REPORT on the nomination of Ladislav Balko as a Member of the Court of Auditors

17.3.2016 - (C8‑0413/2015 – 2015/0816(NLE))

Committee on Budgetary Control
Rapporteur: Igor Šoltes

PROPOSAL FOR A EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT DECISION

on the nomination of Ladislav Balko as a Member of the Court of Auditors

(C8‑0413/2015 – 2015/0816(NLE))

(Consultation)

The European Parliament,

–  having regard to Article 286(2) of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union, pursuant to which the Council consulted Parliament (C8‑0413/2015),

–  having regard to Rule 121 of its Rules of Procedure,

–  having regard to the report of the Committee on Budgetary Control (A8-0055/2016),

A.  whereas Parliament’s Committee on Budgetary Control proceeded to evaluate the credentials of the nominee, in particular in view of the requirements laid down in Article 286(1) of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union;

B.  whereas at its meeting of 15 March 2016 the Committee on Budgetary Control heard the Council’s nominee for membership of the Court of Auditors;

1.  Delivers a negative opinion on the Council's nomination of Ladislav Balko as a Member of the Court of Auditors;

2.  Instructs its President to forward this decision to the Council and, for information, the Court of Auditors, the other institutions of the European Union and the audit institutions of the Member States.

ANNEX 1: CURRICULUM VITÆ OF Ladislav Balko

Born in 1954 in Slepčany, Slovakia.

Graduated in law at Comenius University in Bratislava. Subsequently obtained a doctorate in law and the title of PhD, becoming a lecturer in financial and commercial law.

In 1990 and 1991 he was head lawyer at the Customs Directorate of the Slovak Republic. From 1991 to 1999 he held a number of managerial posts, including that of Deputy Director-General at the largest Slovak commercial bank - Všeobecná úverová banka (VÚB).

From 2001 to 2004 he was a Deputy Governor and member of the Board of the Export-Import Bank of the Slovak Republic, and in 2003 was Chief Operating Officer of the Slovak Investment and Trade Development Agency (SARIO). In 2004, he was appointed a member of the Bank Board - the governing body - of the National Bank of Slovakia (NBS).

Owing to his long experience in the financial sector, in 2006 Dr Balko became financial and foreign investment adviser to the Prime Minister of the Slovak Republic. In this capacity he focused on areas such as the government's management of public finances, the budget, structural funds and other related fields. He also played a contributory role in Slovakia's adoption of the euro. Dr Balko drafted the Declaration of Social Agreement to adopt and use the euro in Slovakia and organised several conferences on the topic. In 2006 he became Vice-Chairman of the Board of Directors of the Slovak Guarantee and Development Bank (SZRB), before being appointed Member of the Price Council of the government in 2008.

In addition to his practical activities in the financial sector, as Head of the Financial Law Department of the Faculty of Law at Comenius University in Bratislava, he has lectured on public finance, budget, financial control, tax and customs, currency, foreign exchange operations and financial markets, and has written many scholarly and technical articles on these subjects, as well as several textbooks on financial law.

He became a member of the European Court of Auditors on 7 May 2010. Until 30 January 2014 he was a member of Chamber IV. Dr Balko was responsible for carrying out the statement of assurance (DAS) audit in the area of research and other internal policies and for the performance audit in the same field. In April 2012 he became an alternate member of Chamber IV in the horizontal CEAD Chamber and on 1 February 2013 an alternate member of Chamber IV in the Administrative Committee. In addition, from 12 February 2012 he was a member of the Internal Audit Committee, which he chaired from 24 April 2013 until 28 February 2014.

On 1 February 2014 he was appointed a member of Chamber II - Structural Policies, Transport and Energy: he is also rapporteur for the Economic, Social and Territorial Cohesion Chapter and responsible for carrying out the DAS audit and the performance audit in the field of regional policy and structural funds. He is the member representing Chamber II in the CEAD Chamber, and has also been rapporteur for several performance audits.

ANNEX 2: SUMMARY BY LADISLAV BALKO OF EXPERIENCE AS A COURT MEMBER AND OBJECTIVES FOR A FUTURE MANDATE

During my time at the ECA, I have experienced a truly professional and well-functioning independent external audit institution, and got to know many skilled and dedicated colleagues among Members and staff. I endeavoured to return this by contributing to the work of the ECA in the following ways.

