The ‘judicial’ control of the public accountability in Europe: the European Court of Auditors and the Spanish Court of Auditors

Abstract

The control of public expenditure is part of the institutional setting of any democracy. A modern public management requires further attention in the control of the economic and financial management of the performance of public authorities at national and supranational level. There is a need to reinvent public control due to the corruption cases that have occurred in recent years in the Spanish administration itself, mainly reinforcing the control system and the special control consciousness of the public authorities. This article aims to show how the Spanish Court of Auditors can become a more technical external control body based on the case of the European Court of Auditors whose mandate is to control and audit the European Union’s finances.