Phil Wynn-Owen oversees the audit currently run by the ECA and dealing with the EU climate policy expenditures in the period 2014-2020. The audit covers early-stage activities financed by the EU in its Member States. Auditing of activities which are in the pipeline or are at an early stage makes it easier for the European Commission and cooperating states to make quick corrections, if necessary. Audits of this type are more and more common in the ECA.
President Krzysztof Kwiatkowski and Vice-President Jacek Uczkiewicz also discussed with the ECA Member recent audits in the field of environmental protection. The NIK report contributed to the amendment of the Environmental Protection Act. In compliance with the new provisions the provincial assembly may introduce some constraints or bans concerning the use of installations where fuels are burnt. This is to help improve the air quality in cities.
The initial results of the international audit of the Bug River protection against pollution (cooperative audit conducted by the SAIs of Poland, Belarus and Ukraine) revealed the need for close cooperation among neighbouring countries. The inspectors also stated that the use of the EU funds for common goals should be made easier, no matter if it is about the EU Member States or non-EU countries. Nature knows no borders, after all.
NIK President reassured the meeting participants about NIK’s will to cooperate with the European Court of Auditors. The cooperation between the two bodies is to deal mainly with the exchange of information and audit results. It is worth mentioning that NIK and ECA have already had an opportunity to cooperate in several projects, especially in 2014 when the ECA audit in Poland was conducted by a team of auditors representing both institutions. Both NIK and the ECA benefited from that, by improving the use of their resources and the audit coordination.
