Comments on: Sick of “EU doesn’t sign off books, therefore corrupt/evil/useless/nasty” (delete as applicable)

By: Jason O Mahony » Blog Archive » EU accounts dodgy? You’d think people in British glasshouses would know better…

Mon, 21 Dec 2009 07:45:15 +0000

[...] always excellent Jon Worth makes a very valid point here about the old eurosceptic chestnut of the EU’s unsigned [...]

By: Fergus O'Rourke

Fergus O'Rourke — Mon, 07 Dec 2009 15:47:53 +0000

Is the premise even correct i.e. is it actually true that the auditors have “refused to sign off” for the last 15 years ? I thought that they *had* signed -off for 2007, or was that dis-information ?

By: robert

robert — Thu, 03 Dec 2009 18:29:39 +0000

Maybe we can refuse to pay taxes until the UK Government can sign off its accounts to the same degree at the EU (i.e. without any qualifications).

By: James Burnside

James Burnside — Thu, 03 Dec 2009 12:24:11 +0000

“…the EU will not get a penny more from the British Government until it gets its accounts properly audited.” I love the logic here – surely a proper audit is one which identifies problems? Perhaps he meant a “successful” audit?
In any case, the non-specific “has not signed off the accounts” enables the attack to shift target, without acknowledging that significant improvements have been made over the years. In particular, the inadequacies of the commission’s accounting system, highlighted by Marta Andreassen in the past, appear to have largely been resolved, but most of the criticism fails to acknowledge that.
Anybody who takes the trouble to read the court of auditors report – or even just its president’s statement to the EP on 26 November – will see in exactly what areas there are still significant levels of irregular payments (not necessarily fraudulent). Moreover, both the court and the commission are becoming more specific in public about exactly which member states are the biggest offenders. So the spotlight is falling ever brighter on the real problem areas.

By: Jon

Jon — Wed, 02 Dec 2009 19:55:12 +0000

I’m confused… do you mean UK or EU? And have the Tories made that commitment?

By: paulstpancras

paulstpancras — Wed, 02 Dec 2009 19:24:50 +0000

So should the government ever be a Conservative one, after 12 months the Auditor General will sign off the accounts. That’s quite a commitment.