The European Court of Auditors and Its Relationship with National Independent Audit Institutions: The Evolving Audit Function in the EU Multilevel System

Abstract

This chapter analyzes, from a transdisciplinary administrative science, public policy, and legal perspective, the role that the European Court of Auditors (ECA) and the national external audit institutions play in the emerging EU administrative system. The analysis is structured around three research questions: (i) What is the specific role that the ECA plays in the EU political and administrative system? (ii) Is the emerging EU administrative system transforming the preexisting audit institutions in their function as independent oversight bodies for public administrations, and what is the impact of the EU multilevel administrative system on the established processes of administrative control and accountability? (iii) How far is the supranationalization of the audit function replacing independence with interdependence? The chapter starts from the hypothesis that for the audit work carried out by the ECA and by national external audit institutions, the distinction between member-state level and EU level has diminished to the point where multilevel actors create coordinated forms of administrative capacities that are to a certain degree able to act independently from national governments (see Aden, 2006; Hofmann and Türk, 2006; Trondal and Peters, 2013) and also from the European Commission.