Thursday

1st Jun 2023

Britain, Sweden and Netherlands refuse to sign off EU accounts

  • Auditors have found too many errors in the EU books for 17 years in a row (Photo: Jorge Franganillo)

EU finance ministers on Tuesday (21 February) rubberstamped the bloc's accounts for 2010, but Britain, Sweden and the Netherlands opposed the move, noting that auditors found too many errors for the seventeenth year in a row.

"In these challenging times, member states should uphold the same high standards for the EU budget as they would for national budgets. We should remember that national taxpayers stand behind the EU budget, and that's why we are calling for important and urgent improvements to the quality of EU financial management," the British, Dutch and Swedish finance ministers said in a joint statement.

Read and decide

Join EUobserver today

Become an expert on Europe

Get instant access to all articles — and 20 years of archives. 14-day free trial.

... or subscribe as a group

Their no-vote is symbolic, since the accounts were approved by their colleagues by qualified majority. But it does stir up the debate ahead of the European Parliament's vote later this spring, when MEPs may choose not to sign off on some of the spending.

For the seventeenth year in a row, the European Court of Auditors earlier this year found errors above the two percent threshold required for a clean bill of health, mostly in the way structural funds are used in infrastructure projects. After a gradual decline in recent years, the error rate in the 2010 budget increased to 3.7 percent, up from 3.2 percent the previous year, which is why the three countries decided to vote no instead of abstaining as they usually do.

"Current scarcity of public resources across the EU increases the importance of sound financial management of EU funds and that the credibility of EU spending depends crucially on orderly accounting of EU expenditure," the three said in their common position.

They also call on the EU commission to follow up on recommendations by auditors to simplify rules and improve the management of programmes in the view of the next common budget for 2014-2020.

"Improving the quality of EU spending should be given a high priority, in order to attain significantly better results in the annual reports on the EU budget," they added.

Member states also have to take "full responsibility" for putting in place effective controls for the management of EU funds at national level and provide "full, transparent and accurate data" on how they spend these monies.

The three ministers sent their position to the president of the European Parliament, Martin Schulz, saying they hoped their statement will be "taken into full account when deliberating" on the accounts.

Auditor: EU agencies mismanaging their budgets

A report by the European Court of Auditors has found several problems in the way EU's 31 agencies manage their budgets. The findings are likely to fuel the debate about the usefulness of these bodies at times of austerity.

MEPs to urge block on Hungary taking EU presidency in 2024

"This will be the first time a member state that is under the Article 7 procedure will take over the rotating presidency of the council," French Green MEP Gwendoline Delbos-Corfield, the key lawmaker on Hungary, warned.

European Parliament scales back luxury MEP pension fund

The European Parliament's Bureau, a political body composed of the president and its vice-presidents, decided to slash payouts from the fund by 50 percent, freeze automatic indexations, and increase the pension age from 65 to 67.

WhoisWho? Calls mount to bring back EU directory

NGOs and lobbyists slammed the EU commission for removing contact details of non-managerial staff from its public register, arguing that the institution is now less transparent.

Column

What a Spanish novelist can teach us about communality

In a world where cultural clashes and sectarianism seems to be on the increase, Spanish novelist Javier Cercas (b.1962) takes the opposite approach. He cherishes both life in the big city and in the countryside.

Opinion

Poland and Hungary's ugly divorce over Ukraine

What started in 2015 as a 'friends-with-benefits' relationship between Viktor Orbán and Jarosław Kaczyński, for Hungary and Poland, is ending in disgust and enmity — which will not be overcome until both leaders leave.

Latest News

  1. EU data protection chief launches Frontex investigation
  2. Madrid steps up bid to host EU anti-money laundering hub
  3. How EU leaders should deal with Chinese government repression
  4. MEPs pile on pressure for EU to delay Hungary's presidency
  5. IEA: World 'comfortably' on track for renewables target
  6. Europe's TV union wooing Lavrov for splashy interview
  7. ECB: eurozone home prices could see 'disorderly' fall
  8. Adapting to Southern Europe's 'new normal' — from droughts to floods

Stakeholders' Highlights

  1. International Sustainable Finance CentreJoin CEE Sustainable Finance Summit, 15 – 19 May 2023, high-level event for finance & business
  2. ICLEISeven actionable measures to make food procurement in Europe more sustainable
  3. World BankWorld Bank Report Highlights Role of Human Development for a Successful Green Transition in Europe
  4. Nordic Council of MinistersNordic summit to step up the fight against food loss and waste
  5. Nordic Council of MinistersThink-tank: Strengthen co-operation around tech giants’ influence in the Nordics
  6. EFBWWEFBWW calls for the EC to stop exploitation in subcontracting chains

Join EUobserver

Support quality EU news

Join us