Report by the Seimas Committee on Audit: the new Committee on Audit continues its cooperation with the European Court of Auditors

Press release, 19 December 2024 (News ● Photos ● Broadcasts and videos)

Dr Laima Andrikienė, Member of the European Court of Auditors (ECA), presented the mission, tasks and ongoing audits of the ECA at the meeting of the Seimas Committee on Audit and discussed in more detail the annual report on the implementation of the EU budget for 2023.

In her presentation of the situation regarding the EU budget, Ms Andrikienė, delegated member of the ECA for Lithuania, indicated that ‘excluding funds from the Recovery and Resistance Facility (RRF), in 2023 Lithuania was allocated EUR 2.28 billion (around 12% of the Lithuanian state budget) from the EU budget, while Lithuania’s contributions to the EU budget amounted to EUR 746 million, i.e. Lithuania received 3 times more than it paid in. With the funds received from the RRF, namely EUR 542 million, this ratio becomes even more favourable (3.8 times)’.

In the opinion of the Member of the ECA, it may seem paradoxical: the amount of money available to fund EU-supported programmes and the RRF is so high that national administrations are unable to manage it. Factors such as high inflation, higher energy prices and insufficient administrative capacity also contributed to this. However, it is still important that these funds are used efficiently and within the set time limits.

Ms Andrikienė also noted that the absorption rate of EU funds for the 2021-2027 financial period is extremely low, and at the end of 2023 payments amounted to only 3.2% of the total expenditure foreseen for that period. This shows that the implementation of financial projects under the EU Cohesion Policy funds has been rather slow. Although Lithuania ranks high in the sixth place among all 27 EU Member States in terms of the use of these funds, this represents only 4.3% of the funds or EUR 290 million.

Artūras Skardžius, Chair of the Seimas Committee on Audit, when summing up the presented information, underlined that ‘there is money, what is lacking is the capacity to turn it into a real benefit for the State’. 

Members of the Committee thanked Ms Andrikienė for her cooperation and her invitation to pay a working visit to the ECA.

For more information, please contact

Chair of the Seimas Committee on Audit

Artūras Skardžius

Tel. 0 5 209 6441