Widespread austerity. Slashed budgets. Tough spending decisions. Not for the EU, it seems. This week, the European Court of Auditors (ECA) found that the European Union wasted almost £6 billion last year – 5 per cent of its total budget – on erroneous projects. This included providing funding for fraudulent and illegal schemes. Of the multi-billion pound waste, over £800 million was provided by British taxpayers.
What is just as significant as the vast sums involved is that it’s not entirely surprising. It is not as if the ECA report has shed new light on bad practices in Brussels over the years. After all, these are the same bureaucrats that spent €2.4 billion on self-promotion in 2008 alone. (For comparison, Coca-Cola spent €2.13 billion on advertising in the same period.) The same group that has overseen the spending of £265,000 on cocktail parties in a single year. And of £160,000 on a fitness centre for dogs – which, as it goes, has not yet even opened. Lest it be forgotten, this is the 19th year in a row in which auditors have proclaimed EU accounts to be riddled by error. 19 years of squandering resources. When is enough enough?
News of such mismanagement will only add strength to the arguments of those calling for a re-think of Britain’s relationship with the Union. As Vitor Caldeira, the President of the EU auditors, has said: ‘Europe’s citizens have a right to know what their money is being spent on and whether it is being used properly.’ For its own sake then, the EU must act swiftly. Given that the figures provided by the ECA represent a 23 per cent increase on spending errors compared to 2011, such action will require a significant change in thinking. The current model is clearly broken.