Of course managing 100bn Euros of expenditure ain’t easy. And the commission was slow at getting to grips with even the basics – like double-entry bookkeeping (however if national governments were that concerned they’d have brought the broom in long ago).

But eventually national governments manage most of that structural and CAP funding and per the Court of Auditors report it is they who share the blame for the lack of clean signoff these last few years.

As the Court of Auditors press release states:

“The European Court of Auditors is issuing a clean (unqualified) opinion on the reliability of the 2008 EU accounts.The Court concludes that the 2008 annual accounts of the European Communities present fairly, in all material respects, the financial position of the European Communities and the results of their operations and cash flows.”

That’s the commission bit.

“In terms of the legality and regularity of the transactions underlying the accounts, the overall results for 2008 reflect the improvements in the management of the budget in recent years.

The improvement in 2008 is a consequence primarily of better results in the largest policy group “Agriculture and natural resources”, accounting for almost half of the EU budget. For this policy group the Court, for the first time, does not give an adverse opinion but a qualified one. Effectively the error rate for this policy group as a whole is below materiality.”

That’s the expenditure bit.

http://eca.europa.eu/portal/pls/portal/docs/1/3260294.PDF

The auditors do not categorically state there is fraud, that remains a eurosceptic fabrication. It just states that the complexity of the underlying systems makes it hard for them to give an unqualified opinion on the transactions.

There is also the high pay, perks and expenses of EU officials which is another feature of their lack of accountability. I don’t think of this as a uniquely EU thing, but these things tend to get worse the larger the region you are managing. And it is just rather galling that most of the stuff the EU does now does not have have to happen at the EU level at all.

Contrary to popular myth, the commission’s accounts are signed off. It is the controls surounding expnditure of the EU budget that the COurt of Auditors fails to sign off every year. And this is because national governamnts are not so tight with their paperwork as they should be. And Britain is a major culprit in this regard.

Of course the commission governs the process of handing out funding and should be more robust in demanding proper controls are adhered to.

But this is not the same thing as hysterically charging the EU with “fraud” as Eurosceptics in Britain are wont to do.

Never a good mix in order to woo voters.

(Re the EU, I actually agree with Nick).

This post was mentioned on Twitter by libcon: :: No EU Cash for Griffin http://bit.ly/1I9QVQ...