#1 EU accounts failed for 13th year
Posted: Tue Nov 13, 2007 7:43 am
BBC
The auditors for the EU have refused to sign off the bloc's financial accounts - for the 13th year in a row.
A report by the European Court of Auditors (ECA) criticises nearly every major area of the EU's expenditure.
The auditors say there are weaknesses across the board and complain of neglect and presumed attempts at fraud.
The European Commission has blamed member states for audit failings, and says it has suspended £1.2bn in payments to English regions.
Errors persist
Errors of legality and regularity still persist in the majority of the EU's 106bn euro annual budget (£75bn), according to the Court of Auditors. Its President, Hubert Weber, calls on the commission to lead by example in making improvements.
HEAD TO HEAD
The auditors have concluded every year since 1994 that the accounts are reliable
Terry Wynn, ex-head of European Parliament budget committee
There has been a lot of window-dressing but essentially the auditors' criticism has not changed
Marta Andreasen, former Commission chief accountant
Are the EU books a scandal?
Euroblog: Extra Virgin con?
The report explains that much of the misspending is caused by poor knowledge of complex rules but presumes that fraud also exists.
On the plus side, the auditors say that there has been a marked reduction in the estimated overall level of error in the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP), responsible for some 40% of all EU expenditure.
The commission is responsible for overseeing the handling of the budget and the auditors praise the "considerable efforts" made to address the weaknesses in its management of risk to EU funding.
Payments to UK
But the second biggest slice of the budget - regional development funding (32.4bn euros in 2006) - is said to have seen little improvement. The Court singles out errors in claims and complains of poor controls among member states.
READ THE REPORT
European Court of Auditors 2006 annual report [2.7MB]
Most computers will open this document automatically, but you may need Adobe Reader
Download the reader here
The commission says it suspended 1.7bn euros (£1.2bn) in structural payments to the UK in April 2007 although that figure has now fallen to 326m euros (£229m).
In response to the report, the Vice-President of the European Commission, Siim Kallas, says he's "glad to see the Court now gives its green light to over 40% of total payments".
He points out that around a third of the budget was approved last year and only 6% three years ago.