cases and on the subsequent financial recoveries recommended by OLAF.

Annual report on performance

Annual report on
performance: last year of
our pilot project

We split our annual report into two separate parts as a pilot project, which has now concluded with the annual report for the financial year 2021. The second part of the annual report covers the performance of spending programmes under the EU budget.

The main theme of 2021 report on performance is the mainstreaming of five horizontal policy priorities into the EU budget:

1. combating climate change;
2. preserving biodiversity;
3. gender equality;
4. the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) of the United Nations; and
5. the digital transition.

We examined whether the Commission incorporated the horizontal policy priorities into the EU budget, tracked expenditure and reported accurately on results.

We also examined whether the Commission applied an appropriate performance framework to measure the EU budget’s support for the cross‑cutting priorities of the eleven selected programmes.

Furthermore, we followed up the audit recommendations we made in special reports published in 2018.

Annual report on the European Development Funds for the financial year 2021

EDFs: clean opinion on
accounts and revenue;
adverse opinion on
expenditure

The European Development Funds (EDFs), launched in 1959, were the EU’s main instruments for providing development cooperation aid to African, Caribbean and Pacific countries (ACP) and overseas countries and territories (OCTs). They are funded by the EU member states and managed outside the EU budget by the European Commission and the European Investment Bank (EIB). They will continue to be implemented and reported on separately until their closure.

For the 2021‑2027 multiannual financial framework, development cooperation aid to the ACP countries and OCTs is funded by the EU budget.

In 2021, EDFs spending was €3.4 billion.

As in previous years, we issued a “clean opinion” both on the EDF accounts and on revenue but an “adverse opinion” on EDF expenditure for the financial year 2021. Our estimated level of error for expenditure is 4.6 % (3.8 % for the financial year 2020).

Specific annual reports on EU agencies

The EU agencies are distinct legal entities set up to carry out specific technical, scientific or managerial tasks that help the EU institutions to design and implement policies. In total, there are 44 agencies.

Clean opinion on all but one
EU agencies for the financial
year 2021

In the financial year 2021, the total budget of all agencies under our mandate (excluding the SRB) was €4.1 billion, equivalent to 2.5 % of the 2021 EU general budget. The corresponding figures for the financial year 2020 were €3.7 billion and 2.2 %.

Overall, our audit of the agencies confirmed the positive results reported in previous years. We issued “clean opinions” on the 44 agencies’ accounts and on the revenues. We signed off the payments underlying all the agencies’ accounts, except for the Agency for the Operational Management of Large‑Scale IT Systems in the Area of Freedom, Security and Justice (eu‑LISA). For this agency, we issued a qualified opinion, mainly due to irregularities in procurement procedures.

Specific annual report on Joint Undertakings for the financial year 2021

Joint Undertakings (JUs) are the EU’s public‑private partnerships between the European Commission and industry, and in some cases research, intergovernmental organisations or participating member states. Their main mission is to foster the translation of scientific knowledge into marketable breakthrough innovations within a strategic vision that is shared by the industry and research partners.

In 2021, the Council adopted new regulations setting up eleven JUs to implement actions under Horizon Europe and Digital Europe programmes, the multiannual research and innovation programmes for the 2021‑2027 financial period. These JUs implement their specific research and innovation agendas in the areas of transport, energy, health, bio‑based industries, key digital technologies, supercomputing and smart network systems.

Eight of the eleven JUs were already operating under the previous programme (Horizon 2020), and will continue under the new programmes as new legal entities, with new names and increased or slightly changed remits. In addition to the JUs, which are already operating, three new ones have been established: the Smart Networks and Services JU, the Global Health JU and the European Cybersecurity Competence Centre. The ECA will audit these three new JUs for the first time after they have obtained their financial autonomy, which is expected in 2023.

In addition, there is another JU, “Fusion for Energy”, which is funded by Euratom and is responsible for providing Europe’s contribution to the International Thermonuclear Experimental Reactor (ITER).

Clean opinion on all Joint
Undertakings for
the financial year 2021

In the financial year 2021, we issued “clean opinions” on the accounts, revenue and payments for all JUs.

However, as in previous years, we issued our audit opinion on the 2021 annual accounts of the “Fusion for Energy” (F4E) JU together with an “emphasis of matter”, mainly to draw attention to the risk of further cost increases and delays in implementation of the ITER project.

Specific annual reports on European schools and contingent liabilities of the Single Resolution Board

In the financial year 2021, we issued our yearly report on the review of the consolidated annual accounts of the 13 European schools. While our review did not reveal material errors in the accounts, we were still unable to confirm that the Schools’ financial management was fully compliant with their financial regulation and staff regulations.

We also report annually on the contingent liabilities of the Single Resolution Board (SRB), the Council and the Commission, arising from the performance of their tasks under the Single Resolution Mechanism regulation. In our report on the financial year 2021, we conclude that nothing has come to our attention that causes us to believe that the contingent liabilities arising from the performance of their resolution tasks of the SRB, the Commission and the Council are materially misstated.

Our annual reports: start of
the European Parliament’s
discharge procedure

The publication of our annual reports also marks the start of the discharge procedure, during which the European Parliament decides – upon a recommendation from the Council – whether the Commission and other bodies have managed the EU budget satisfactorily. If they have, it grants them discharge.

