Governments pass budget buck to Brussels - Liz Lynne

12.00.00am UTC (GMT +0000) Tue 15th Nov 2005

In its Annual Report the European Court of Auditors will today (Tuesday), for the 11th consecutive year since new procedures were introduced, refuse to deliver a positive Declaration of Assurance concerning the legality and regularity of EU financial transactions.

Liz Lynne, Liberal Democrat MEP for the West Midlands commented:

"This report is very convenient for EU governments. It allows them to pass the buck to Brussels even though they are responsible for 80% of EU spending.

"The finger of blame should be pointed towards Gordon Brown and his fellow finance ministers who have refused to accept responsibility for the money spent by their own administrations. (Most recently at the ECOFIN meeting last week - November 8)

"The public will again assume that fraud is widespread and the Brussels bureaucracy incompetent but in fact the EU administration is now subjected to greater scrutiny than that of any government in Europe.

"Neither Labour nor Conservative ministers in Britain are in a position to point the finger of blame given that the accounts of our own Department for Work and Pensions have not been given a clean bill of health by auditors for the past 16 years!

"Despite many improvements made by the Commission in accounting procedures the European auditors have refused to specify what extra steps must be taken if the EU accounts are to be given a clean bill of health. It's like telling an athlete to run a race without announcing the distance.

"Everyone wants public money to be spent wisely and honestly but as a tool for securing better financial management this report is hardly worth the paper on which it is written."

ENDS