Auditors join the new EU Ethics Body set up today
Auditors join the new EU Ethics Body set up today
The European Court of Auditors – the EU’s financial watchdog – is one of the eight participating institutions and bodies in the interinstitutional body for ethical standards that signed the founding agreement in Brussels today. The new body will strengthen integrity, transparency and accountability in European decision-making.
The EU’s external auditors had previously called for such action in a special audit report published in 2019 on the ethical frameworks of the largest EU institutions and policy makers.
The agreement on the ethics body has been reached by eight EU institutions and bodies: the European Parliament, the Council of the EU, the European Commission, the Court of Justice of the EU, the European Central Bank, the European Court of Auditors, the European Economic and Social Committee, and the European Committee of the Regions. The body will develop, update and interpret common minimum standards for ethical conduct, and publish reports on how these standards have been reflected in each signatory’s internal rules. This is a significant step towards fostering a common culture of integrity and ethics, including common minimum ethical standards to be developed by an inter-institutional body.
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