Luxembourg, 7 May 2026
- 31 publications on specific topics in 2025, as well as annual reports on the EU finances
- Almost 4500 on-the-spot workdays spent gathering evidence
- Audit findings presented extensively to EU institutions and in the member states
On Thursday, the European Court of Auditors (ECA) reported on its activities in 2025, providing a comprehensive picture of its work over the past year, which marked the 50th anniversary of the institution’s founding. With their observations and recommendations, the EU auditors help to ensure better use of public money and greater transparency. As the EU develops its next long-term budget, the ECA remains committed to providing trustworthy insights for citizens and policymakers on how EU resources are managed.
The ECA helps not only to improve the EU’s financial management, but also to make sure that EU policies and programmes achieve their intended objectives while delivering value for money. Each year, the ECA checks the reliability of the EU’s annual accounts and the legality and regularity of the underlying transactions, and conducts audits on topics that reflect the EU’s political priorities, as well as general trends and emerging challenges. In 2025, the auditors scrutinised several topics such as the microchips industry, medicine shortages, military mobility, VAT fraud on imports, cooperation between the EU’s anti-fraud bodies, and many more. Much of the auditors’ recent work has been dedicated to examining the European Commission’s budget proposals for 2028-2034, with a view to highlighting key issues and risks.
“As geopolitical tensions rise and uncertainty grows, independent, evidence-based institutions play a vital role. We remain fully committed to providing independent assessments of whether EU resources are managed effectively and transparently”, said ECA President Tony Murphy. “‘Reinforcing trust through audit’ is the guiding principle of our 2026-2030 strategy, and will anchor our priorities and activities in the years ahead”.
To achieve this, the ECA’s new strategy for 2026-2030, adopted at the end of 2025, takes account of the challenges and opportunities that lie ahead for the EU. The previous strategic goals remain at the core of the institution’s audit work, with an eye to its digital transformation. However, plenty of challenging topics add to the auditors’ to-do list for this year and beyond, including the EU’s competitiveness, strategic autonomy, and defence strategies.
The ECA will continue to engage proactively with lawmakers, stakeholders and citizens to ensure that its work informs policy choices and supports stronger governance of EU funds. It works closely with the European Parliament, the Council, national/regional parliaments, and member state governments, as the impact of the auditors’ work depends largely on the use these bodies make of the ECA’s findings and recommendations. More than 75 % of the ECA’s audit recommendations from 2021 have been implemented fully or in most respects, based on our annual three year follow-up procedure.
Background information
The ECA is the EU’s independent external audit institution, established by the Treaty of Brussels in 1975. It is based in Luxembourg, and has been operating since 1977. It employs around 970 staff of all EU nationalities, with roughly equal proportions of men and women. In 2025, the ECA recruited 101 new employees and provided 79 traineeships.
The ECA uses multiannual strategies to guide its audit work and promote organisational change as a process of continuous improvement, ensuring that it remains at the forefront of developments in public-sector auditing. All audits are carried out in line with internationally accepted public-sector auditing standards.
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Source – ECA