Financial Accountability in the European Union - Institutions, Policy and Practice

This book offers comprehensive coverage of various aspects of financial accountability around the EU budget - how it is spent via policies, how institutions engage in checking policy performance (what taxpayers- money actually delivers), and therein, the issues of monitoring, controlling, auditing, scrutinising and communicating budgetary expenditure.

Presenting conceptual and theoretical approaches including financial accountability, learning, multi-level governance, implementation and throughput legitimacy, it looks at EU institutions (European Parliament, European Court of Auditors, European Ombudsman, European Public Prosecutor-s Office) and national bodies (supreme audit institutions at the national level), examining their contact with the EU budget. It details the historical development of accountability mechanisms (the -statement of assurance-, financial corrections, and parliamentary oversight by the Budgetary Control Committee (CONT)), and examines policy areas such