Amendment to the Financial Regulation: separation of the internal audit from the ex ante control

The committee adopted the report by Michiel van HULTEN (PES, NL) on the outcome of the conciliation procedure instigated after Parliament had introduced four amendments to the proposal which the Council was not willing to incorporate into the text of its Joint Guideline. After discussions between the EP delegation and the Council, it was agreed that two declarations would be published in the Official Journal alongside the Regulation - one joint EP and Council statement confirming their intention to separate internally the functions of internal audit and financial control and one Commission statement in which the Commission confirmed its intention to carry out the tasks of the internal auditor in accordance with international standards. In reaching this compromise, it was possible to conclude the conciliation procedure by an exchange of letters without convening the "Conciliation Committee" provided for in the 1975 Joint Declaration. In its report, the committee approved the decision on the outcome of conciliation but regretted that the Council did not see fit to agree to a trialogue meeting at political level prior to a formal meeting of the Conciliation Committee. It therefore urged the Council to reconsider this issue, particularly with a view to the pending general recast of the Financial Regulation.