Indexing Accountability Power: Assessing the Accountability Capacity of Two EU Watchdogs

This paper presents an outline for indexing the accountability powers of watchdogs. This is an empirical tool to assess the key accountability principles and capabilities for accountability forums that operate in democratic constitutional context. The aim is to provide a richer evidence base to assess evolving accountability arrangements and their effectiveness.  We apply the accountability index to assess the strength of two main watchdog institutions in the EU. We focus on the powers of the European Ombudsman (EO) and the European Court of Auditors (ECA) to hold the executive accountable. The Accountability Index contains items that gauge the different accountability powers of these watchdog institutions over the executive. Data are collected by means a study of secondary sources and analysis of annual reports and other relevant documents. A comparison of the accountability index assessing the power of the two institutions shows clear differences across the EO and the ECA. Increased accountability of the core EU executive institutions and increased turbulence at the national and EU levels have affected the development of the accountability powers of these two EU watchdogs.