The estimated error rate for payments on the implementation of the 2011 EU budget was of 3.9%
Vítor Caldeira, President of the European Court of Auditors, presented in the European Parliament the 2011 Annual Report on the implementation of the 2011 EU budget. According to Mr Caldeira, although revenue and commitments for payments were free from material error, payments were affected by material error. Thus, the Court found too many cases of EU money not hitting the target or being used sub-optimally.
President of the European Court of Auditors, Vítor Caldeira made a speech to the Budgetary Committee in the European Parliament in order to present for scrutiny the Annual Report on the implementation of the 2011 EU budget. Among the conclusions of the report, the estimated error rate for payments was of 3.9% for the EU budget as a whole. With regard to the 2010 report, the Court found that two thirds of all errors in cohesion payments occurred in Spain, Italy, and the Czech Republic.
The report also confirms that the Court found too many cases of EU money not hitting the target or being used sub-optimally. The examples in the report include subsidies for land claimed as “permanent pasture” when actually parts of it were densely forested; training specifically intended for employees in the electronics sector being given to employees from other sectors; costs reimbursed on a building claimed to be for agricultural purposes when it was not; over-claimed personnel costs on research projects; recipients of development aid not respecting the rule of origin when purchasing equipment; and public procurement procedures designed to ensure best value for money not being properly applied.
The Court also found that, overall, the control systems examined were only partially effective. In other words, control systems were not realising their full potential to prevent or detect and correct errors. It therefore recommends to strengthen the Commission’s supervisory role, improve financial correction mechanisms, and ensure adequate audit and control arrangements over financial instruments. To sum up, it recommends to improve accountability for EU money.