03 Nov 2025
ECA report gives green light to Joint Undertakings and detects one major risk area
In its 'Annual report on EU joint undertakings for the 2024 financial year', published on 31 October 2025, the European Court of Auditors (ECA) has approved the 2024 accounts and underlying transactions of the EU’s 11 Joint Undertakings (JUs) - whose main objective is to foster scientific cooperation and to create marketable innovation in Europe - as well as of those of F4E, the JU responsible for Europe’s contribution to the International Thermonuclear Experimental Reactor (ITER) project. In 2024, the JUs implemented a payment budget of €3.2 billion, and employed some 800 staff.
The auditors gave a positive opinion on the JUs’ accounts, revenues and payments. However, their checks revealed persistent errors in grant payments, mainly relating to staff cost declarations. They also noted that some JUs have not yet implemented a risk-based control framework that would allow them to better focus controls on most risky beneficiaries and projects.
The auditors also observed, in some cases, that the slow start of Horizon Europe (2021-2027) and Digital Europe (2021-2027) delayed operational budget implementation and the achievement of private members’ contribution targets. In several other cases, the auditors found weaknesses in the planning and implementation of administrative expenditure, which may indicate structural issues.
The auditors also draw attention to the fact that some JUs currently face huge difficulties in achieving their target for private member contributions by the end of the 2021-2027 programmes: in particular, European High-Performance Computing (EuroHPC) that has not increased the scope for its private members to contribute, and Global Health EDCTP3 that until now could not attract sufficient contributing partners from the private sector.
For more information:
Annual report on EU joint undertakings for the 2024 financial year