In October 2022, we started presenting our 2021 annual reports to the European Parliament’s Committee on Budgetary Control and to the Council’s Budget Committee. Subsequently, we also presented them to the European Parliament in its plenary session and to the Economic and Financial Affairs Council.

Furthermore, over the course of 2022, we presented our annual reports to the national/regional parliaments and governments of 21 member states.

Opinions

Examining the Commissions’
legislative proposals

As the EU’s independent external auditor, we contribute to improving financial management by issuing opinions on the Commission’s proposals for new or revised legislation. Where these legislative proposals entail a significant financial impact, EU law requires us to be consulted. Other institutions can also ask us to issue opinions on other specific issues. All our opinions are submitted to the European Parliament and the Council.

In 2022, we published eight such opinions.These mainly concerned the Commission’s legislative proposals for amending the financial rules applicable to the general budget of the Union, but also introducing new rules on the statute and funding of European political parties and European political foundations, allowingmember states to use their national recovery and resilience plans (RRPs) to finance the REPowerEU Plan, establishing a diversified funding strategy as a general borrowing method, and a Social Climate Fund.

ECA journal

Each edition of the ECA Journal features articles on a specific theme, mostly from an audit perspective, from contributors working within and outside the EU institutions.

In 2022, we issued two editions, addressing “Cohesion and Next Generation EU: concord or clash“and “The EU Recovery and Resilience Facility: a jump to a resilient Europe?”.

Conferences and webinars

In 2022, we also (co‑)organised a number of conferences and webinars, which were open to interested parties.

Below are two examples.

ECA webinar on paradigm
shift for the EU ECA seminar on
anti‑money‑laundering

Digital transformation of audit

The ECA continues to improve the efficiency of its audit processes by enhancing the integration and interoperability of its existing systems. In parallel, it has implemented automation, IT audit and advanced data analytics activities as part of its development plan for better use of technology for audit. It also continued its innovation activities aimed at identifying emerging technology that can be used in novel ways to support audit work.

Hybrid meetings and events

The pandemic lowered both the technological and psychological barriers of people and organisations to working and meeting remotely, improving at the same time, their digital skills level. The ECA was no exception. Remote or hybrid meetings are now regularly used for working meetings, especially with external stakeholders such as auditees and other EU and international bodies, reducing the number of missions to the level necessary for achieving the institution’s objectives.

We equipped our meeting rooms with high‑end videoconference solutions, while making portable solutions available, enabling group meetings anywhere in the ECA buildings.

Finally, we converted one meeting room into a virtual TV studio, enabling the recording and broadcasting quality streaming of press‑briefings, hybrid conferences with interpretation or other informational or educational events, supporting communication activities of the institution.

Digital integration and
automation

The solution put in place a few years ago for the secure exchange of documents and data with the auditees, ECAFiles, has been integrated with our main audit management system, ASSYST, and with the system managing the clearance process, CLEAR, simplifying and improving communication with auditees throughout the audit.

In cases where programmatic access to databases of the auditees was not possible, we launched the robotic process automation service in 2021. This offered an alternative to manually downloading, saving and checking documents from the databases, provided the documents are made available in the required useable format.

Advanced data analytics
services

The new team established in 2021 for D.A.T.A. (Data and Technology for Audit) continued working on the implementation of the development plan for better use of technology in support of ECA audit objectives.

D.A.T.A. team members worked closely with audit teams to understand their specific processes and needs. Depending on the complexity of the need, work varied from short‑term advisory activities to full‑scale participation in audit tasks.

The D.A.T.A. team led, or participated into, multiple ECA‑wide projects: data experts for the NGEU task force, creation of a data science community for auditors, assessment and feasibility of a new semantic search engine for the ECA own production.

We also put in place a “data science infrastructure” to allow for data processing and advanced analysis and visualisation primarily of unstructured datasets and big data.

In parallel our IT department launched “data warehouse as a service” in October 2022 allowing user to process and analyse structured data with different degrees of autonomy, ranging from getting predefined reports for basic users to processing data and creating ad hoc reports and visualisations for expert users.

Innovation

The cooperation with supreme audit institutions from EU member states on Technology and Innovation for Audit in the context of the TiNA network and platform continued. Eleven online TiNA events took place on subject ranging from auditing cybersecurity and secure transfer of data to using specific tools for data analytics and process mining.

The ECA continued being actively involved in the Emerging technology group of the Interinstitutional Committee for Digital Transformation, working on introducing technologies such as artificial intelligence, augmented reality or blockchain in EU institutions. A proposal for a joint project to leverage distributed ledger technologies for further securing exchanges with auditees has been initiated.

Institutional relations

We work closely with the European Parliament, the Council, national/regional parliaments and member state governments, as the impact of our work depends largely on the use they make of our audit findings and recommendations.

European Parliament

In 2022, the European Parliament (EP) resumed gradually the regular physical participation to the plenary and committee meetings by other institutions and bodies. As a result, the total number of ECA appearances, which were mostly physical in 2022, decreased slightly to 134, compared to 147 in 2021, which were all remote.

