Europese Rekenkamer weigert opnieuw goedkeuring aan EU-budget (en)

EUOBSERVER / BRUSSELS - The EU's top financial watchdog has not been able to give the EU's accounts the all clear for the 10th consecutive year.

Presented on Tuesday (16 November), the Annual Report for the financial year 2003 does not approve major parts of the 97 500 million euro 2003-budget.

"It is not surprising that the Court of Auditors refuses to clear 95% of the budget for the 10th year in a row", said Marta Andreasen, the Commission's former Chief Accounting Officer to the EUobserver.

"The structural failures such as the use of a non-integrated computer system, have not been resolved", she said.

Member states blamed

As last year, the Court of Auditors point to problems in member states as the reason for much of the financial mess.

The auditors say that "greater efficiency is needed in the supervisory systems and controls for EU funds managed jointly by the Commission, the member states, the beneficiary states and other bodies."

"There are problems in the areas of expenditure where aid is paid according to quantities produced (olive oil, cotton, tobacco and dried fodder), rural development,

export refunds and intervention storage", said the report.

But Mrs Andreasen does not accept that member states are to bear all the responsiblity for financial mismanagement.

"The control of the funds that are paid by member countries into the treasury of the European Commission rests exclusively with the European Commission as it was designed in the Treaty. The European Commission holds the power to stop payments if it observes any non-compliance, but it has failed to institute proper controls", she said.

The Court of Auditors has also criticised the Commission for its inability to budget properly. In the last three years, the Commission has under spent between 7 per cent and 15 per cent of its budget.

Holding back payments

The European Commission is sitting on a growing pot of not-paid-out money.

By the end of 2003, the sum had risen to 200 000 million euro, the Court of Auditors report reveals. This is the equivalent of the total EU budget for two years.

The European Union has committed it self to spend all this money but the money remains in the hands of the Commission.

"Steps must be urgently taken to solve the problems caused by the increase in outstanding commitments", said the Court of Auditors in the 458-page report, which was given to the European Parliament Budget Control Committee.

If the money is not spent, it should be refunded to the member states.

New accounting system

To improve accounting standards, the European Commission has made its top administrators, the Director-Generals, give assurances for their spending.

But of the 39 declarations signed by the Commission's Directors-General, 21 contained reservations limiting the assurance given.

And, as in the previous year, the Director-General for Budget upheld reservations concerning imperfections in the Commission's accounting systems.

The accounting system was the main criticism of former chief accountant, Marta Andreasen, who was recently sacked because she went public with her concerns.

Bowing to the growing public and political pressure, the Prodi Commission has, however, committed itself to install a new accounting system.

On 17 December 2002, the Commission approved an action plan for the modernisation of the European Communities' accounting system, which should be operational from 1 January 2005.

"The operation of drawing up a the opening balance sheet as at 1 January 2005 is crucial to the success of the transition from a cash-based accounting system to an accruals-based system", warn the Auditors.

Meanwhile, the European Parliament Budget Control Committee will start the annual work of examining the Auditors report with a view to the plenary approving the 2003-spendings in spring in what is called the 'discharge' procedure.