Newsletter – April 2019
The fifth Newsletter of the Jean Monnet Chair "EU Budgetary Governance and Audit" initially refers to the Special Report (1/2019) of the European Court of Auditors (ECA) on combating fraud in the execution of the EU expenditures, emphasizing the need to take adequate measures, so that the Commission receives more complete information and therefore the anti-fraud actions become more effective. Moreover, attention is paid to ECA's Special Report (3/2019) on the European Strategic Investment Fund, the actions of which, although it has caused a remarkable investment mobilization, need to be expanded so that the project is considered completely successful, as well as to ECA's the Special Report (5/2019) on the European Assistance to the Poor Fund (EAPF). In the latter, EAPF’s support in the food sector is seen as valuable, but its contribution to poverty reduction remains undefined. Simultaneously, the two ECA Information Documents regarding the EU's reaction to the "dieselgate" scandal (February 2019) and the EU cybersecurity policy and the challenges it faces (March 2019) are presented in detail. Furthermore, the Newsletter broaches the ECA Announcement to the European Parliament, which highlights the problem that the Auditors have to deal with in harvesting information concerning the European Central Bank (January 2019). With regard to the Chair's interactions with Academia, the Newsletter provides information on the Chair’s participation in the International Conference entitled "Democracy in Crisis", which took place on 30/1 - 1/2/2019 at the Acropolis Museum and the European Public Law Organization (EPLO) in Athens, as well as on the Chair's presentation of an analysis titled "EU spending on migration / refugee crisis: Value for money or Money Show" at the Conference "Migrations & Valeurs Europeennes" of the Jean Monnet GovUnet Network, which took place in Paris between 28/2 - 1/3/2019. Additionally, on 18/3/2019, the 2nd Annual Conference of the Chair co-organized by the Institute of International, Defense and European Analyses of the Department International and European Studies of the University of Macedonia and in the presence of ECA members was held in the conference room of the University of Macedonia. Its main focus was the presentation of the ECA Annual Report for the financial year 2017 and the fiscal developments in the EU. Finally, the Chair participated in the 6th Annual Conference of Greek Publicists and also, a guest lecture on "The establishment of the European Prosecutor's Office and the protection of EU economic interests" was delivered, within the Chair's approved programme, by the Prosecutor of the Court of First Instance and Justice Advisor to the Permanent Greek Delegation to the EU, Mr. Elias Konstantopoulos.
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