Commission accounts system lambasted from the inside

An explosive letter obtained by the EUobserver castigates the Commission's accounting system as "vintage public sector in the 60's" and characterises the accounts department in DG Budget as "haunted by a profound lack of qualified staff, a host of vacancies/absentees in crucial functions [and] an entrenched mindset."

Dated 21 May 2002, the letter is addressed to Neil Kinnock's cabinet, the administrative reform commissioner. On May 27 2002, Ms Marta Andreasen, the wayward chief account...