EUROSAI. Magazine N21 - 2015

EUROPEAN ORGANISATION OF SUPREME AUDIT INSTITUTIONS REPORTS AND STUDIES 80 www.eurosai.org · N.º 21 - 2015 in the EUROSAI Constitutive Conference and the I EUROSAI Congress, hosted by the SCA in Madrid, thus marking the birth of the youngest Regional Working Group of INTOSAI. Assuming the Secretariat of EUROSAI was, and indeed still is, not only a great privilege for our SAI but also a constant challenge, one which is met by a dedicated team at our headquarters and whose task along these 25 years has been to support EUROSAI and its members. As EUROSAI has expanded (from 30 members to 50) and become more mature and more sophisticated in terms of its activities and structures, the Secretariat has adapted to support EUROSAI’s activity accordingly. For instance, that was the case when, with the aim of performing in a more structured, homogeneous and global way, EUROSAI hit an important milestone with the adoption and implementation of the first EUROSAI Strategic Plan 2011-2017, for, as from that time, the initial Secretariat’s tasks of supporting the Governing Board and the Congress were extended and increased to assist the Goal Teams, Working Groups and Task Forces in the implementation of the Strategic Plan. In the face of the increase in the volume and specialization of the EUROSAI activities, the initial enthusiasm and strong commitment of the Spanish Court of Audit when taking on the functions of the Secretariat have remained and have been reinforced by the consecutive Secretaries General. In this context, one of the factors that have played to our advantage has been the permanent nature of the Secretariat, which ensures a clearly recognized contact point for our members and external stakeholders, and which has enabled us to accumulate over the years a vast know-how on EUROSAI’s functioning, as well as an extensive historical perspective. That is particularly important in our supporting role to members when it comes to organizing EUROSAI events (such as Joint Conferences with other INTOSAI Regional Working Groups -RWG), Governing Board meetings, Congresses, Seminars, et cetera) or providing background information on the Organisation. But not only does the Secretariat devote efforts and resources to the well-functioning of EUROSAI; the efforts and involvement of the rest of EUROSAI members are, indeed, truly remarkable. In fact, one of the strongest points in EUROSAI is the in-kind contributions from its members, who voluntary chair or join any of the implementing bodies of our Strategic Plan, host a training event or meeting, agree to serve as a Governing Board member or the EUROSAI financial statements’ auditor, or support the Organisation’s activity in different ways. The contribution of such members is crucial in order to work like a well-oiled machine and I would like to take this opportunity to express my deepest gratitude for it. Let me, thus, pay a special and well deserved tribute to those SAIs which have led our Organization (SAI of Italy, Sweden, the Czech Republic, France, the Russian Federation, Germany, Poland, Portugal and The Netherlands), contributed to its governance as members of its Governing Board or have taken up the responsibility to lead its various activities and projects (among many others, the former and current Chairs of the Goal Teams, Working Groups and Task Forces). My experience as Secretary General of EUROSAI as from July 2012 and as member of the Spanish Court of Audit since 2001 leads me to confirm my strong beliefs in the relevance and value of EUROSAI for the European SAIs, the prime recipients of its activity. Over the past 25 years, EUROSAI has succeeded in performing as a leading forum in Europe for promoting Constitutive Conference of EUROSAI (Madrid, 1990)