The audit mission report in Romania regarding the European Social Fund in context of DAS 2014
Dear European Court of Auditors,
Under the right of access to documents in the EU treaties, as developed in Regulation 1049/2001, I am requesting documents which contain the following information:
The Audit report no. 6434 from 2015 containing the findings of the mission in Romania between 1-9 July 2014, evaluating the legality and regularity of the expenses reimbursed in 8 projects funded by the European Social Fund.
I found that the report lists 13 findings and observations, which are not published anywhere.
Yours faithfully,
Dragos Popescu
Dear Mr Popescu,
Thank you for contacting the European Court of Auditors (ECA).
As a foreword, please note that Regulation 1049/2001 regarding public
access to European Parliament, Council and Commission documents is not
applicable to our institution. Instead, the rules on public access to ECA
documents are set out in [1]ECA’s Decision 12/2005, as amended by Decision
14/2009 (consolidated version published in OJ C 67/1 of 20.03.2009), hence
your request has been processed in accordance therewith.
As a general rule, any underlying information used for the preparation of
the ECA’s audit observations is deemed confidential by virtue of Article
4.2 of the aforementioned ECA Decision; such rule has its foundation in
the provisions of Articles 258 and 259 of the Financial Regulation
2018/1046 applicable to the general budget of the Union, setting out that
ECA’s observations are and shall remain confidential.
Notwithstanding the foregoing, the ECA may consider deciding, by
derogation from Article 4.2 and by application of Article 4.8 of said
decision, to allow access to a document where there is an overriding
public interest in its disclosure. A similar consideration may be further
reserved in cases, where the request for access is made by a beneficiary
who has been subject to the Court’s audit, is directly concerned by such
observations and has a personal interest in receiving such confidential
information, in order, for instance, to defend himself/herself, should
he/she be subject to proceedings for recovery of Union funds.
After careful analysis and consideration of your case, we note that you
have not adduced any proof that would allow us to establish how and
whether the disclosure of the requested documents to you would serve the
interest of protecting the transparency and public control of the ECA’s
activity, nor how this would be otherwise duly justified because of your
personal involvement and direct concern by the requested ECA findings.
As a result, we regret to inform you that, under the circumstances, we
cannot grant you access to the requested documents and information.
However, should you be able to revert with additional information,
managing to substantiate that your request falls under one of the grounds
exposed here above justifying a derogation to the rule, the ECA may review
its decision.
Furthermore, please note that, in any event, you may, pursuant to Articles
7 and 8 of the ECA’s Decision No 12-2005, submit a request for
reconsideration to the ECA’s President, within 15 working days from
receipt of this e-mail.
Kind regards,
ECA-Info
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