EP committees and bodies, particularly the Committee on Budgetary Control (CONT), regularly invite ECA members and audit teams to present the results of our work at their meetings.

Overall, in 2022, our members presented 16 special reports and one review to CONT. They also participated in 16 CONT public hearings on the 2021 discharge, including the presentation of our 2021 annual report by ECA President Tony Murphy.

In addition, the members gave 27 presentations on special reports and reviews to 14 other EP committees, mostly in joint meetings with other interested committees.

In March 2022, the Conference of Committee Chairs invited the ECA President for an exchange of views on our 2022+ Work Programme and on the consultation on the 2023+ Work Programme. Former ECA President Klaus‑Heiner Lehne participated to the EP plenary related to the 2020 discharge in May. In October, ECA President Tony Murphy met with the EP President Roberta Metsola and presented the 2021 annual report to the EP plenary. Chamber II members also met with the REGI Coordinators in June to discuss further cooperation and CONT Committee visited the ECA in November to have an exchange of views with the college.

Council of the European Union

The total number of ECA appearances increased substantially to 82 in 2022, compared to 68 in 2021.

As a rule, the Council’s preparatory bodies deal with all our special reports soon after publication, but not necessarily all reviews and opinions. In 2022, we presented 26 special reports and three opinions to 19 different Council committees and working parties.

In 2022, ECA representatives attended also 29 meetings dedicated to discharge of the EU budget for financial years 2020 and 2021. Furthermore, the Budget Committee of the Council invited ECA management to present our 2023+ Work Programme and draft budget for 2023.

Council Presidency
France: January – June 2022
Czech Republic: July – December 2022

Due to the lessening of COVID‑19 restrictions, ECA representatives were able again to participate physically in most of the meetings at the Council of the EU. However, some interactions are still taking place remotely. The new way of working allowed us also to offer more interactions with the Council of the EU like targeted technical briefings on some reports to Permanent Representations to the EU.

In July 2022, former ECA President Klaus‑Heiner Lehne met with the Czech prime minister, EU affairs and finance ministers to discuss the Council Presidency priorities. ECA members Iliana Ivanova and Jan Gregor participated in an informal meeting with ministers responsible for Cohesion policy in September. ECA President Tony Murphy met with both the Swedish prime minister and finance minister in November. In December 2022, ECA President Tony Murphy together with ECA member Jan Gregor met with the Czech Minister of Finance in his capacity as ECOFIN President, before the presentation of the 2021 annual report to the EU finance ministers. In addition, ECA members and management participated in 14 meetings with representatives of Permanent Representations to the EU in 2022.

National/regional parliaments and member state governments

Meetings with
national/regional parliaments

In 2022, our members and staff presented our work at 88 meetings with national/regional parliaments in 20 member states.

Meetings with
member state governments

Our members and management presented our work at 133 meetings with member state governments and government bodies in 22 member states in 2022.

European Commission

Exchanging views with our
auditees at the highest level

ECA members and Commissioners have regular bilateral contacts over planned and ongoing audit tasks.

For years, it has also been a well‑established practice for our members to hold an annual meeting with their counterparts at the European Commission. These meetings provide an opportunity to take stock, and to reflect on how to further strengthen our cooperation.

Cooperation with other supreme audit institutions

Contact Committee of the EU supreme audit institutions

Our cooperation with the supreme audit institutions (SAIs) of the 27 member states mainly takes place within the framework of the Contact Committee of the EU Supreme Audit Institutions. This forum facilitates dialogue and exchange between the SAIs of EU member states and the ECA.

In 2022, we continued the EU Network Audit on COVID‑19, which resulted in the publication on the Contact Committee website of a multitude of factsheets on the SAIs pertinent 2020 and 2021 work on this topic. We also continued with our cooperation activity on auditing the implementation of the Recovery and Resilience Facility and the National Recovery and Resilience plans. For the latter, audit managers and auditors representing 22 EU SAIs regularly met and discussed their finalised, ongoing and planned NGEU‑related audits.

2022 annual meeting

In May 2022, we hosted the Contact Committee annual meeting. It was the first physical meeting of the heads of EU SAIs since 2019, following the high‑level event held online in November 2021. The main discussions focused on the strategic tasks and challenges for EU SAIs in assessing the added value of the Recovery and Resilience Facility at national and EU level.

SAIs of EU candidate and potential candidate countries

We also support the SAIs of EU candidate (Albania, Moldova, Montenegro, North Macedonia, Serbia, Turkey and Ukraine) and potential candidate countries (Bosnia and Herzegovina, Kosovo²).

In 2022, we supported SIGMA (Support for Improvement in Governance and Management), a joint initiative of the OECD and the European Union, in conducting a meeting of the Network of the SAIs of candidate and potential candidate countries in Paris.

² This designation is without prejudice to positions on status, and is in line with Security Council Resolution 1244 (1999) on the situation relating Kosovo (UNSCR 1244/1999) and the International Court of Justice (ICJ) Advisory Opinion on the question of the ‘Accordance with international law of the unilateral declaration of independence in respect of Kosovo’ of 22 July 2010.

