Is the EU Commission now living in an alternative universe?
Commission’s ‘out of touch’ response to latest annual audit report displays its arrogance, says Facts4EU.Org
Montage © Facts4EU.Org 2024
Did the EU Commission read the same report of its financial performance that we did?
Last week the EU’s own ‘European Court of Auditors’ (ECA) published its annual report on the state of the EU’s finances in 2023. On the same day, the EU Commission published its response. What follows affects the British people and particularly those who wish the United Kingdom to rejoin the EU’s empire.
The Facts4EU.Org think-tank, in association with CIBUK and GB News, has been researching an exhaustive report on the state of the EU’s finances, based on the last three years of official reports from the EU Commission’s independent auditors. We will be publishing this major report tomorrow.
For most of our readers – and for GB News’ readers and viewers we are sure – a story about an audit of the EU’s accounts and its connection with Rachel Reeves’ budget is not something that would immediately grab their attention.
We can only suggest that tomorrow’s exclusive report is indeed worthy of being seen by a wide audience.
Today we provide some background and then give the floor to the EU Commission.
Tomorrow’s report contains some remarkable facts, which Rachel Reeves should confront
In just over two weeks’ time the Chancellor of the Exchequer, the Rt Hon Rachel Reeves MP, will stand up in the House of Commons to present her first-ever budget. Much speculated upon, Ms Reeves has spent weeks talking down people’s expectations, and in so doing has talked down the state of the United Kingdom’s economy generally.
Our report tomorrow focuses on Ms Reeves’ claim that she found a “£22bn black hole” in the UK’s acounts she inherited from the outgoing Conservative government of Rishi Sunak. Tomorrow’s report will put this claim into perspective and will show how much worse her problems would have been if the UK had remained in the EU for the last three years – as the Chancellor wanted and campaigned for.
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The state of the EU’s finances – a classic example of EU Commission propaganda
Today we pre-empt our forensic analysis of the last three years of the EU’s accounts by taking the unusual step of letting the EU Commission respond to the criticisms before we publish them.
© EU Commission 2024
The following is taken from the EU Commission’s statement on Thursday last week (10 Oct 2024).
“The Commission welcomes the European Court of Auditor (ECA)'s extensive work on its Annual Report on the 2023 EU budget published today and takes note of the ECA's valuable insights as regards the regularity of the EU budget implementation.”
- EU Commission statement, 10 Oct 2024
The Commission then goes on to list what it says are the “Main achievements of the EU budget in 2023”, before continuing:-
“Commission's views on ECA report on the 2023 EU budget
“The Commission welcomes the decision of the ECA to give the EU annual accounts a clean bill of health, for the 17th year in a row. Like in previous years, the ECA found that the collection of the EU revenues was free from significant error.”
- EU Commission statement, 10 Oct 2024
Graciously, it does acknowledge that this is not the whole story.
“The Commission has, however, noted the ECA's negative opinion on the regularity of spending under the Multiannual Financial Framework (MFF) and its qualified opinion on the RRF. The Commission recalls that the estimated level of error reported by the ECA is not a measure of fraud, inefficiency, or waste – but are rather administrative irregularities which do not impact the end-result of a project and are usually recovered or corrected. At the same time, the Commission agrees that improvements are needed, and it is acting accordingly.”
- EU Commission statement, 10 Oct 2024
What does all this mean? Are the EU’s finances sound after all?
The Commission’s overall view is that it has been given “a clean bill of health”, as it puts it. Eagle-eyed readers will note this refers to the EU’s revenues – ‘money in’. This is broadly true, but the fact the EU is diligent in extracting money from member countries should come as no surprise to anyone.
What most people are more interested in is what the EU Commission does with the hundreds of billions when it has them.
This – and other matters – are revealed in our exclusive report tomorrow. We also focus on the effect on Rachel Reeves and her upcoming budget, if the UK had not left the EU. Topical, enlightening, and in some cases astonishing, we strongly recommend our follow-on report.
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[ Sources: EU Commission | ECA ] Politicians and journalists can contact us for details, as ever.
Brexit Facts4EU.Org, Mon 14 Oct 2024
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