The European Commission is “closely monitoring” the government’s planned reforms to the audit office, the commission’s acting spokeswoman for the rule of law Jordis Ferroli said on Saturday.

She added that developments with regard to the planned reforms will be monitored “in the context of the preparation” of its next annual report on the rule of law in Cyprus next year.

The government had earlier in the month approved a bill which, if passed, would establish an ‘audit board’, which will be composed of the auditor-general, the deputy auditor-general, and three other people.

The bill had sparked an angry response from then Auditor-General Odysseas Michaelides, who pointed out that “although it is very rare for an audit office to change its form and model, Sweden did so in 2020, and in fact made its audit office more like Cyprus, having a single-member office, rather than doing the opposite.”

On Saturday, Jorris also referred to the audit office’s “limited access to relevant information” as described by the commission’s latest annual report.

She said the limited access to information “affects the audit office’s ability to carry out effective audits of public organisations’ finances”.

The next official update on the matter, she said, will be provided in next year’s report, with the commission closely monitoring the situation.

In better news for Cyprus, she pointed out that the latest report had documented “some progress” in strengthening the state prosecutor’s office, with the government now having approved a bill to this end.

The bill will entail a separation of the attorney-general and deputy attorney-general’s powers by establishing two new roles: those of a director of public prosecutions (DPP) and a deputy.

The government had earlier outlined that the attorney-general will remain as the state’s legal adviser and the head of the legal service, while the DPP and their deputy will undertake the attorney-general’s current responsibilities relating to public prosecutions.

Ferroli was also asked about Cyprus’ Supreme Constitutional Court’s decision to remove Michaelides from his post as auditor-general, but said, “the commission does not comment on national courts’ decisions.”

Michaelides was sacked on Wednesday, with an eight-judge panel unanimously ruling that he had conducted himself inappropriately, and that he was thus unfit to carry out the office’s duties.