Josef Bonnici elected dean of ECA group

Former Cabinet Minister Josef Bonnici, Malta's nominated member of the European Court of Auditors (ECA), has just been elected dean of the most important internal working group of the EU's finances watchdog.

In exercising their collegial responsibility, ECA members, one from each member state, are divided into four "vertical" groups, with each group covering in detail the audit of a particular area of the EU budget and one "horizontal" group, known as the Coordination - Evaluation - Assurance & Development (CEAD) group, with a coordinating role across all the budget areas.

Prof. Bonnici, a member of the ECA since 2004, has now been elected to chair the group, which covers matters dealing with methodology, quality control and communications of the court.

Most key documents, including the draft chapters of the ECA's annual report, are first discussed in the CEAD group before being forwarded for deliberation by the court as a whole.

Last week, the European Parliament approved the "discharge resolution" granting clearance to the Commission for its implementation of the 2006 EU budget.

Known as the "budget discharge process", each year the European Parliament is required to assess the manner in which the European Commission has implemented the preceding year's EU budget.

Prof. Bonnici has the task of providing a common framework for the audits of the ECA as well as responsibility for coordinating the process that allows the resulting "specific assessments" to be amalgamated into one overall audit opinion covering the whole EU budget.