Court blames three EU states for wasted billions

Spain, Italy and Portugal are responsible for the bulk of the financial errors detected by European auditors in the field of regional policy, where some €2.7 billion should not have been paid out in 2008.

The European Court of Auditors on Tuesday was for the 15th year in a row unable to sign off the EU accounts, due to a high level of errors in the areas of regional and rural development aid, which account for over a third of the community budget.

But the report notes improvements...