INTOSAI

In 2022, we continued our active involvement in the activities of the International Organisation of Supreme Audit Institutions (INTOSAI). As Vice‑Chair of the Professional Standards Committee (PSC), we provided input to the INTOSAI Task Force on Strategic Planning and actively collaborated with the other Goal Chairs. We also hosted the 21^st PSC Steering Committee meeting in September where the report on the modernisation of the standards’ framework, led by the ECA, was successfully adopted.

In November 2022, we attended the XXIV INTOSAI Congress (INCOSAI) in Rio de Janeiro. This Congress takes place every three years. It is the supreme body of INTOSAI, where the organisation’s most important administrative decisions are taken. At the Congress the INTOSAI Strategic Plan 2023‑2028 was adopted, and the ECA took over from the SAI of Brazil the role of Chair of the PSC. In this capacity, the ECA is now a member of the INTOSAI Governing Board.

We also participated in the PSC subcommittees and the activities and projects of other INTOSAI working bodies, notably on environmental auditing, Big Data, financial modernisation and regulatory reform, as well as evaluation of public policies and programmes. In addition, we have led the project to update ISSAI 140 on quality management for SAIs, and collaborated with the INTOSAI Development Initiative (IDI) on producing implementing guidance for the new standard.

EUROSAI

We were also actively involved in the activities of the European Organisation of Supreme Audit Institutions (EUROSAI), the European regional group of INTOSAI, in particular its working groups on environmental auditing, information technologies, the audit of funds allocated to disasters and catastrophes, and the network for ethics.

In 2022, we continued to pursue the work of the project group on “Preparing for future risks and climate crisis: Time for audit to take a long‑term view?” (co‑led with the UK National Audit Office) in the context of the “Forward thinking and emerging issues” portfolio. Furthermore, we actively contributed to the project group on auditing the response to COVID‑19.

Our management

Members

The ECA operates as a collegiate body of members, one from each member state. After consulting the European Parliament, the Council appoints each member once their respective national governments have nominated them. We have no role in the process of nominating or appointing our members.

Our members serve a renewable term of six years. They perform their duties in complete independence and in the general interest of the EU. Upon taking office, they give a solemn undertaking to that effect before the European Court of Justice.

In 2022, the Council appointed a new Slovenian member, Jorg Kristijan Petrovič (as of 7 May), a new Dutch member, Stef Blok (as of 1 September), a new Maltese member, George Marius Hyzler (as of 1 October), a new Cypriot member, Lefteris Christoforou (as of 2 November) and a new Lithuanian member, Laima Liucija Andrikienė (as of 16 November). In addition, the Council renewed the mandates of the Czech member, Jan Gregor, the Latvian member, Mihails Kozlovs, and the Polish member, Marek Opioła, for a further period of six years (as of 7 May).

Our Dutch member, Alex Brenninkmeijer, sadly passed away on 14 April 2022.

The nomination procedure concerning the appointment of a new Portuguese member was still ongoing at the end of 2022.

25 college meetings took place in 2022. The attendance rate at these meetings was 93 %. Members also participated in chamber and committee meetings (see also Audit chambers and committees).

2022 ECA seminar:
improve our efficiency and
make the best use of our
resources in future audits

Once a year, our members, the Secretary‑General and the directors go on a two‑day seminar to discuss important issues relating to the ECA’s long‑term strategy, work and organisation.

During this year’s ECA Seminar, the members discussed the following key topics:

• ways to achieve further efficiency and productivity gains in producing our special reports;
• issues of the practical application of the ECA’s Code of Conduct; and
• the 2023+ Work Programme.

President

The President is in charge of the institution’s strategy, planning and performance management, communication and media relations, institutional liaison, legal matters and internal audit. The President also represents the ECA in its external relations.

Our members elect one from among their number as President for a renewable period of three years. The elected person then assumes the role of first among equals (primus inter pares), chairs the college’s meetings and ensures that its decisions are implemented.

On 1 October 2022, Tony Murphy replaced Klaus‑Heiner Lehne as the ECA’s President.

Audit chambers and committees

Members are assigned to one of five audit chambers, where most of our audit reports, reviews and opinions are adopted. Audit chambers allocate their tasks among their members. Each member is accountable to the chamber, and to the college, for their own audit tasks. Professional auditors working for the audit chamber directorates carry out the audit work.

The members for each audit chamber elect a Dean for a renewable period of two years. As of 11 October 2022, the Deans of our five audit chambers were Joëlle Elvinger, Annemie Turtelboom, Bettina Jakobsen, Mihails Kozlovs and Jan Gregor.

The Audit Quality Control Committee (AQCC) deals with the ECA’s audit policies, standards and methodology, audit support and development, and audit quality control. It is composed of one member from each audit chamber and chaired, as of 2 November 2022, by Iliana Ivanova.

The Administrative Committee (AC) and, where appropriate, the college of members, both of which are chaired by the President, take decisions on broader strategic and administrative issues. The Administrative Committee is made up of the President, the Deans of the chambers, the chair of the AQCC, and the member for Institutional Relations (as of 10 October 2022, Eva Lindström).

In 2022, there were 113 chamber, 15 AC and 10 AQCC meetings. The attendance rate at these meetings was 95 %, 94 % and 89 %, respectively.

