Court report supports Andreasen

23 November 2007

The European Court of Auditors has refused to sign off the EU's 2006 accounts. No surprise there – it's the unlucky thirteenth year in a row, writes Stephen Gardner. But this year the court's judgement has come hot on the heels of another court judgement, that of the EU's civil service tribunal on the Commission's former chief accountant, Marta Andreasen. Andreasen was suspended from, then booted out of, the Commission after she publicly criticised the the EU's accounting systems as having more holes than a big chunk of Emmental cheese. She was fired, in effect, for bringing her employer into disrepute. The tribunal agreed with this, saying that by going to the press rather than staying in-house, Andreasen had not followed proper whistle blowing channels. But this does not address the substance of Andreasen's concerns, which the latest Court of Auditors report supports, five years after she raised them. The normal procedure during the annual EU accounts circus is for the Commission to blame member states for irregularities. But, says the Court, the Commission's own systems “are not sufficiently effective in mitigating the risk of error over most of the budget.” In fact, one glaring gap occurs when the Commission claws back funds that have been misspent by member states. The Commission “does not provide complete and accurate information in the accounts, or elsewhere, on the recoveries made,” the Court says – surely a considerable blind spot in which fraud could thrive. But fear not. The Commission launched an action plan to fix things in 2006 (rather late, some might say, considering Andreasen's accusations surfaced in 2002). But even this has an “optimistic” timetable according to the Court. In the meantime, the Commission's accounts will remain “chronically sordid” -- a comment, not from Andreasen, but from Jules Muis, former head of the Commission's own internal audit service. A version of this article was originally published in Private Eye.

 

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