First, I have had, and still do have, the privilege to be Rapporteur of a vertical chapter of the ECA's Annual Report. Shortly after my arrival, as a Member of Chamber IV "Revenue, research and internal policies", I became Rapporteur for the Annual Report's chapter on Research and other internal policies for the DAS exercises 2010, 2011 and 2012. I have also been Rapporteur for the Opinion 6/2012 on the legislative proposal for the Horizon 2020 Rules for Participation, which played a significant role in adopting the bold simplifications introduced by the proposal. Since February 2014, I have been Member of Chamber II "Structural policies, transport and energy'', acting as Rapporteur for the Annual Report's chapter dealing with the Regional policy for the DAS exercise 2013 and for the chapter on Economic, social and territorial cohesion for the DAS 2014 as well as for the ongoing DAS 2015 exercise.

Second, I was responsible for many interesting and relevant performance audits, thus acting as Rapporteur for the following Special Reports:

  4/2011 "The audit of the SME Guarantee Facility'' (CONT Rapporteur Mrs Ingeborg Gräßle);

  2/2013 "Has the Commission ensured efficient implementation of the Seventh Framework Programme for Research?" (CONT Rapporteur Mrs Monika Panayotova);

  16/2013 "Taking stock of 'Single Audit' and the Commission's reliance on the work of national Audit Authorities in Cohesion" (CONT Rapporteur Mr Boguslaw Liberadzki);

  6/2014 "Cohesion policy funds support to renewable energy generation - has it achieved good results?" (CONT Rapporteur Mr Miroslav Poche);

  14/2014 "How do the EU institutions and bodies calculate, reduce and offset their greenhouse gas emissions?" (CONT Rapporteur Mrs Patricija Sulin);

  Currently I am responsible for the ongoing performance audits on the Rail Freight transport performance in the EU, on the European Rail Traffic Management System, and on the design of the Closure of the 2007-2013 Cohesion and Rural Development Programmes.

Beyond these tasks, I am currently also the representative of Chamber II in the horizontal Chamber CEAD (Coordination, Evaluation, Assurance and audit Development). From February 2012, I acted as Member, and, from April 2013 to February 2014 as Chairman, of the ECA's Internal Audit Committee.

Throughout my mandate, I have had fruitful and constructive relationships with important EU stakeholders, be it in the European Parliament with the Members of the CONT Committee or with the relevant European Commissioners. I also maintained good working relationships with the national Supreme Audit Office as well as with the Committee on European Affairs of the Parliament of the Slovak Republic, mainly as regards informing them of the ECAs work and products and regular presentations of ECA's Annual Reports.

During my mandate, I accumulated a large amount of experience and understanding of the ECA's work and of the accountability framework in which it operates. I am strongly motivated to contribute all this knowledge and experience though my further work at the ECA, implementing its annual and multi- annual strategic documents until 2017 and beyond, providing a yet more performance oriented Annual Report taking account of the needs of our main stakeholders and in particular the European Parliament, as well as relevant and timely Special Reports that add value. I am also keen to help dealing with the new developments and challenges ahead of the ECA including a successful implementation of the new task based organisation and the related reforms. In this regard, I see my possible re-appointment as an element contributing to stability and continuity in the work of the ECA which will welcome a significant number of new Members in 2016.

RESULT OF FINAL VOTE IN COMMITTEE RESPONSIBLE

Date adopted	15.3.2016
Result of final vote	+: –: 0:	8 16 2
Members present for the final vote	Louis Aliot, Inés Ayala Sender, Zigmantas Balčytis, Ryszard Czarnecki, Tamás Deutsch, Martina Dlabajová, Jens Geier, Ingeborg Gräßle, Bogusław Liberadzki, Monica Macovei, Georgi Pirinski, Petri Sarvamaa, Claudia Schmidt, Igor Šoltes, Bart Staes, Marco Valli, Derek Vaughan, Anders Primdahl Vistisen, Tomáš Zdechovský, Joachim Zeller
Substitutes present for the final vote	Richard Ashworth, Karin Kadenbach, Andrey Novakov, Julia Pitera, Miroslav Poche
Substitutes under Rule 200(2) present for the final vote	Xabier Benito Ziluaga