Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/1313317
maltatoday | SUNDAY • 29 NOVEMBER 2020 5 AUDITING Working in and with Covid-19 conditions As an ECA Member, Joëlle Elvinger will be the reporting Member for audits on the sustainable use of water in agriculture and e-waste, as well as for a follow-up re- view on tracking the European Commis- sion's climate spending. But the Covid-19 crisis has changed things: it has brought with it additional tasks. Joëlle Elvinger has also taken on the review on the EU's public health response to the pandemic as reporting Member. The crisis has also changed the ECA's working methods. 'Like for many of us, also for the ECA, in mid-March this year big changes occurred. From one day we needed to significantly change the way we live, work, and connect to each oth- er.' She explains that the ECA met the challenge by starting to use new work- ing methods: home working, interaction with colleagues and auditees through videoconferences, webinars, and written procedures for decision-making. 'On the personal side, the lockdown put many of us into a demanding situation. Some of us found themselves suddenly alone at home and others, while working, needed to respond more intensively to the needs of their family.' Overall, Joëlle Elvinger is quite positive about how the ECA has handled the lock- down situation and continued its work. 'For example, in our audit chamber in the two months since the lockdown, we have discussed and adopted four audit planning documents, three draft reports and a chapter for our annual report. I do not think we could have done more if we had been physically present on the ECA's premises.' She adds that virtual coffees and virtual informal meetings of the Court are being held, which helps to continue social interaction. She has also been able to make good progress on her own reporting tasks. 'I presented to our audit chamber an audit planning document on the sustainable use of water in agriculture. Our task re- garding tracking climate spending, which had a very tight schedule already before the lockdown, progressed as planned.' Preparatory work for her task on e-waste has also progressed as expected. 'This would not have been possible without the dedicated work of our audit teams.' Joëlle Elvinger also believes that the ex- periences with the lockdown conditions will change the way in which the ECA works. 'Regular webinars, intensive dis- cussions through videoconferences and virtual coffees should remain a regular part of our life, even after the pandemic is over.' One consequence of the lock- down and closed borders has been that the ECA's auditors cannot travel to per- form audit work on the spot as they did before. 'This has made it necessary to find new ways to obtain audit evidence. In the longer term, these innovations should al- so have an impact on the way we audit .' The Covid-19 crisis also brought new topics to audit. 'As College we decided to revise our 2020 work programme to include two new tasks on the EU's re- sponse to the pandemic: the EU's public health response and its economic policy response. I took on our audit task on the EU's public health response as report- ing Member, and I am looking forward to getting into the subject matter.' She explains that it is very likely that other Covid-19 related issues will end up in the ECA's 2021 work programme, which is currently being prepared. While every situation has its own char- acteristics, Joëlle Elvinger is used to deal- ing with new circumstances and require- ments. As a Member of Parliament, she was involved in several reforms, including the 2016 tax reform. 'It was a well-bal- anced tax reform which was coherent with the 21st century: it adapted the tax system to our new family models, tak- ing single parents into consideration and treating couples in the same way wheth- er they are married or not. It was also a social tax reform: for example, it doubled tax credits for workers, and people in the lower tax brackets really benefited from that. It also reduced corporate taxes.' Connecting to the EU's younger citizens Joëlle Elvinger sees an important role for herself in how the ECA communicates its findings and recommendations. 'For me teamwork is very important, both in my private office and within audit teams. And I really like to listen to people's ide- as.' Once those ideas are on the table, she sees the role of the reporting Member, who has overall responsibility for the au- dit, as being that of a final decision-mak- er. 'After publication, communication and the presentation of the report to our stakeholders and to the media is very im- portant. I see that in our audit chamber we have many reports that are interesting also for national parliaments, and I think it would be good if some of these reports were presented there as well, perhaps by the reporting Members themselves.' As former Member of Parliament, she sets great store by good relationships with national parliaments. The same goes for the relationship with national audit of- fices. 'The relationship between my pre- decessors and the Luxembourgish Court of Auditors has been very good, and I will continue this. I am hopeful that there will be good collaboration on different audit issues, but also when it comes to training opportunities.' When discussing her key objectives to work on during her mandate as an ECA Member, Joëlle Elvinger believes it is es- sential to identify audit topics that will help to improve EU's financial manage- ment and address issues that interest EU citizens. 'And here we touch upon the communication aspect again. Another challenge, not only for the ECA but also for other institutions and private com- panies, is digitalisation: we will have to work on that. The Covid-19 crisis might accelerate this process. Another topic we will have to make further progress on is the reform of our compliance audit work –digitalisation will play a role here too.' On communication, Joëlle Elvinger makes it clear that she is keen to contrib- ute to getting ECA findings across to the wider public using various means availa- ble, including social media, which she also used when she was a parliamentarian. 'If we want to explain the work of the ECA to younger people, we will have to use so- cial media, because they might not read a newspaper every day. If we want people to gain trust in the EU, and to explain what we are doing, what the EU is doing — for better or for worse — we have to explain this also through social media.' She un- derlines that this is also important for the auditors contributing to the reports: 'Our people put too much work into it for us not to use every possible means at our disposal for our communications work.' Joëlle Elvinger understands very well that the subject matter of many ECA reports, particularly related to finance and budgetary issues, might not always interest the younger generation. 'But we should try to present these reports as part of the whole picture of the EU and its in- stitutions, and also communicate through EU values. We need to make it clear to the next generations that the EU does not just mean constraints. We need to emphasise that it also means peace, health aspects, consumer protection, migration, and a level playing field in the financial sector. We have to explain what is happening with the EU budget and what values are related to it , promoting accountability and transparency and thereby fostering trust in EU finances and activities.' This article was first published on the 2/2020 issue of the ECA Journal Joelle Elvinger EU values