Other committees include the Ethics Committee (chaired by Joëlle Elvinger), the Internal Audit Committee (chaired by Hannu Takkula), and the Foresight Advisory Panel (chaired by Helga Berger).

Our senior management comprises the Secretary‑General and directors. In total, there are 10 directorates, with five attached to audit chambers, one to the AQCC, one to the Presidency and three to the Secretariat‑General.

Measuring performance

We apply a set of key performance indicators (KPIs) to inform our management about progress made towards achieving our strategic goals, support decision‑making, and provide our institutional stakeholders with information on our performance. We updated the KPIs to support our 2021‑2025 strategy. The following set of KPIs provides a broad overview of how we are performing as an organisation as regards the dissemination, impact and perception of our work:

• number of reports published (compared to plan);
• media presence;
• impact and perception of our work (stakeholder feedback);
• our appearances before other institutions, national/regional parliaments and member state governments, and international activities;
• implementation of ECA recommendations.

29 reports published in 2022

We published 29 reports compared with 32 in 2021. These comprised 28 special reports and one review.

Media presence

2022: significant increase in
media coverage

In 2022, we recorded some 130 000 online articles and social media posts related to our audit reports, other publications or the ECA in general. This represents a significant increase in coverage compared to previous years (2021: 67 000; 2020: 32 000).

Media coverage can vary substantially depending on the subject and the complexity of a report. External factors, such as an important event or policy development, may also influence media interest in our publications. Moreover, during emergencies, such as the COVID‑19 pandemic or the Russian war of aggression in Ukraine, media attention is particularly focused on crisis‑relevant material.

Interaction with press

Since the COVID‑19 lockdown, we have promoted our publications virtually, which has enabled us to increase contacts with journalists.

In 2022, we issued 41 press releases in 24 EU languages, as well as information notes, media advisories and (ready‑to‑use) audio‑statements in certain languages. We also gave a number of interviews with major media outlets throughout Europe, covering radio, TV and the written press. In addition, we held 14 online press briefings and nine additional country‑specific press briefings for the annual report. Altogether, our briefings attracted 350 journalists, most representing major national media outlets in EU member states.

One and half million visits to
ECA website

In 2022, we achieved over one and half million visits to our website, with around 600 000 unique visitors.

2022: number of followers
on social media continued
to rise

By the end of 2022, our three social media accounts (Twitter, LinkedIn, Facebook) had attracted over 45 000 followers, up from 39 000 in 2021.

Impact and perception of our work

82 % of respondents to our
surveys find our reports
useful for their work

We assess the likely impact and usefulness of our work, as perceived by the readers of our reports at the European Parliament, Council, Commission, EU agencies, member states´ permanent representations, member states’ agencies and SAIs, NGOs, academia, the media and other parties.

Since 2018, we have carried out anonymised electronic surveys to ask our readers to provide qualitative feedback on selected reports and make general suggestions for our work.

In 2022, 82 % of around 450 respondents considered our reports useful for their work, and 78 % felt that they had an impact. This is similar to last year’s result (2021: 83 % and 79 %, respectively).

Our appearances before other institutions, national/regional parliaments, and member state governments, and international activities

High level of interaction
with our stakeholders

Overall in 2022, our interaction with our European and international stakeholders reached again a high level. We presented the results of our work on 437 occasions before European Parliament committees, Council preparatory bodies, national/regional parliaments, and member state governments (2021: 419).

Furthermore, we participated in 178 international activities. These included the activities of international public audit organisations, in particular INTOSAI and EUROSAI, as well as bilateral events with other SAIs, conferences, meetings, and activities targeting a wider audience (2021: 154).

Implementation of ECA recommendations

Nearly all our 2018
recommendations
implemented

We measure the implementation of our recommendations based on the follow‑up carried out by our auditors. For 2022, we analysed the recommendationsaddressed to the Commission and other institutions in our 2018 reports.

The analysis showed that of the recommendations followed up 100 % of the 14 made in our 2018 annual report and 85 % of the 325 in our 2018 special reports had been implemented either in full, or in some or most respects.

Audit support

Audit methodology

AWARE

Our internal digital platform AWARE (Accessible Web‑based Audit Resource) describes our audit methodology and guidance. Last year, we made it available on our website. This provides a single point of access for the public to our audit methodology.

Professional training

2022: professional training
targets exceeded

In 2022, we again exceeded the professional training target of five days of non‑language training per year for auditors, in line with the International Federation of Accountants’ recommendations, and two days for non‑audit staff.

Our auditors attended an average of 6.9 non‑language training days (8.5 in 2021 and 5.4 in 2020), of which 5.0 days were core‑business (audit‑related) training. Our non‑audit staff attended 3.6 training days on average (4.2 in 2021 and 3.1 in 2020). The year‑to‑year decrease in both indicators can be explained by the gradual return to classroom/face‑to‑face training, which provides a better learning experience, but has by definition lower capacity than the online alternatives.

