Brussels, 19/07/2016 (Agence Europe) - On Tuesday 20 July, the European Commission published accountability reports on the implementation of the 2015 EU budget, bringing them all together for the first time.
For the first time ever, it estimated the residual level of error in the expenditure after all recoveries and corrections at the closure of programmes (“amount at risk at closure”). This estimate is less than 2%.
The reports show that the programmes of spending have led to concrete advantages, for instance: - the EU financing to face the unprecedented flows of refugees and to manage the external borders of the Union more than doubled in 2015 and 2016, standing at more than €10 billion in total. The credits for the operations Triton and Poseidon have tripled. More than 350,000 migrants have been rescued in the Mediterranean; - in 2014, more than 825,000 jobs were created throughout Europe thanks to the investments of the European Regional Development Fund in favour of SMEs; - 165,000 young farmers received start-up aid under the common agriculture policy for the period 2007-2013. (Original version in French by Lionel Changeur)