On Tuesday 21 February, the Council of Ministers of the EU recommended that the European Parliament grants the Commission discharge for the execution of the EU budget for the financial year 2015.
The UK, the Netherlands and Sweden voted against the recommendation.
In its recommendation analysing the annual report of the Court of Auditors on the 2015 budget (see EUROPE 11597), the Council notes, with satisfaction, that the overall estimated level of error has improved in recent years. The estimated level of error relating to the 2007-2013 programming period was significantly lower than the estimated level of error reported for the previous period (2000-2006), it notes.
However, it is disappointed that the overall estimated level of error reported by the Court for 2015 payments stood at 3.8%, even though relatively lower than in 2014 (4.4%), and that all spending areas with the exception of 'Administration' continue to be affected by a material level of error.
The Council regrets that the Commission and national authorities (including audit bodies) did not make full use of the available information to prevent, detect and correct a significant proportion of the errors, which would have substantially reduced the estimated level of error.
Spending review. In a joint statement, the Netherlands and Sweden call upon the Commission to initiate a comprehensive spending review with the aim of systematically evaluating each area in the EU budget regarding its efficiency, the EU added value and contribution towards overall EU priorities ahead of the next multi-annual financial framework (MFF). (Original version in French by Lionel Changeur)