This scandal has been going on for 14 years and the most any
politician does is shrug his shoulders and say wearily “ Oh; it must
be November - the accounts have been refused clearance once again”
What’s different this year?
==
politician does is shrug his shoulders and say wearily “ Oh; it must
be November - the accounts have been refused clearance once again”
What’s different this year?
==
Firstly there is a major recession and waste of this kind cannot be
borne any longer
==
borne any longer
==
secondly the European taxpayers are getting together in a group of
organised nation taxpayers’ associations;
==
organised nation taxpayers’ associations;
==
Thirdly we have here a celebrated EU accountant herself telling how
it is. SHE blew the whistle on a number of irregularities and with
what result? The Commission led by Neil Kinnock pursued her
relentlessly and finding no wrong. sacked her on a technical reading
of her contract. I’m glad to see that she intends to continue the
fight.
This proves that legality and honesty are not rated highly, if at
all, in Brussels.
xxxxxxxxxxxxx cs
===========================
TELEGRAPH 10.11.08
Letters to the Telegraph
The European Union's failure to produce accurate accounts betrays
taxpayers
Sir - As representatives of taxpayers' associations from across
Europe, we are extremely concerned that today, for the fourteenth
consecutive year, the European Union's accounts will not be signed
off by the EU Court of Auditors. The EU spent €126.5 billion in 2007
and we need to ensure this money was spent correctly.
It is disgraceful that the EU's accounts have never been given the
"declaration of assurance" they have been required to give since
1994. The European Commission's Public Consultation on the Budget
Review 2007/2008 recognises that the EU "must give citizens
confidence that [EU public spending] is focused on their own
priorities and that the funds entrusted to the EU are well spent."
The President of the European Commission, José Manuel Barroso, must
immediately set out how he will ensure that the 2008 EU accounts are
signed off by the EU Comptroller General as accurate and reliable so
this worrying situation does not continue. If this does not happen,
he will be letting down taxpayers across the EU, including over one
million taxpayers whom we personally represent.
Michael Jäger, Taxpayers' Association of Europe
Dr Oliver Ginthör, Austrian Taxpayers' Association
Lasse Lehis, Estonian Taxpayers' Association
Benoite Taffin, French Taxpayers' Association
Rolf von Hohenhau, Bavarian Taxpayers' Association
Alberto Mingardi, Istituto Bruno Leoni, Italy
Jan Oravec, Slovak Taxpayers' Association
Robert Gidehag, Swedish Taxpayers' Association
Matthew Elliott, TaxPayers' Alliance
======================
TIMES 10.11.08
We have a right to know where the EU's millions end up
The Brussels accounts scandal must be stopped
Marta Andreassen
Here we go again. Today, for the 14th year in a row, the European
Court of Auditors will unveil their report, telling us that they
refuse to clear the EU accounts. What's worse, no one will really
seem to care. We are told that the accounts won't be cleared until
2020 - if then.
Having worked inside the Brussels nomenklatura and having being
sacked for my insistence that financial controls have to be
strengthened, I am not surprised to find that nothing has changed
other than the arguments deployed to defend this state of affairs.
What the auditors have been saying for years is that most of the
payments made by the Commission from its £70 billion-a- year budget
cannot be deemed legal or regular. That is, that they cannot confirm
those payments have been made to the correct person for the correct
purpose and for the correct amount. It stretches credulity to insist,
as the Europhiles do, that this does not mean that there is fraud.
Because the payments are made to beneficiaries in the member
countries it's easy enough for the institutions to put the blame on
those recipients. Which is what they do, claiming that the problem is
one of insufficient attention being paid to the paperwork. But who
designed the paperwork that no one understands or completes? And who
doesn't insist on it being completed? The institutions themselves, of
course. Because this control is missing there is no way to protect
against fraud or even to uncover it.
We might not expect the European Union to be whiter than white, but
we should at least hold them to the standard of being competent. Who
is to blame for this situation? The Members of the European
Parliament. For those 14 years they've been allowing this situation
to continue.
It's not just that too many have gone native, dreaming of their part
in constructing that shimmering vision of “Europe”. It's that they've
forgotten what a Parliament is for, which is not simply to pass
legislation, but to hold those who implement it to account. Only a
complete cynic would note that those who do complain, those who do
insist that this situation must change, start to find their own
activities, their own expense accounts, say, subjected to audits of
much greater detailed scrutiny than are applied to the accounts as a
whole.
