| Synopsis: |
There has been a detectable improvement over recent years in the financial management of European funds across the European Union, but seemingly intractable problems with reducing the high levels of error in some significant areas of EU spending still remain. "Financial Management in the European Union (HC 34)" reports that the European Court of Auditors provided a positive Statement of Assurance, without qualification, on the reliability of the European Union's accounts for 2008. However, for the fifteenth successive year, the Court did not provide a positive Statement of Assurance on whether the underlying transactions conformed to applicable laws and regulations. Material error (error in excess of 2 per cent of total expenditure in a policy area) was found in categories making up some 53 per cent of total expenditure, including Cohesion Policy funds, which are still associated with the highest level of error in the EU budget, and Rural Development.This title features the following findings : while controls can be tightened and administration improved, many of these high levels of error are in part down to the sheer complexity of administering the programmes in question; some changes have been introduced for programmes in the 2007-2013 period, but it is too early to judge their impact; weaknesses in the administration of European programmes in the UK continue to have an impact on the taxpayer; during 2008-09, the Commission confirmed GBP 140 million of disallowances of expenditure; and, UK departments have made provisions for some GBP 350 million of further disallowances and reported the potential for liabilities beyond that. |