The Commission is sending out the wrong signals here, by renaming the Directorate-General for Financial Control as the Directorate-General for Audits, for example.

This creates the conditions for ending central financial control at the end of this financial year and also for winding up the remaining parts of the Directorate-General for Financial Control by early 2003.

Within the European Commission, the Directorate-General for Employment is responsible for implementation, while financial control is the responsibility of the Directorate-General for Financial Control, the Anti-Fraud Office and the European Court of Auditors.