Les chambres régionales des comptes

[3) Towards a significant evolution of the mode of regulation ?

Admittedly, there is relative evolution of the contents of the missions of the rooms but the phenomenon of the audit remains nevertheless problematic. Because, for much, that would be to denature the initial mission of the magistrates and that would pose far too many problems. The mission of the magistrates is to represent the company in order to require accounts of any public agent of its administration, under the terms of the article of article 15 of the preamble to the constitution. Also, the magistrates are not inevitably of agreement to evolve to a position of council, which does not correspond inevitably to the ideologies of public utility animating the systems of values of the French administration executives.

Pierre Rocca, President of the Trade union of the Financial Jurisdictions (SJF) recognizes, at the time of the Congress held by his trade union in October 1998, that the positions taken by the senators during the establishment of the Amoudry report/ratio are moderate and positive for the rooms^96(*).

However, « We cannot be at the same time advisers and public management auditors. It would be incompatible with the European right most recent which prohibits the mixture of the kinds between judicial offices and function of council. The letters of observations and the debates which precede them often have a teaching effect. We explain the base of our observations, which generally on non-observance, by drift resulting from the practice, the simple rules ».

The financial magistrates thus are not inevitably won over to an evolution of their trades which would not correspond to the true nature of their mission or their perimeter of competence. Moreover, the elected officials of the local or territorial communities, taking again the principle of opportunity always sees evil eye the interventions of prescritive nature. The principles of action of the financial magistrate must be above all of descriptive nature : they must be limited to the enumeration of the facts envisaged by the texts of laws. It is what the elected officials suggest by reformulating the problem of the examination of management.

[4) Integration and not-resolution of problems

Indeed, the local councillors, territorial and senatorial have much advanced in their reflections on the place of the regional rooms of the accounts.

The proposals advanced following the report/ratio n° 520 of the Senate are a good example. One raises in particular the recommendation of a time of six months neutrality, during which no letter of final observation (LOD) could be sent ; a better organization of the rooms in order to avoid any type of discrimination, in any point of the territories ; the possibility of a form of recourse, with the qualification of the LOD (final Letters of Observation) of decisions likely to make objection.

Especially the report/ratio recommends a reformulation of the examination of management, qualified with the article L. 211-8 of the code of the financial jurisdictions, by proposing the terms according to : « The examination of management relates to the regularity of the acts of management and on the saving in means implemented compared to the objectives laid down by the deliberating assembly without these objectives, whose definition concerns the exclusive responsibility for the elected officials, being able themselves to be the subject of observations.

The observations that the regional room of the accounts formulates on this occasion mention the legislative or lawful provisions of which they note the ignorance. They expressly take into account the results of the contradictory procedure with the director of the community concerned.

The relative importance of these observation in the management of the community or the publicly-owned establishment is evaluated. Lastly, they make recommendations on the aspects of the management examined by the room »

* ⁹⁶ The Gazette of the Communes, n°1475 of the 02/11/98, p.31.