UK stands up to the EU
- Created on Wednesday, 22 February 2012 19:25
The UK has said “no” and for the first time will not sign off the European Union accounts.
The move is a protest against “material errors” amounting to €4bn in the 2010 accounts, which went down as the EU’s 17th failed audit in a row.
The UK’s refusal is symbolic only as the funds were spent long ago. Chancellor George Osborne’s anger was at the mismanagement of European funds when the EU is trying to establish new powers to scrutinise national budgets.
The Chancellor’s statement was made jointly with Dutch and Swedish finance ministers. It exhorted the Commission to strengthen its financial management.
The European Court of Auditors refused for the 17th consecutive year to approve the EU’s accounts. Last year it found that some €4bn had been spent in breach of the EU’s own rules, in wrong calculations of costs, or over-declaration of land by farmers.
“The control systems tested across the EU budget were still only partially effective in ensuring the regularity of payments,” the auditors concluded.
The Commission last night hit back at Britain for blaming the EU for expenditure that is 80% controlled by national governments and officials highlighted figures showing that there was an error rate of 10 to 15% in British regional spending of Brussels budgets.
”The UK should look a bit closer to home rather than trying to shift the blame elsewhere,” said a commission official. (While there may be merit in this, the fact remains that the European accounts have failed for the last 17 years.)
