(4) The accounts, financial statements and financial transactions of the Board shall be audited annually by the auditor of the Board and, where the Minister requests, the Auditor General of Canada.

22. Acknowledges that military operations are financed by the Member States outside the EU budget and that their common costs are covered by the Athena mechanism; underlines that Athena is crucial to the deployment of those operations and is an instrument of solidarity between Member States, encouraging them, especially those lacking financial and operational resources, to contribute to CSDP operations; regrets, however, that the actual proportion of the common costs remains very low (estimated at approximately 10-15 % of all costs) and that the high proportion of nation-borne costs and responsibilities in military operations based on ...[+++]the ‘costs lie where they fall’ principle is counter to the principles of solidarity and burden-sharing, and further deters Member States from taking an active part in CSDP operations; is worried that this state of affairs, especially in the context of the Member States’ lack of willingness to participate in the operations’ force generation, hampers the rapid deployment of CSDP operations and jeopardises their overall efficiency; believes that the long-term financing of military missions should be ensured;

23. Acknowledges that military operations are financed by the Member States outside the EU budget and that their common costs are covered by the Athena mechanism; underlines that Athena is crucial to the deployment of those operations and is an instrument of solidarity between Member States, encouraging them, especially those lacking financial and operational resources, to contribute to CSDP operations; regrets, however, that the actual proportion of the common costs remains very low (estimated at approximately 10-15 % of all costs) and that the high proportion of nation-borne costs and responsibilities in military operations based on ...[+++]the ‘costs lie where they fall’ principle is counter to the principles of solidarity and burden-sharing, and further deters Member States from taking an active part in CSDP operations; is worried that this state of affairs, especially in the context of the Member States’ lack of willingness to participate in the operations’ force generation, hampers the rapid deployment of CSDP operations and jeopardises their overall efficiency; believes that the long-term financing of military missions should be ensured;

11. Considers the issue of financing for CSDP missions and operations to be crucial if the policy is to have a future; finds it regrettable that specific proposals have not yet emerged from the discussion initiated on this subject at the December 2013 Council meeting; calls for the Athena mechanism to be used systematically for the financing of the CSDP’s operational and mission deployment costs, in particular as regards the use of EU battlegroups, accommodation infrastructure for forces, expenses relating to the establishment of points of entry for troops into theatres of ...[+++]operations and security stocks of food and fuel where necessary; calls, also, for the same mechanism to be used to manage financing received from Member States on a bilateral basis, and from third countries and international organisations, so that they can participate in the financing of a given operation and, in duly justified cases, support the participation by third countries in EU crisis response operations and missions;

11. Considers the issue of financing for CSDP missions and operations to be crucial if the policy is to have a future; finds it regrettable that specific proposals have not yet emerged from the discussion initiated on this subject at the December 2013 Council meeting; calls for the Athena mechanism to be used systematically for the financing of the CSDP’s operational and mission deployment costs, in particular as regards the use of EU battlegroups, accommodation infrastructure for forces, expenses relating to the establishment of points of entry for troops into theatres of ...[+++]operations and security stocks of food and fuel where necessary; calls, also, for the same mechanism to be used to manage financing received from Member States on a bilateral basis, and from third countries and international organisations, so that they can participate in the financing of a given operation and, in duly justified cases, support the participation by third countries in EU crisis response operations and missions;

6. Regrets, once again, that financial transactions were frequently incorrectly recorded in the Common Relex Information System (CRIS), altering the overall quality and accuracy of data used for the preparation of the annual financial statements, especially with the risk of failing to respect the cut-off principle i.e. to record all financial transactions under the correct accounting period;