Tailor‑made auditor training

While constantly striving to provide a rich training offer, we paid particular attention to core‑business (audit‑related) training. This materialised in a number of new courses and new initiatives, like the ones described below:

• Policy areas‑related training: One of the key priorities in 2022 was to build and enhance the knowledge of our audit fields/EU policies, in cooperation with our audit chambers. We organised 12 sessions under this initiative.
• A new area that received a lot of our attention was Next Generation EU (NGEU), and the Recovery and Resilience Facility (RRF) in particular. Our flagship training initiative was a two‑day training course on the RRF, which we deliver in cooperation with European Institute of Public Administration. We held six editions of this online course designed to help participants understand the details and specifics of the RRF regulation and the implementation of member states’ national recovery and resilience plans.
• New training programmes for Heads of Task and on the use of data and technology in the audit: we finalised the Competency framework for Heads of Task, which served as a basis for preparing a dedicated training programme structured around the three key competencies that Heads of Task should possess: project management, effective communication and leadership. In cooperation with the ECA Data Team, we started to upskill our audit colleagues in the use of data and technology.

Training and awareness
raising for the new hybrid
environment

We organised training for staff and managers on how to navigate in the new hybrid reality since the new hybrid working decision entered into force in April 2022. The “Back at the office” programme ran from June to October and included different activities such as training courses, presentations, workshops, and a photo competition. A compulsory course for managers was organised in November 2022.

We continued our training programme for career counsellors, mentors, internal facilitators and confidential contact persons and launched a new internal resilience‑coaching programme.

Translation

In 2022, we translated and revised over 203 000 pages (2021: 227 003), including 21 133 pages of outsourced work. Our translators also participated in our audit activities, offering language support during audit visits, online or hybrid meetings as well as report writing. In addition, they were involved in communication work, giving language advice and improving quality by tailoring messages to the target audience, for example through cultural adaptation.

For the first time, we have translated promptly all ECA products into Irish, resulting in timely publication.

Cybersecurity

2022: a key year for
cybersecurity

The COVID‑19 crisis brought an exponential increase of cybercrime and state‑sponsored cyberattacks. The ECA IT security team has, more than ever, had the heavy burden of keeping our IT services secured. This could not have been achieved without the precious support of the Interinstitutional Computer Emergency Response Team, the CERT‑EU.

The implementation of the 2022‑2024 cybersecurity plan got underway with a relevant number of actions already accomplished or in progress. Furthermore, and under the sponsorship of CERT‑EU, we have developed a roadmap to evolve to a Zero Trust security model, which is one of the principles that drives the cybersecurity plan. The first system implementing this new paradigm is the new remote access platform that will replace in the first quarter of 2023 the current VPN solution.

Several phishing campaigns took place in 2022, including a campaign conducted at interinstitutional level. The campaigns paid off: we recorded an increase in the number of ECA staff who identified and reported the phishing messages.

CERT‑EU provided a dedicated session to ECA’s senior management, to brief them on the current threat landscape and the strategic priorities that need to be addressed.

During the year, the Secretary‑General endorsed a new IT systems logging and audit policy. The new policy is meant to reassure our users and provide transparency on the use of system audit and log data while ensuring the security of our systems.

Finally, ECA has been active in the preparation of the new interinstitutional cybersecurity rules. Currently under approval, the ECA already applies many of their provisions.

Buildings

An inclusive, secure and
environmentally friendly
workplace

We firmly believe that a good workplace is key to achieving strategic ECA goals. The direct impact on staff well‑being contributes to making ECA an attractive workplace.

Our vision is to provide a sustainable workplace with a collaborative, well‑being‑oriented, secure, inclusive and environmentally friendly work environment for all employees.

We currently own three buildings (“K1”, “K2” and “K3”), which operate as a single, integrated technical entity. We also rent office space for our disaster recovery centre in Luxembourg.

K1

The K1 building, which opened in 1988, contains offices for up to 310 staff and meeting rooms.

K1 was modernised in 2008 to render it compliant with national health, safety and environmental requirements. Wherever possible, the technology in K1 was adapted to make it compatible with that used in K2 and K3.

K2

The K2 building opened in 2003. It provides for offices for up to 241 staff, meeting rooms, a conference room with interpreting booths, videoconferencing rooms, a cafeteria and basic kitchen areas.

The K2 building has been renovated to optimise the organisation of its workspaces and to upgrade its technical installations, making them much more environmentally efficient.

K3

The K3 building opened in 2012. The ground floor consists of the canteen, cafeteria and training rooms. There are also offices for 503 staff, meeting rooms and an IT room. The K3 building has a rating of “very good” according to BREEAM, the leading method worldwide for evaluating and certifying the sustainability of buildings.

Environmental management

As an EU institution, we have a duty to apply the principle of sound environmental management in all our activities. We are therefore committed to continuously reducing our environmental impact. Every year, we monitor and analyse the greenhouse gas emissions generated by our activities

The ECAis proud of its Eco‑Management and Audit Scheme (EMAS) certification. We successfully operate an EMAS compliant environmental management system and we fully comply with the ISO 14001:2015 certification requirements.

The EMAS external verification audit took place in October 2022. The results were successful, no unconformities were found and many good practices were identified. As a result, our EMAS certification for the period 2023‑2025 was endorsed.

