The annual meeting of the "Homologues' Group" of European auditors opened Monday in Cardiff and is hosted this year by the Welsh Assembly Government as announced in aprГЁs release of the European commission.

Danuta HГјbner, Commissioner for Regional Policy, will attend the meeting.

The event is an opportunity for auditors from the European Commission, European Anti-Fraud Office, European Court of Auditors and the Member States to share experience and knowledge with the aim of ensuring that investments financed by the EU's Cohesion Policy are used effectively and efficiently.
Member States have primary responsibility for preventing and correcting errors, as well as tackling rare cases of fraud. The European Commission has overall responsibility for the EU budget and can suspend payments or impose corrections to claw back undue payments.

"The auditing requirements are there to ensure that EU taxpayers' money is used properly and to avoid errors and fraud," said Commissioner HГјbner ahead of the meeting.

"The rules are rightly stringent and based on recommendations by the European Court of Auditors. Where there are problems, in 99% of cases they are the result of errors rather than fraud. But we cannot be complacent. The Commission will continue to work with Member States to ensure we have the best possible controls and audits, whilst retaining sufficient flexibility to achieve the right balance between the cost of controls and the benefits obtained," she added.

One of the main topics of discussion in Cardiff will be the state of progress on the action plan adopted by the Commission last February in response to recommendations by the European Court of Auditors. The action plan aims to reduce error rate.

Another important Commission initiative is the "contract of confidence", a voluntary agreement between the Commission and qualifying member states (or regions) aimed at simplifying auditing processes for structural funds' programs. To qualify, member states must satisfy the Commission that their management and control systems function effectively. The contract applies to investments agreed for the 2000-2006 programming period.

So far, Wales (as a precursor), Denmark, Austria, Portugal, Slovenia and Estonia have signed a contract of confidence. The seventh contract will be signed with Cyprus in the next two weeks.

The "Homologues' Group" meeting has taken place annually since 1991. The participants consist of representatives from the national control bodies of the 27 member states, the European Commission audit services for the structural funds, the European Anti-Fraud Office (OLAF) and the European Court of Auditors.

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