Focus on government resilience
Date 2024.06.20
How can government and its structures be strengthened? The SAIs of the EU Member States discussed in detail the key topic of resilience in Brussels on 18 June 2024.
Strong and smoothly running government structures are very important in crises. With their audit work and findings, SAIs can effectively contribute to achieving the goal of a resilient government and so a resilient society. At the invitation of the Belgian SAI, the EU SAIs exchanged views on different key aspects:
- resilience and climate change (energy)
- resilience and digital transformation
- resilience and public finances and
- resilience and democracy (independence of SAIs)
Crises require a rapid, pragmatic and courageous fully coordinated intervention of all government levels. This is how government builds confidence and lays the foundation for national and social stability."
In his keynote speech, Kay Scheller, President of the Bundesrechnungshof, emphasised the importance of a safe, affordable and environmentally sustainable energy supply: This does not only promote climate action but also government resilience. His keynote speech was based on the current special report of the Bundesrechnungshof on the implementation of energy transition in Germany.
Energy transition: readjustments urgently needed
“Our report shows: the measures taken so far for shifting to clean energy are not sufficient. Therefore, they bear considerable risks for the goals of energy policy”, Scheller warned. „The risks for the energy transition and thus for our prosperity are enormous. The Federal Government should take corrective action as soon as possible. And use our audit findings to remedy the identified shortcomings.”
The special report concludes that the Federal Government is behind schedule in expanding renewable energies and electricity grids as well as in building backup capacities.
In addition, there are knowledge gaps about the environmental impact of the transformation and high electricity prices. At the same time, the Federal Government lacks an integrated monitoring of energy transition which pays attention to all goals of energy policy.
The background to the conference is the Belgian EU presidency in the first six months of 2024. In this context, the Belgian SAI organised a high-level conference on the key topic of resilience.