Auditor steps out of shadows

Date: 09/11/1995

ONCE a year André Middelhoek, the president of the European Union's Court of Auditors, emerges from his usual place in the wings to occupy central stage. He is now putting the finishing touches to his latest performance which can be seen in Strasbourg next week.

The venue - the European Parliament - and the theme - analysis of how efficiently the Union spends its annual budget - remain unchanged. But Middelhoek's forceful presentation and blunt language always guarantee him copious media reviews.

This year's report, which will be unveiled on Tuesday (14 November) will be Middelhoek's swan-song. He will be 64 in mid-December and, after three years as president of the Court, is preparing to retire. It will be the end of an era in more ways than one. Middelhoek is the longest serving of the Luxembourg-based Court's members, arriving in its infancy in 1977, and has been its first president since the Court began using the new powers it was given by the Maastricht Treaty in 1993.

According to colleagues, the physically-imposing Dutchman thinks, lives and breathes fraud and financial irregularities from the moment he wakes up in the morning until he goes to bed. He dismisses the suggestion that fraud is mainly a southern European phenomenon absent in colder climates, telling interviewers: “Fraud is everywhere.”

His tenacity has certainly raised the Court's profile and been an extra factor, alongside the early input provided by the European Parliament, in drawing attention to actual or possible misuse of EU taxpayers' money.

But Middelhoek's direct approach has also brought sharp criticism that he has strayed beyond his normal terrain and made the Court overly political. Two years ago, the then European Commission President Jacques Delors sent Middelhoek a tart letter complaining that he was confusing the roles of auditor and policy-maker in his comments on the EU's structural funds.

One senior MEP still believes that Middelhoek must bear a share of the responsibility for Norwegian rejection of EU membership a year ago as the line between fraud and financial mismanagement became blurred.

“Last year's press release on the Court of Auditors' annual report contained just two examples of illegal activity, but a lot on mismanagement. Yet it was blasted through the European media as if fraud was rife and this was just days before the Norwegian referendum,” he says.

Another MEP complains: “You can't just read the auditors' annual report on its own. You have to consider the Commission's replies to the points raised as well. The final report contains these, but unfortunately, the Court's presentation to the public does not.”

The Court's relationship with the Parliament has always been a bit fraught, each suspecting the other of trying to usurp its powers. Some MEPs complain that the auditors could be more cooperative with the EU's elected representatives.

But Middelhoek is appreciated for being the first president to actually present the annual report to MEPs on the floor of the chamber, rather than sitting passively like his predecessors in the public gallery.

Middelhoek's tenure as president has almost entirely coincided with the Court's new status as a fully-fledged institution, giving its work extra authority and placing it on a par with the Commission, Parliament, Council of Ministers and Court of Justice. That it graduated from its previous lower status was largely due to the then Dutch Prime Minister Ruud Lubbers, who chaired the final stages of the Maastricht negotiations.

As the auditors began to enjoy their more prestigious ranking, there was some trepidation among EU governments when the newly-elected Middelhoek let it be known in 1993 he wanted to discuss the future of the institution. There was some concern he would press for new investigative powers to go with its enhanced status. But Middelhoek's mission was more prosaic: he wanted the salaries of the auditors brought into line with those of the judges of the European Court of Justice, working just a few hundred yards away on Luxembourg's Kirchberg plateau. Some member states were disappointed, others relieved. In the end, EU governments duly obliged.

Middelhoek is noted for paying attention to the working conditions of the Court's members. “The meals served in the auditors' dining room are among the best of any EU institution,” confirms one visitor to its premises.

Middelhoek, who had a distinguished career in the Netherlands including eight years as director-general of the budget in the Ministry of Finance, is clear why he decided in 1977 to join the fledgling Court described by one MEP as “an odd mix of ex-politicians, ex-civil servants and ex-members of national auditing bodies”.

Middelhoek explains: “I did not want to come across myself in another job. So I opted for an international career.”

In the Netherlands, he witnessed the gas-fuelled explosion of government expenditure in the 1970s. In Luxembourg, he is credited with the introduction of professional methods of accounting and policy-evaluation in the Union, long before concepts like 'value for money' became fashionable.

It was his long-standing presence at the Court which eventually secured Middelhoek the presidency in January 1993. The president is elected by fellow members of the Court and repeated votes saw Middelhoek tie with his Danish colleague Ole Jørgen Warberg. It was his seniority which clinched it for the Dutchman. As one observer explained: “After 16 years of faithful service he could no longer be overlooked.”

Middelhoek has always been considered a Conservative Liberal, but would not dream of letting his allegiance to any party interfere with his activities as a member of the Court of Auditors. He is somewhat of an old-fashioned kind of civil servant and can be quite formal. He is adamant that there are no special deals with the European Commission, which is regularly criticised in the Court's various annual and sectoral reports.

“That wouldn't seem right to me. We examine, they are examined,” he once remarked.

With his rather distant and formal manner, Middelhoek can hardly be described as a public relations animal. The Court's draft report is duly leaked - much to Middelhoek's regular annoyance - to those who report an annual dose of non-existent Mediterranean olive trees or an abundance of invisible northern sheep and then illegally claim fat subsidies.

There is even a press conference after the report has been presented to MEPs, although last year the auditors themselves came under fire for organising a reception with Alsatian crémant for reporters out of their budget. This year's event will definitely be more subdued.

But apart from this solemn occasion, Middelhoek and his colleagues rarely make themselves available to the media. When asked for a photograph at one such occasion a few years ago, the only picture his advisors could produce was an outdated brochure in faded colours which included a small photo of the president and his colleagues. Things are better now, with pictures readily available, but requests for interviews are still carefully screened.

Middelhoek gives every impression of enjoying his current role and has improved his diplomatic skills while in the job. Presidents of EU institutions are invited to European summits and as Lubbers was losing his bid to become European Commission president in Corfu, his fellow Dutchman, with an impressive moustache, was enjoying himself sharing drinks with people in the hotel lobby.

It is a side of the outgoing Court of Auditors' president that few see. But as he prepares to retire he will be more than happy if, in hindsight, he is seen as the person who raised the profile of the Court and increased awareness among politicians, civil servants and the public of the need for closer scrutiny of the way the EU handles its finances.