Through 2013: "Brussels accounts have not been given the all clear for 19 years running."...
11/4/2014, "EU auditors refuse to sign off more than £100billion (US $126.7 billion) of its own spending," UK Telegraph, by Bruno Waterfield in Brussels, and Peter Dominiczak
"Critics attack the EU for demanding that David Cameron pays a £1.7 billion bill despite an official audit failing to give a clean bill of health to more than £100 billion of Brussels spending."...
"According to the annual report of the European Court of Auditors, seen
by The Telegraph, £5.5 billion (US $6.9 billion) of the EU budget last year was misspent
because of controls on spending that were deemed to be only “partially
effective” by experts.
The audit, published this morning, found that £109 billion (US $138 billion) out of a total of £117 billion spent by the EU in 2013 was "affected by material error”.
It means that the Brussels accounts have not been given the all clear for 19 years running. Treasury sources said that the disclosure shows why the EU needs “urgent reform”....
The audit, published this morning, found that £109 billion (US $138 billion) out of a total of £117 billion spent by the EU in 2013 was "affected by material error”.
It means that the Brussels accounts have not been given the all clear for 19 years running. Treasury sources said that the disclosure shows why the EU needs “urgent reform”....
Among the examples of misspent money was funding used to buy helicopters to help Spain defend Europe’s borders against entry by illegal immigrants.
“[Auditors] examined a project in Spain which consisted of the purchase of four helicopters, to be used 75 per cent of their operating time for EU border surveillance and control. However, the ECA found the helicopters were only used 25 per cent of the time for this purpose,” said the report.
In another case, the commission handed out £1.4 million in funding for social development in Moldova “for which no underlying expenditure had been incurred”....
Dominic Raab, the Conservative MP for Esher and Walton, said: “It's hard to swallow the British taxpayer being stung, when the Brussels boondoggle squanders £5 billion (US $ 6.3 billion) in a year and fails to produce clean accounts in almost two decades.”
Peter Bone, the Tory MP for Wellingborough, said: “For the EU to demand £1.7 billion from us on December 1 is laughable especially when vast sums – far greater than that – are misspent every year by Brussels....
Open Europe warned that the latest audit would “increase the pressure on David Cameron to renegotiate the surcharge demanded by the Commission”.
“Far too much of the EU budget continues to be spent on poor quality projects with poor oversight. This is not only wasteful but undermines consent for the whole EU project,” said Christopher Howarth, an analyst at the think-tank.
“The EU should radically reform its budget to focus only on those areas where the EU adds value.”"
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Citations for 2014 and 2015:
2014: p. 6, pdf: "Payments for 2014 are materially affected by error. We therefore give an adverse opinion on their legality and regularity. For the full text of our statement of assurance, please refer to Chapter 1 of the 2014 annual report."
"2014 EU Audit in Brief," European Court of Auditors
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2015: p. 7, pdf: "Payments for 2015 are materially affected by error. We therefore give an adverse opinion on their legality and regularity. For the full text of our statement of assurance, please refer to Chapter 1 of the 2015 annual report."
"2015 EU Audit in Brief, " European Court of Auditors
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