Dealing with the energy crisis

The ECA will take further steps to achieve the 15 % reduction in gas consumption proposed last July in the Commission and Council plan “Save Gas for a Safe Winter”. The ECA will also take into account the recent recommendation from the Luxembourg government on limiting the temperature of buildings operated by public authorities to 20°C.

In 2022, an energy audit of the ECA’s buildings proposed various energy saving options and as a result, an ambitious plan to reduce energy consumptions is currently under implementation.

Roadmap for reducing emissions
by 2030

In 2022, we have launched a project to reduce greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. It is based on three key drivers:

• Reducing the environmental impact of our buildings.
• Adopting an environmentally friendly mobility, taking into account of the need to carry out on‑the‑spot audit missions, as this is a fundamental enabler of our audit work.
• Fostering staff awareness and commitment.

Sustainability reporting

The first ECA Sustainability report, corresponding to the year 2021, was adopted by the college in September 2022. The basic objective of corporate responsibility is to ensure that the activities of an organisation have a positive impact on society, the environment and the economy. These are the three basic pillars upon which corporate responsibility, or sustainability, operates. Sustainability therefore addresses the ethics of an organisation’s activities, and how it operates in a way that is viable over the long term.

Sustainability is more than just greening. It is also about economic impact, ethics and governance, respect for laws and regulations and, above all, people. At the ECA, we consider our staff to be our most valuable asset, and we implement a whole range of initiatives and actions to optimise staff wellbeing.

The report provides an overview of the economic, environmental and social impacts of our operations in auditing whether EU funds are supporting sustainable and inclusive growth in Europe and across the globe. It also provides information about the impact of our structure and the ways in which we operate administratively in order to pursue this mission.

The ECA sustainability report will become a yearly deliverable of ECA that will be published on our Internet website.

Our accountability

Financial information

Our institution is financed by the EU budget under the administrative expenditure heading.

In 2022, our budget amounted to around €162.1 million.

Our budget represents around 1.5 % of the EU’s total administrative spending (less than 0.1 % of total EU spending).

Implementation of the 2022 budget

FINANCIAL YEAR 2022	Final appropriations	Commitments	% use (commitment/ appropriations)	Payments
Title 1: People working with the institution	(thousand euros)
10 – Members of the institution	11 590	11 084	96 %	10 630
12 – Officials and temporary staff	120 203	118 984	99 %	118 984
14 – Other staff and external services	9 089	9 055	99 %	8 783
162 – Missions	1 647	1 647	100 %	1 227
161 + 163 + 165 – Other expenditure relating to persons working for the institution	2 752	2 564	93 %	2 156
Subtotal Title 1	145 281	143 334	99 %	141 780
Title 2: Buildings, movable property, equipment and miscellaneous operating expenditure
20 – Immovable property	4 908	4 9053	99 %	2 274
210 – IT&T	8 879	8 879	100 %	5 617
212 + 214 + 216 – Movable property and associated costs	847	783	92 %	534
23 – Current administrative expenditure	540	478	89 %	378
25 – Meetings, conferences	381	185	48 %	138
27 – Information and publishing	1 305	1 145	88 %	834
Subtotal Title 2	16 860	16 375	97 %	9 775
Total ECA	162 141	159 709	99 %	151 555

³ Including carry over by decision.

2023 budget

The 2023 budget represents an increase of 7.97 % on the 2022 figure.

FINANCIAL YEAR 2022	2023	2022
Title 1: People working with the institution	(thousand euros)
10 – Members of the institution	11 777	11 715
12 – Officials and temporary staff	131 876	120 838
14 – Other staff and external services	9 779	8 444
162 – Missions	2 453	2 452
161 + 163 + 165 – Other expenditure relating to persons working for the institution	2 601	2 732
Subtotal Title 1	158 486	146 181
Title 2: Buildings, movable property, equipment and miscellaneous operating expenditure
20 – Immovable property	4 274	3 778
210 – IT&T	8 452	8 228
212 + 214 + 216 – Movable property and associated costs	894	944
23 – Current administrative expenditure	588	574
25 – Meetings, conferences	580	675
27 – Information and publishing	1 786	1 761
Subtotal Title 2	16 574	15 960
Total ECA	175 060	162 141

Note: Figures reported relate to the initial budget.

Internal and external audit

Internal audit

Our Internal Audit Service (IAS) provides independent and objective assurance and consulting/advisory services designed to add value and improve the ECA’s operations. The IAS assists the ECA in accomplishing its strategy and objectives by adopting a systematic and disciplined approach in order to evaluate and improve the effectiveness of the ECA’s governance, risk management and internal control. The IAS reports to the Internal Audit Committee, which is composed of three ECA members and an external expert. The Committee regularly monitors the progress of the various tasks set out in the IAS’s annual work programme, and ensures its independence.

In 2022, the IAS continued to review the ECA’s risk management policy and issued reports for two tasks: “IT Governance”, “The recruitment process”. The IAS also finalised the main audit work for two other tasks, “ECA building policy – The K2 renovation” and “The evaluation and promotion processes”, for which reports will be issued in 2023.

Overall, the work of the IAS did not reveal any shortcomings that, by their nature or magnitude, would call into question the overall reliability of the internal control systems put in place by the authorising officer by delegation to ensure the legality and regularity of our financial operations in 2022.

