EUROSAI. Magazine N24 - 2018

Magazine No. 24 - 2018 5 EDITORIAL María José de la Fuente y de la Calle President of the Spanish Court of Audit Secretary General of EUROSAI Dear colleagues, It is with great pleasure that I address you from the EUROSAI Magazine. As you might know, my appointment as President of the Spanish Court of Audit, in July 2018, offered me the unique opportunity to return to the EUROSAI community, to which I had previously devoted an important part of my professional career, working as Director of the EUROSAI Secretariat for many years. I, thus, take up once again an active role in EUROSAI, but at this time I do so from a position from where I hope I can offer a greater contribution to the Organisation and support it in its journey towards future achievements. It is indeed an honour to continue with the relevant work carried out by my predecessors in this position. In this regard, I would like to express my deepest appreciation to Mr. Ramón Álvarez de Miranda García, immediate former Secretary General of EUROSAI, for his continued dedication and commitment to EUROSAI, both professional and personal, for the past six years. Achievements accomplished by EUROSAI since 2012, when I left the Organisation, are evident thanks to the big efforts and strong commitments of many EUROSAI members that voluntarily contributed to the successful implementation of the first EUROSAI Strategic Plan 2011-2017. It is worth noticing how EUROSAI, through the approval of its second Strategic Plan (2017- 2023), has been able to evolve, adapting its ways of working and enhancing its governance, in a constant attempt to remain relevant to its members in a fast-changing environment. Since then, EUROSAI devotes its efforts to strengthen its members and help them deal with emerging issues and challenges, by promoting and brokering professional cooperation (Strategic Goal 1) and by supporting and facilitating their institutional capacity development (Strategic Goal 2). Precisely, the new driving force of the EUROSAI Operational Plan, that is, the co-leaders of the Strategic Goals 1 and 2, governance portfolio holders, chairs of Working Groups and Task Forces and leaders of the existing Project Groups, inform us in this issue number 24 about their objectives and the progress made in the implementation of their respective operational and work plans. Additionally, this edition pays special attention to some emerging issues that SAIs are facing, such as ageing population or auditing the Sustain- able Development Goals, among others. Let me end these brief words by saying that I was touched by the warm welcome received from EUROSAI colleagues. I would like to emphasise the friendly atmosphere of my first informal gathering with the members of the Governing Board, which took place in Istanbul in November 2018. We were all inspired by its motto ‘Governing as a Team for the Future’ to reflect on how to act as a close working party, building on the team spirit in order to drive EUROSAI forward in an effective and efficient manner. During that get-together, we all agreed that EUROSAI is indeed a remarkable platform for cooperation and mutual enrichment, recognizing the added value and opportunities that EUROSAI offers. We also came up with key principles and good practices to promote closer cooperation and communication, inspired by the KOINONIA principles, i.e., by the “spirit of professional fellowship”. The EUROSAI Magazine precisely targets this mutual enrichment, so I hope you will enjoy the reading of this issue as much as I did. Finally, I take this opportunity to thank all the contributors for making this issue feasible, as well as to encourage EUROSAI members to become proactive and contribute to the Organisation initiatives as much as possible for the benefit of all. E