The EU's accounts: the whole picture

Here we go again: today begins the annual saga of the Court of Auditors report on the EU accounts.

For almost as long as the Britain's Department of Work and Pensions (whose budget is far bigger than that of the EU), the EU's accounts have not been subject to "unqualified approval" in all fields of expenditure.

The auditors have again found fault with spending of EU funds (largely by national governments) as regards agriculture, structural funds, and a proportion of external action.

However, they do explicitly say that "this does NOT imply that the errors found are a result of fraud, or that all, or most, transactions in these areas are irregular" - a vital point which I predict will not be quoted by most media commentators.

Nor will the media focus on the unqualified approval of the administrative expenditure of the EU, carried out by the EU institions themselves, not the Member States.

The errors that there are in the EU spending system need dealing with and ractification. But what you won't realise from most of the media is that they are no worse (and some say not as bad as) than those that occur at national level.