External audit

Our annual accounts are audited by an independent external auditor. This is important, as it shows we apply the same principles of transparency and accountability to ourselves as we do to our auditees.

Our external auditor – ACG Auditing & Consulting Group S.r.l. – published its report on our accounts for the financial year 2021 on 5 May 2022, issuing a clean opinion

Our external auditor’s opinions – financial year 2021

Contact

EUROPEAN COURT OF AUDITORS
12, rue Alcide De Gasperi
1615 Luxembourg
LUXEMBOURG

Tel. +352 4398-1
Enquiries: eca.europa.eu/en/Pages/ContactForm.aspx
Website: eca.europa.eu
Twitter: @EUAuditors

More information on the European Union is available on the internet (https://europa.eu).

Luxembourg: Publications Office of the European Union, 2023

PDF	ISBN 978-92-847-9831-5	ISSN 2315-3938	doi:10.2865/559852	QJ-AA-23-001-EN-N
HTML	ISBN 978-92-847-9780-6	ISSN 2315-3938	doi:10.2865/121207	QJ-AA-23-001-EN-Q
PRINT	ISBN 978-92-847-9794-3	ISSN 1684-0739	doi:10.2865/36598	QJ-AA-23-001-EN-C

This publication is available in 24 languages and in the following format:

PDF

COPYRIGHT

© European Union, 2023

The reuse policy of the European Court of Auditors (ECA) is set out in ECA Decision No 6-2019 on the open data policy and the reuse of documents.

Unless otherwise indicated (e.g. in individual copyright notices), ECA content owned by the EU is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0) licence. As a general rule, therefore, reuse is authorised provided appropriate credit is given and any changes are indicated. Those reusing ECA content must not distort the original meaning or message. The ECA shall not be liable for any consequences of reuse.

Additional permission must be obtained if specific content depicts identifiable private individuals, e.g. in pictures of ECA staff, or includes third-party works.

Where such permission is obtained, it shall cancel and replace the above-mentioned general permission and shall clearly state any restrictions on use.

For the following pictures, reuse is authorised provided the copyright holder, the source and, where mentioned, the names of the photographers are indicated:

* © European Union, 2022, source: European Court of Auditors.

* © European Union, 2022, source: European Court of Auditors.

* © European Union, 2022, source: European Court of Auditors.

* © European Union, 2022, source: European Court of Auditors.

* © European Union, 2022, source: European Court of Auditors.

* © European Union, 2022, source: European Court of Auditors.

* © European Union, 2022, source: European Parliament / Alexis Haulot.

* © GLOBAL VIEW SPRL – photographer: Simon Schmitt. Architects of the buildings: Paul Noël (1988) and Jim Clemes (2004 & 2013).

To use or reproduce content that is not owned by the EU, it may be necessary to seek permission directly from the copyright holders:

* (top, left): © depositphotos.com/ mrdoomits.

* (top, right): © depositphotos.com/ Xavier Lejeune.

* (central, left): © depositphotos.com/ adriaticphoto.

* (central, middle): © depositphotos.com/ halfpoint.

* (central, right): © depositphotos.com/ fran11.

* (bottom): © stock.adobe.com/ denizbayram.

* © stock.adobe.com/ Weyo.

* © shutterstock.com/ jamesteohart.

* © Getty Images / Tonkovic.

* © stock.adobe.com/ Negro Elkha.

* © depositphotos.com/ Tashatuvango.

* © depositphotos.com.

* © shutterstock.com/ Billy Miaron.

Software or documents covered by industrial property rights, such as patents, trademarks, registered designs, logos and names, are excluded from the ECA’s reuse policy.

The European Union’s family of institutional websites, within the europa.eu domain, provides links to third-party sites. Since the ECA has no control over these, you are encouraged to review their privacy and copyright policies.

Use of the ECA logo

The ECA logo must not be used without the ECA’s prior consent.

GETTING IN TOUCH WITH THE EU

In person
All over the European Union there are hundreds of Europe Direct centres. You can find the address of the centre nearest you online (european-union.europa.eu/contact-eu/meet-us_en).

On the phone or in writing
Europe Direct is a service that answers your questions about the European Union. You can contact this service:

• by freephone: 00 800 6 7 8 9 10 11 (certain operators may charge for these calls),
• at the following standard number: +32 22999696,
• via the following form: european-union.europa.eu/contact-eu/write-us_en.

FINDING INFORMATION ABOUT THE EU

Online
Information about the European Union in all the official languages of the EU is available on the Europa website (european-union.europa.eu).

EU publications
You can view or order EU publications at op.europa.eu/en/publications. Multiple copies of free publications can be obtained by contacting Europe Direct or your local documentation centre (european-union.europa.eu/contact-eu/meet-us_en).

EU law and related documents
For access to legal information from the EU, including all EU law since 1951 in all the official language versions, go to EUR-Lex (eur-lex.europa.eu).

EU open data
The portal data.europa.eu provides access to open datasets from the EU institutions, bodies and agencies. These can be downloaded and reused for free, for both commercial and non-commercial purposes. The portal also provides access to a wealth of datasets from European countries.