The Euro-elections in June 2009 offer the public a chance to elect
those who will defend their interests, who will insist on controlling
where their money is going. The EU costs Britons £40 million a day
and we all deserve that so much of what is ours is not wasted in fraud.
------------------------------------
Marta Andreassen was the chief accountant for the European
Commission. She is standing for the UK Independence Party in the SE
it is. SHE blew the whistle on a number of irregularities and with
what result? The Commission led by Neil Kinnock pursued her
relentlessly and finding no wrong. sacked her on a technical reading
of her contract. I’m glad to see that she intends to continue the
fight.
This proves that legality and honesty are not rated highly, if at
all, in Brussels.
xxxxxxxxxxxxx cs
===========================
TELEGRAPH 10.11.08
Letters to the Telegraph
The European Union's failure to produce accurate accounts betrays
taxpayers
Sir - As representatives of taxpayers' associations from across
Europe, we are extremely concerned that today, for the fourteenth
consecutive year, the European Union's accounts will not be signed
off by the EU Court of Auditors. The EU spent €126.5 billion in 2007
and we need to ensure this money was spent correctly.
It is disgraceful that the EU's accounts have never been given the
"declaration of assurance" they have been required to give since
1994. The European Commission's Public Consultation on the Budget
Review 2007/2008 recognises that the EU "must give citizens
confidence that [EU public spending] is focused on their own
priorities and that the funds entrusted to the EU are well spent."
The President of the European Commission, José Manuel Barroso, must
immediately set out how he will ensure that the 2008 EU accounts are
signed off by the EU Comptroller General as accurate and reliable so
this worrying situation does not continue. If this does not happen,
he will be letting down taxpayers across the EU, including over one
million taxpayers whom we personally represent.
Michael Jäger, Taxpayers' Association of Europe
Dr Oliver Ginthör, Austrian Taxpayers' Association
Lasse Lehis, Estonian Taxpayers' Association
Benoite Taffin, French Taxpayers' Association
Rolf von Hohenhau, Bavarian Taxpayers' Association
Alberto Mingardi, Istituto Bruno Leoni, Italy
Jan Oravec, Slovak Taxpayers' Association
Robert Gidehag, Swedish Taxpayers' Association
Matthew Elliott, TaxPayers' Alliance
======================
TIMES 10.11.08
We have a right to know where the EU's millions end up
The Brussels accounts scandal must be stopped
Marta Andreassen
Here we go again. Today, for the 14th year in a row, the European
Court of Auditors will unveil their report, telling us that they
refuse to clear the EU accounts. What's worse, no one will really
seem to care. We are told that the accounts won't be cleared until
2020 - if then.
Having worked inside the Brussels nomenklatura and having being
sacked for my insistence that financial controls have to be
strengthened, I am not surprised to find that nothing has changed
other than the arguments deployed to defend this state of affairs.
What the auditors have been saying for years is that most of the
payments made by the Commission from its £70 billion-a- year budget
cannot be deemed legal or regular. That is, that they cannot confirm
those payments have been made to the correct person for the correct
purpose and for the correct amount. It stretches credulity to insist,
as the Europhiles do, that this does not mean that there is fraud.
Because the payments are made to beneficiaries in the member
countries it's easy enough for the institutions to put the blame on
those recipients. Which is what they do, claiming that the problem is
one of insufficient attention being paid to the paperwork. But who
designed the paperwork that no one understands or completes? And who
doesn't insist on it being completed? The institutions themselves, of
course. Because this control is missing there is no way to protect
against fraud or even to uncover it.
We might not expect the European Union to be whiter than white, but
we should at least hold them to the standard of being competent. Who
is to blame for this situation? The Members of the European
Parliament. For those 14 years they've been allowing this situation
to continue.
It's not just that too many have gone native, dreaming of their part
in constructing that shimmering vision of “Europe”. It's that they've
forgotten what a Parliament is for, which is not simply to pass
legislation, but to hold those who implement it to account. Only a
complete cynic would note that those who do complain, those who do
insist that this situation must change, start to find their own
activities, their own expense accounts, say, subjected to audits of
much greater detailed scrutiny than are applied to the accounts as a
whole.
The Euro-elections in June 2009 offer the public a chance to elect
those who will defend their interests, who will insist on controlling
where their money is going. The EU costs Britons £40 million a day
and we all deserve that so much of what is ours is not wasted in fraud.
------------------------------------
Marta Andreassen was the chief accountant for the European
Commission. She is standing for the UK Independence Party in the SE
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