Brussels, 13th October 2016 – The European Court of Auditors published today its annual report.

The Court has given the accounts a clean opinion for reliability, but it has again ruled that the payments for 2015 are materially affected by error. The level rate has fallen since 2014 from 4.4 percent to 3.8 percent, but is still above the two percent materiality threshold that the Court applies.

Ryszard Czarnecki MEP, who is a Vice-President of the Parliament, said:

" The estimated level of error for 2015 payments is 3.8% which is obviously an improvement but is still above the materiality threshold (2%). Now is the time to redouble our efforts to bring an end to this situation that has fuelled scepticism in the EU for over two decades. What is also important to indicate is that we still expect a cash flow forecast from the Commission covering the next 7 to 10 years - if we had a cash flow forecast it would be easier to predict future payment requirements and budgetary priorities. However the European Commission has not still provided such a cash flow forecast.

"This annual situation is improving, but it is still unacceptable. We will continue to keep up pressure to finally give our constituents confidence that their money being spent within the EU Member States is being spent without significant errors."

ENDS  

Contact: ECR Press Office, James Holtum on +32 473 861762; james.holtum@europarl.europa.eu

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