A political achievement for Israel: State Comptroller and Ombudsman, Matanyahu Engelman, was appointed last night (Monday) as President of the European Organization of State Auditors - EUROSAI (EUROSAI).
Engelman's appointment is no small feat, given that the State of Israel is facing a broad and difficult international front, culminating in the lawsuit being filed against Israel at the International Court of Justice in The Hague. Against this background, it is significant that the State Comptroller is the only senior Israeli official serving as head of an official European body.
The goal of the Eurasia is to promote professional cooperation between state audit institutions in Europe, encourage the exchange of information and knowledge, and advance the study of state audit in both practical and theoretical aspects.
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Every three years, the Central Congress of the Eurasian Economic Union is held, attended by delegates from the organization's member states, and which officially marks the beginning of the term of office of the incoming president of the organization.
The congress, which was supposed to convene in Israel, is being held online due to the Iron Sword War.
The congress opened with words of welcome from President Yitzhak Herzog, who also spoke about the importance of returning the hostages and Israel being a democratic country that experienced a murderous terrorist attack.
Afterwards, OECD Secretary-General Matthias Kormann and INTOSAI President Bruno Dantes welcomed the guests. The baton was passed on from the outgoing President of EUROSAI, the Czech State Auditor, Miloslav Kale.
The Congress is expected to approve, in the final session, the "Jerusalem Declaration," regarding the principles of action of all state auditors who are members of the Eurasian Economic Union.
The Israeli State Comptroller and incoming President of EUROSAI, Matanyahu Engelman, thanked the European auditors for choosing him as EUROSAI President: "I am grateful for the trust you have placed in me to lead this esteemed organization, which stands at the forefront of promoting transparency, accountability and integrity in the public sector. Especially at this time, after Israel experienced a terrorist attack on October 7 and our hostages have not yet been released - I see great importance in European recognition of the State Comptroller's Office in Israel. I expect Europe to stand by us and do everything possible to free the hostages.
""Maintaining the values of good governance, including the prevention of corruption, is of paramount importance in our mission. We are committed to ensuring efficiency and effectiveness among public bodies, in order to maximize the benefit and value for the citizens of our countries. Together, we will work tirelessly to uphold these principles and serve the public with dedication and diligence.".
"I am committed to steering Eurosai towards a new era of global impact and audit excellence. I envision Eurosai as a driving force for innovation and excellence in public audit. To achieve this vision, we will conduct a peer review process. This mechanism will allow us to continuously evaluate and improve our audit methodologies, ensuring that we remain at the forefront of global best practices. We will also coordinate parallel reviews.
""By working together, we can pool our collective expertise to tackle complex cross-border issues, maximize the impact of our audits and safeguard the public interest (particularly in areas where we share common interests, such as: dealing with emergencies, the climate crisis and AI); we will also focus on allocating budgetary resources to support outstanding audits; furthermore, we will improve our interfaces with respected international bodies such as the OECD, the UN and the World Bank, and strengthen our role as a leading voice in the global audit community.".
