The European External Action Service's management of its buildings around the world : Special Report No 07, 2016

The European External Action Service (EEAS) provides office buildings for EU staff and residences for heads of delegation in around 140 EU delegations around the world. In this report the Court of Auditors examines whether buildings meet the needs of the EEAS and provide value for money. It concludes that buildings generally meet the needs of the EEAS but in some cases do not provide best value for money: most offices have too much space, the EEAS owns buildings which it no longer uses and the charges to some organisations renting space in delegations do not recover full costs. The audit examines the reasons for these shortfalls and makes recommendations to strengthen systems, particularly in view of EEAS plans to invest in purchasing, rather than renting, buildings.